Elementary - Grades K-6

Time Requirement for Instruction

A child who is enrolled in a home education program and whose education is therefore under the direct supervision of his parent, guardian or other person having legal custody shall be deemed to have met the requirements of section 1327 if that home education program provides 

• a minimum of one hundred eighty (180) days of instruction or

• nine hundred (900) hours of instruction per year at the elementary level

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Courses to be Taught

(1) At the elementary school level, the following courses shall be taught: English, to include spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires; health and physiology; physical education; music; and art.

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Testing (Grades 3/5/8)

The Pennsylvania School Code, 24 P.S. § 13-1327.1(e)(1) states that the portfolio for home education students in grades 3, 5 and 8 must include the results of the statewide tests (PSSAs) for reading/language arts and mathematics or nationally normed standardized achievements tests. If the supervisor of the home education program requests that the student(s) take the statewide tests administered in these grades, the school district must allow the student to take the test at the school building the home education student normally would attend or other accommodations agreed to by the school district and the parent. The Department has approved the use of the most current version of the following nationally normed standardized tests for use by home education programs if they choose not to take the statewide tests:

1. California Achievement Test

2. Comprehensive Testing Program (CTPIV)

3. Iowa Test of Basic Skills

4. Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

5. Metropolitan Achievement Test

6. Peabody Achievement Individual Test – Revised Version

7. Stanford Achievement Test

8. Terra Nova

9. Woodcock-Johnson Revised Tests of Achievement

10. Woodcock-Johnson

11. Wechsler Individual Achievement Test