North Carolina law requires that all home schools "have a nationally standardized achievement test administered annually to each student. The test must involve the subject areas of English Grammar, Reading, Spelling, and Mathematics."

Students between the ages of seven and sixteen must be registered. Registration is optional for children younger than seven and older than fifteen, but if students are registered, regardless of age, they must be tested.

The Department of Non-Public Education (DNPE) regulates home schools in North Carolina, and makes additional recommendations regarding the operation of your school. These recommendations are suggestions, not law. This includes the suggestion that someone other than a family member administer the test to your student. It is legal for you to do it yourself. You are the teacher and your school environment is familiar to your student. Public school students face these same conditions. To give your student an equal opportunity, you should consider doing your own testing.

A frequent question from teachers is which test to select. There are many good tests from which to choose. Three of the best are the CTBS TerraNova® First Edition (replaces the earlier, discontinued CAT/5®), published by CTB McGraw-Hill; the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills® and Iowa Tests of Educational Development®, published by Riverside Publishing division of Houghton Mifflin; and the Stanford Achievement Tests®, published by Harcourt Brace Educational Measurement. There are others, but these publishers have been in business for decades, and regularly refine and update their materials and norms.

While these tests are equally good and measure similar skills, you will find the TerraNova furnished by Bayside easier to obtain and administer. It is the most current of the CTB McGraw-Hill published tests available. You must be specifically certified to administer the Iowa and Stanford tests. It is truly a matter of personal preference and material availability as to which test to choose. However, no matter which test you administer, make sure your test provider furnishes you with original materials. Making and using copies of testing manuals violates the publisher's copyright, and they do protect their interests.

Another question is when to test. Spring is traditional, but you are not limited to that time of year. North Carolina law says annually. And while DNPE used to require that you have your results available for examination by the end of June, they now have an updated interpretation. This information is taken from the DNPE website.

Teachers of students with special needs want a test that is not going to be frustrating. Talk to test providers to see what choices are available. We highly recommend you use the shorter Survey Form. CTB McGraw-Hill gives options to the test administrator to cover non-standard testing situations. Alternatively, you might want to have your child take a one-on-one test with a certified administrator.

Scoring reports are the final stage in the testing process. Your most accurate and easy to understand report is one that the test publisher itself scores. Some test providers have reports scored by an independent scoring service. While this approach may meet state requirement, these inexpensive reports lack the detail and easy to interpret format of a publisher scored report.

Testing can and should be easy and fun. It should give you a better understanding of what you and your student have accomplished during the school year. Your choice to homeschool was a smart one. Now you are prepared to make a wise choice in testing. Bayside School Services is the one!