Hawaii homeschool evaluation
Who may evaluate, when, and what goes to whom, in the law's words. We name no evaluators and recommend none.
Provide test scores from a nationally-normed standardized assessment for grades 3, 5, 8 and 10, either from the school's statewide testing (free) or private testing at your own expense. The Department's page adds that public school students are no longer tested in Grade 10 but are tested in Grade 11. Also send the principal a yearly progress report using one of four methods: a nationally-normed test score at grade level; test progress of about one grade level per year; a written evaluation by a teacher certified in Hawaii; or your own written evaluation with work samples. Test scores can serve as that year's report.
Checked October 27, 2026 against Hawaii's statute and education department. Information, not legal advice: they are the final word.
In the law's words
“Yes, you are required to provide test scores from a nationally-normed standardized assessment for your child in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.”
When
- In grades 3, 5, 8 and 10: Provide scores from a nationally-normed standardized test, with the yearly progress report.
Each date is on the Hawaii checklist with its source.
What an evaluator looks at
Whatever the method the law allows asks for, and no more than the law asks. For a review, that usually means work across the year in each subject the state names, with dates on it; for a test, the score report. Bring what fits your method:
- Dated work samples from the start, middle and end of the year: the portfolio keeps them by subject.
- The reading list and the days or hours, if Hawaii counts them: the reading log, attendance and hours.
- Any test scores you are using: the test-score log. Which tests Hawaii accepts.
- All of it on one printout: the evaluation packet.
What it costs
Fees vary; ask before you book. We list none, because they differ by person and change from year to year.
Ten questions to ask an evaluator
- Which of the state's allowed methods do you use, and what makes you qualified for it under the law?
- What do you want to see: how many work samples, from which months, in which subjects?
- Do you meet the child, for how long, and where?
- What do you write, and in what form does it reach the office it goes to?
- When will we have the written result, and is that before the state's date?
- What is your fee, and what does it include?
- What happens if you have a concern about progress?
- Do you keep a copy, and for how long?
- Can you see more than one child in one visit?
- Will the result say which method was used, in the law's words?
Finding one
Families usually find an evaluator through a local homeschool group or co-op; see homeschool organizations by state. Check the person against the law's own words above, not against a list: we keep no list and endorse no one.