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Home Instruction in New York State

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Important (2/25/05):  In September 2004, the New York State Board of Regents adopted an amendment to section 100.10 of Commissioner's regulations relating to the home instruction of students of compulsory school age who wish to attend college on a full-time basis.

The amendment:

• requires students of compulsory school age who have yet to complete a four-year high school program and who seek to enroll in full-time college study to submit to the college verification from the school district of residence that the student will be meeting the compulsory education requirements through full-time college study. This verification must be in the form of an approved Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) that includes the full-time college study.

• permits school district residents, including home instructed students, to take five specific Regents examinations or approved alternative examinations for the purpose of meeting the preliminary education requirement for earning a college degree, applicable to students beyond compulsory school age.

• repeals the requirement that a student present satisfactory evidence of a preliminary education of at least a four-year high school course or its equivalent before beginning college degree study. This requirement was in conflict with the Commissioner's Regulation that permitted a student to earn a high school equivalency diploma through completing 24 semester hours as a recognized candidate for a college degree.

Detailed information is available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/homeinstruct.htm.

The information provided below does not reflect the amendment, and, therefore, is not necessarily accurate.  We are developing revised guidance to be posted here soon.

Listed below are some pertinent facts about home instruction in New York State under Part 100.10 of the Regulations of the New York State Commissioner of Education.

The purpose of Section 100.10 is to provide a basis for an objective determination of substantial equivalence. A home instruction program that adheres to the standards of Section 100.10 at each stage of the process should be deemed substantially equivalent.

Students instructed at home are not awarded a high school diploma. A high school diploma may only be awarded to a student enrolled in a registered secondary school who has completed all program requirements set by the Regents, the school or the district.

Home-instructed students are not eligible to participate in interscholastic sports. Section 135.4(c)(7) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, which governs interscholastic sports, directs that a participant in interscholastic sports must be enrolled in the school.

Districts are not required to loan textbooks to home instructed-students. A student instructed at home is not enrolled in a nonpublic school, and, therefore, the district is not obligated to loan those items which a district is required to provide, by statute, to children attending nonpublic schools. However, a school district may, if it wishes to, provide textbooks and other materials to students instructed at home.

Students instructed at home may not participate in the instructional program of the school district (exceptions are listed below). This is because the Legislature has not authorized part-time attendance.

A district may, but is not obligated to, allow home-instructed students to participate in intramural and other school-sponsored club activities.

State law does not require any specific credentials for the person(s) providing home instruction.

Primary responsibility for determining compliance with Section 100.10 rests with the superintendent of schools of the school district in which a home-instructed student resides. Section 100.10 also provides for parental appeals to the local board of education and the Commissioner of Education.
 

12/12/07