BUCKLAND — Seven parents and guardians are questioning Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s home schooling policies, including a new requirement for standardized testing.
For the last several weeks, these families have been discussing what they consider to be the school district’s lack of communication regarding its home schooling policies.
At first, they said, the district asked for their input regarding updates to its home schooling policy, which they happily provided. However, they say the district then “backtracked” and, instead, asked them to fill out a survey that parents said limited their ability to give feedback.
After several email exchanges explaining their displeasure with the survey, the home-schoolers, who met last week as a group, decided to go over the district’s new policy and propose their own changes.
Parent Sky Davis of Shelburne Falls said they felt there is a “serious lack of communication” between subcommittees and administration, and that parents weren’t informed in advance of pending changes.
However, Mohawk Trail Regional School District Superintendent Sheryl Stanton, speaking to the Greenfield Recorder, said she disagrees with claims that the district’s proposal for the home schooling policy review was conducted without the public’s knowledge.
Under the proposed changes, homeschool educators would be required to provide standardized testing results to the district to prove their students are learning at grade level — one of the largest issues for these parents and guardians. Under the current policy, at the end of each year, they’re required to send mutually agreed upon work to prove students are meeting grade-level standards.
Jenny Wildermuth of Ashfield argues that home-schoolers know their children the most with regard to their learning styles and therefore, don’t need or want to use standardized testing. The school district, she said, should not be able to step in and require something that homeschool families never agreed to and want no part of — including the use of standardized testing.
“Case law says it’s the educator who is in charge of evaluating their students,” Sara Davis of Shelburne said. “That would mean it’s the parent or guardian’s job to do so. … It gives the educator the leeway to evaluate their kids. It does not allow the district to determine how you do that.”
Parent Emily Leue of Ashfield told the Recorder that parents attended a June School Committee meeting with questions and concerns about the new policy, and conversation on the issue was continued to a later date.
After this meeting, parents were invited to comment on a copy of the proposed policy. After submitting written comments, the parents say the district “backtracked” and sent the survey to answer instead.
Now, in August, Leue said the parents have not heard about any continued discussion on the matter from the full School Committee.
Stanton said the issue likely will go before the School Committee in a couple of months.
As superintendent, Stanton said she has “the responsibility to ensure all children in the district learn and grow, and that includes homeschool students.” To fulfill this, she said she needs thorough evidence of student learning and progress. She also addressed claims that homeschool parents feel the district is “creating obstacles for home schooling.”
“I respect every family’s right to engage in home schooling and absolutely am not trying to put up obstacles, or bring anybody back into the district that has entered into home schooling because of COVID or other reasons,” Stanton said.
The homeschool review process requests a summary progress report from families, Stanton said. In addition, the district asks homeschool families for hard evidence, or examples of instruction so the district can assess whether students are meeting standards at their grade level as set by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
“We need to review work samples,” Stanton said. “We’re not asking for every piece of assessment, but a small array so we have a good understanding of the kind of activities students are engaged in — so we can make an informed decision of whether the student is being taught to standards.”
Stanton said that while “a majority of homeschool families submit amazing work samples and comply with requests so we know students are learning,” some do not.
“Just saying, well, ‘Sally did this,’ is not actual proof of learning. We need to be working with families to identify what is progress, what is evidence,” Stanton said. “We’re trying to agree upon what constitutes progress.”
The home-schoolers also mentioned the district website has no information about how to take part in home schooling, and that the only way to truly obtain information is to personally contact the district or its communication and policy subcommittees.
“It took a lot of digging to access things that should be available to the common family,” Sky Davis said.
The parents said financial incentives seemed to also be interlocked with the district’s home schooling policy, considering the funding schools lose when kids are home-schooled.
However, Stanton said the changes in policy are not financially motivated. Because of a decade’s worth of declining enrollment, she said the district is considered “held harmless” by the state and students choosing to home-school “actually doesn’t affect Chapter 70 funding.”
Parents also noted the district was considering changing the age frame listed in the policy for home-schooled students. Instead of including students between the ages of 6 and 16, the Mohawk Trail Regional School District changed language so all students up to 16 must attend school. This would require preschool and kindergarten, which many of the homeschool families don’t necessarily partake in.
Leue said there is legislation pending at the state level that would make changes to the legal required ages for schooling, but parents feel the district is “jumping the gun” by proposing a change to match anticipated but not yet enacted legislation.