New York quarterly reports, line by line

Line 1: hours of instruction this quarter

NYSED: "The total number of hours of instruction per quarter must be documented on the quarterly report." It adds: "It is recommended that, in the secondary grades, hours per subject be included in each quarterly report."

The year's totals, in the regulation's words: "The cumulative hours of instruction for grades 1 through 6 shall be 900 hours per year. The cumulative hours of instruction for grades 7 through 12 shall be 990 hours per year." A quarter is about a quarter of that; write the number you logged, not the target.

Line 2: the material covered in each subject

Write it against your IHIP's list, in the same words: the chapters, units, books or lessons finished this quarter. "Math: lessons 1 to 42 of the third-grade book, place value to two-digit subtraction" tells the district what it needs to see. A subject you taught but did not list can go on as an extra line.

Line 3: a grade or a narrative for each subject

The regulation lets you choose: "either a grade for the child in each subject or a written narrative evaluating the child's progress". A narrative can be two or three sentences: what the child can do now that they could not at the start of the quarter, and what comes next.

Line 4: if under 80 percent of the plan was covered

If, in any subject, less than 80 percent of the material your IHIP planned for that quarter was covered, the report says why: an illness, a move, a book that took longer than planned. Keep it short and say what changes next quarter. If your lessons are in Peabody's lesson planner, the quarterly sheet shows for each subject how many of the lessons planned for the quarter were ticked off, and says when it is under 80 percent.

With the fourth report: the annual assessment

With the fourth quarterly report, file an annual assessment: a commercially published norm-referenced achievement test from the regulation's list, or an alternative written narrative by a certified teacher, a peer review panel or another person the superintendent agrees to, after an interview and a portfolio review. The narrative may be used in grades 1 to 3, and in grades 4 to 8 no more often than every other year. A test score is adequate above the 33rd percentile or with one year of growth; otherwise the program goes on probation.

NYSED says no date is set for telling the district which you chose, but "it is recommended that parents provide this information by the end of the third quarterly reporting period". On the result: with a test, "the program will be placed on probation only if the composite score of the student is below the thirty-third percentile on national norms or the score fails to reflect one academic year of growth when compared to a prior test". And: "If parents submit a written narrative, the program will be placed on probation only if the evaluator certifies that the student has not made adequate academic progress."

When are they due?

On the dates in your IHIP. Spread them through the year; Peabody's IHIP sheet works out four evenly spaced dates from your first and last days and puts them in a calendar file with a week's warning.

Starting mid-year? "The number of reports should be proportional to the period of home instruction."

Fill one in

Peabody's quarterly report sheet takes the quarter's dates from your IHIP, fills each required subject's hours from the hours log, and leaves the material covered and the grade or narrative for you to type. It prints one page; nothing you type is sent anywhere.