Answer 0601: Can you tell me if the Iowa Basic test or ISTEP test can be administered by a parent to their homeschooled child(ren)? Note: The parent is not a certified educator.

These tests are two different issues. First the ISTEP: The "high-stakes" ISTEP test is for public school students only, and doesn't apply to non-accredited, non-public (private) schools.

Homeschooled children in Indiana are by law, privately schooled children. They are not required (actually not allowed) to take the ISTEP.

Iowa Basics are another test altogether and are administrated in various ways. Parents can administer them, or support group leaders can give them to an entire support group, or they can be taken in a public school setting. I suggest going to Iowa's web site: http://www.uiowa.edu/~itp/itbs.htm and find out the requirements.

The bottom line is: at this time, there are no mandatory testing requirements for homeschooled students in the state of Indiana. Parents might want to know about the status of their child in relation to other children in public schools, but that information is not needed, nor useful for any government agency to track.


Links:

IHEN.org
IndianaHomeschoolers.com
IHEN Statewide Resource Directory
IHEN Mail Directory