Plan calls for home-schooler testing

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ^ | Aug. 28, 2003 | AMY HETZNER

[yonif]

Mukwonago - Home-schooled students could have to take tests so high school officials can confirm that the teenagers have done the work their parents say they have.

A proposed policy before the Mukwonago School Board would require any high school student who is not coming from "a recognized or accredited public/private educational institution" to take a semester final exam or achievement test for a report card grade in certain subjects. Students would be required to pay $20 for each test taken, with a maximum $160 charge.

Requiring a test also would allow the district to properly place the students in high school classes and make sure they're ready for the courses they enroll in, said Principal Dale Henry and district curriculum director Kathy Kippers.

The new mandate would replace a policy that allows the high school to test home-schoolers, but which Henry said he has been reluctant to use for fear that students will feel picked on. Current policy also automatically gives a "satisfactory" mark for home-school credits.

As a result, Henry said, "we were having some difficulties where students would complete their work and we would place them in a class like geometry and we would say, 'Oh my gosh, what have we done?' "

By that time, the student might have been enrolled in the course for two months, and the school's only resources are to provide tutoring or hold back the student for more instruction, Henry said.

"It becomes difficult because students want to graduate. They want a diploma. They don't want to be here five or six years," he said.

Testing called unfair

One home-school advocate, however, called it discriminatory to target students from home schools for special testing.

"If there is a strong basis for singling out a group of students, we would like to know what that basis is," said Larry Kaseman, executive director of the Wisconsin Parents Association.

Kaseman challenged the notion that home-schooled students are less prepared for high school than students who have gone to a public school in another district or to an accredited private school.

No matter where students were prepared, he said, there will still be some who struggle with the subject matter at the school.

"Mukwonago, unless it's very unique, I would think would have students who are not always at the C or above level in courses within its own system. And what is being done with those students?" Kaseman said. "We, as a state, along with the other 49 states, have compulsory attendance laws, not compulsory education laws. . . . State law requires attendance; it does not require specific results."

Henry acknowledges that students coming from private schools or even schools in other states or Wisconsin districts also can be placed in the wrong classes.

"It happens even with non-home-schoolers, too, but not nearly as often," he said.

Henry said the 1,700-student school had six students enroll from home schools last school year and is anticipating four more this year. But, he said, if the proposal becomes policy, it probably won't affect students until the 2004-'05 school year.

Making the grade

Determining where to place home-schooled students, either gradewise or creditwise, is up to the discretion of individual school districts, said Merry Larsen, a school administration consultant for the state Department of Public Instruction.

Some schools rely solely on the child's age. Some interview the parents or look at the parents' curriculum or textbooks they use, she said.

"And, yes, some, I believe, provide some sort of placement exam," Larsen said. For example, Milwaukee Public Schools uses tests when students don't have enough evidence to otherwise give them credit for courses they have taken.

Ken Cole, executive director for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, called the use of placement exams for home-schooled students "very common."

"This isn't because they don't like home-schoolers or they hate those kids or anything," he said. "We're just making sure young kids get in the right arrangement."

But he questioned charging a fee for the mandatory testing.

"This is free and appropriate public education - free, free, free," Cole said. "Just like a kindergartner, when the 5-year-olds show up, you can't charge them for an assessment."

[Fred Mertz]

The new mandate would replace a policy that allows the high school to test home-schoolers, but which Henry said he has been reluctant to use for fear that students will feel picked on.

Publik skool stupids will be the wonz feeling picked on.

What's up with the grifting of taxpayers...twice?

[GladesGuru]

"Educators" rarely fail to amaze me. Their profession is the only one where the duly accredited 'professionals' are regularly outperformed by amateurs.

Home schooled students usually outperform those educated by "professionals" - and the system is unhappy with these students? At the least, they will raise the sorry average performance of most public schools.

[Scenic Sounds]

What procedures are in place now to make sure that homeschool children are receiving some sort of education?

[Do Be]

People who love them are responsible for their education.

[PianoMan]

Tyranny BUMP

[annyokie]

"Publik skool stupids will be the wonz feeling picked on."

My very bright children attend our excellent public schools, for which we are heavily taxed.

[Scenic Sounds]

People who love them are responsible for their education.

Well, thanks for the info.

I had always just assumed that there existed some means of assuring that people who love them love them enough to give them an education. ;-)

[norton]

It'd be a real hoot to see what warm and fuzzy questions turn up on these tests...

Expect them to be heavy on acceptance and light on the reading, writing, etc.

History?
Well, it all began when the europeans attacked north america...except for the african discovery of science, laws, and governance that were in evidence centuries before in Egypt but were stolen by the Romans and Greeks who were, by the way, far ahead of the rest of the world in the area of sexual interplay...
All of this took place about the same time the Aztecs were (running away from) moving south from colorado and all of the existing united states west and south of Boulder, thereby establishing eternal rights of return.
Much like the palestinians, who were not even present in Palestine yet, but have eternal rights to....

[Centurion2000]

A proposed policy before the Mukwonago School Board would require any high school student who is not coming from "a recognized or accredited public/private educational institution" to take a semester final exam or achievement test for a report card grade in certain subjects. Students would be required to pay $20 for each test taken, with a maximum $160 charge.

So even though the parents are paying property taxes and not using the public schools they have to pay for the exams ? What a load of horse dung.

[viaveritasvita]

On the one hand, homeschoolers should easily ace these public school tests. On the other hand, the testing could morph into....well, into something else altogether. I don't even want to speculate!

[txzman]

So what happens when the home-schooled kids blow away the same-grade tests handed out by the schools? Do they get extra credit for actually learning?

I would like to match a teacher up with each home-schooled kid - lets see who gets the better grade!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

When the child is ready to (like towards the end of the school year), they can be assessed by a certified teacher which is how they are tested in order to progress to the next grade. At least, that's Florida.

Obviously, it cheats the student if they are not tested regularly during the year per the curriculum and then are expected to pass the final assessment.

I think the proposal in this article is for those who are not using established curriculum, which comes with established testing guides. While I disagree with the forced testing, it is the parents who need their head examined if they are not caring about their childs education.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Plus they pay taxes for the public school system which they don't use, while at the same time not recieving any break for homeschooling their own.

[Fred Mertz]

Are you out on parole again, work release, or weekend pass?

[thtr]

Not that I thought I would, but I don’t understand the logic here. Does the state of Wisconsin also test private schools to see if those students are learning what their schools say they are learning?

[Kuksool]

More tyranny from the NEA.

[Kuksool]

Funny how NEA educrats demand accountability standards on homeschoolers, yet they scream bloody murder when the same standards are applied to them.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

I would like to match a teacher up with each home-schooled kid - lets see who gets the better grade!

A deee-luxe ping on that one, txzman! A showdown is coming on this issue, along with homosexual marriage, abortion, and the exiling of the Clintons to Mars.

[Akira]

bump