Homeschooling in the District of Columbia

You can start homeschooling at any point in the school year, but the order matters. File the Notification of Intent first. The 15 business days count weekdays only and skip District holidays, so plan on three weeks or more. OSSE says review takes about ten calendar days and that it emails a verification letter after approval. Your program officially begins once you have that letter.

You do not need the school's permission. Notify the school that you are withdrawing your child, hand over the verification letter, and complete the school's own exit steps. A student cannot be registered as a homeschooler while attending a public or public charter school. Until the withdrawal is official, your child stays on the roll, keeps accruing unexcused absences, and remains subject to the school's truancy reporting, so keep your child in school until the paperwork is done.

If you lose the verification letter, OSSE sends a copy on request. Before your child leaves, ask the school for report cards, test scores, and any special education evaluations.

The portfolio is the record DC law requires. OSSE describes it as evidence of your child's current work: writing samples, worksheets, workbooks, creative work, assessments, or other material that shows thorough, regular work in a range of subjects. Keep each year's portfolio for at least one year.

OSSE does not issue report cards or transcripts for homeschooled students, so any transcript is one you write. A few records beyond the portfolio save time later:

• Your OSSE verification letter, which shows the program is registered
• Each year's continuation notice and any discontinuation letter
• From ninth grade on, each course with its grade and credit, for colleges, scholarships, and employers
• Any statewide test results, which help a school place your child on return

DC requires no standardized tests of homeschoolers.

Your child may still take the regularly scheduled statewide assessments given in DC public schools, free of charge, and you receive the results. To register and get the testing schedule, contact your neighborhood District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) school well before the testing window.

Tests also come up when a homeschooled child enrolls in a public or public charter school, which may assess the child for placement, and when a teen takes the GED tests for a DC diploma, described below.

DC limits the right to special education to students enrolled in a DC public school. That right, a free appropriate public education (FAPE), covers specialized instruction and related services under an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Once your child withdraws to homeschool, those services stop.

Evaluation is the exception. Under federal law, DC must locate, identify, and evaluate children who may have disabilities, a duty called Child Find, and OSSE says that duty continues after a child begins homeschooling. To ask for an evaluation or reevaluation, contact DCPS Child Find. An evaluation tells you whether your child qualifies and what help would fit, and the services follow if you enroll your child in a public school.

DC does not allow part-time enrollment. A homeschooled student cannot be enrolled in a public school or public charter school at the same time, so classes, services, and activities there require full enrollment.

DC's graduation requirements and diplomas belong to its public schools; they do not apply to a homeschool program, and OSSE does not issue homeschool diplomas or transcripts. The parent decides when the program is complete and writes the transcript.

A DC diploma

A homeschooled student can earn a District of Columbia diploma in two ways. The first is passing the GED tests; a homeschooler who has not been enrolled in a traditional high school program for at least six months may be eligible to test. The second is the National External Diploma Program (NEDP), which assesses reading, writing, math, and workforce readiness skills of adults and out-of-school youth through applied tasks. Passing either earns a DC diploma.

Each college sets its own admission rules for homeschool graduates. The local credential matters for DC's main college grant. The DC Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) helps residents pay tuition at eligible public and private colleges, and applicants must be high school graduates or have earned a secondary credential through an alternative route such as the GED or the NEDP, within 15 years of the first award. OSSE's eligibility rules do not name a homeschool diploma, so a GED or NEDP diploma is the credential the grant lists. Applicants must also have lived in DC for 12 consecutive months before starting college and meet income limits.

High school students can take college courses through the University of the District of Columbia Community College's College Access and Readiness for Everyone (CARE) Program, which lets pre-college DC students earn college credit at no tuition cost. OSSE lists homeschooled students as eligible.

You can end the homeschool program at any time of year with the discontinuation notice described above. Bring OSSE's letter when you enroll your child.

Each public school and public charter school sets its own criteria for re-enrolling a homeschooled student. OSSE says these may include assessments, a review of the homeschool portfolio, and an interview with your child, so a current portfolio and any statewide test results make placement easier.

OSSE may ask to review each child's portfolio at any time, by written request at least 30 days before the review. The review can happen online or in person at a place you both agree on, such as OSSE's offices or a library. Afterward OSSE gives written feedback on strengths and areas for growth.

If the review shows the program is not meeting the minimum requirements, OSSE gives you a corrective action plan with specific steps, and its staff can help you work through it. The regulations' compliance section, 5-E DCMR 5208, sets out the review and final resolution process. A family that does not file the notices stays subject to the attendance and truancy rules of the school where the child is enrolled.