Pennsylvania asks more of home educating families than most states do. Pages that describe it as a form and a signature are setting you up for a surprise in June. Here is the actual obligation, in the order it arrives, so you can decide with the real figure in front of you.
Pennsylvania is a high-documentation state
Home education here runs under section 1327.1 of the Public School Code, at 24 P.S. section 13-1327.1. It is not a notification like Ohio’s. It is an affidavit up front, a portfolio through the year, an independent evaluation at the end, and standardized testing in three specific grades.
None of that makes it a bad choice. It does mean you should know the shape of the year before you start, rather than meeting the evaluator requirement for the first time in May.
How to withdraw, step by step
- Prepare the affidavit before the program begins. A notarized affidavit, or an unsworn declaration, goes to the superintendent of your district of residence before the home education program starts, and again annually by 1 August.
- Gather what the affidavit has to contain. The name of the program supervisor. The name and age of each child. The address and telephone number of the program site. An outline of proposed educational objectives by subject area, with the subjects offered in English. Evidence of immunization. A certification that the program will comply with the law, and a criminal-offense certification covering the supervisor, all adults living in the home, and anyone with legal custody.
- Notify the school your child is leaving. Do this in writing and keep the reply.
- Request the transcript in the same message. Ask for the complete record, including the year in progress.
- Set up the portfolio on day one. Not in April. It is a record kept as you go, and reconstructing nine months of it from memory is the single most miserable job in Pennsylvania home education.
What runs through the whole year
- The portfolio. It documents that compulsory attendance has been observed and that the student has made sustained progress across the program.
- The evaluator. An evaluator reviews the portfolio and sends their certification to the superintendent by 30 June each year. You arrange this, so find your evaluator early rather than in the last fortnight.
- Standardized testing in grades 3, 5 and 8. The results go into the portfolio. They are not reported to the school district.
That last distinction matters and is widely misread. The district does not receive your child’s test scores. It receives the evaluator’s certification.
A question worth asking your district
Pennsylvania law also recognises compulsory attendance being satisfied by regular full-time attendance at a nonpublic school complying with section 1327(b), or at an accredited or licensed private school. Families ask us whether enrolling with an online school outside Pennsylvania counts as that, and removes the affidavit requirement.
We will not tell you that it does. We have not found Pennsylvania guidance addressing out-of-state online enrollment, and this is a question for your school district or the Pennsylvania Department of Education, not for a school’s marketing page. Plan on the home education route unless your district tells you otherwise in writing. Getting this wrong is an attendance problem for your child, and it is not worth a comfortable assumption.
Elementary and middle school
The grade 3 and grade 5 testing points fall in this range, so build them into the plan rather than discovering them. Otherwise the administrative load is the affidavit at the start, the portfolio through the year, and the evaluation at the end, the same as any other grade.
High school, where the credits matter
Credits already earned sit on the transcript held by the school your child is leaving, and they do not move on their own.
- Ask for the official transcript in writing before withdrawal, and follow up if it does not arrive.
- Ask for the year in progress, not only completed years.
- Do not assume credits transfer automatically. Whoever receives your student decides what is awarded and how it maps to their own requirements.
High School of America evaluates the transcript you provide and builds a graduation plan against it, so you can see where the work already done lands before committing to anything. If the transcript is missing or the previous school is slow, we can request it on your behalf with a signed release. Missing records do not prevent a student enrolling and starting.
What usually goes wrong
- Starting the program before filing the affidavit. It goes in first, not afterwards.
- Leaving the portfolio until spring. It is a year-long record and cannot be honestly assembled at the end.
- Looking for an evaluator in June. The certification is due to the superintendent by 30 June, and good evaluators are booked well before that.
- Assuming an out-of-state enrollment removes the affidavit. Ask your district and get the answer in writing.
- Missing the 1 August annual deadline in the second year, after the first year went smoothly.
Moving, or comparing states?
These requirements are Pennsylvania’s own and are heavier than most. A family arriving from a notification-only state will find this a real change of pace, and a family leaving Pennsylvania should not assume the next state asks for anything like it. If you want to see where your student’s credits stand before deciding, a counselor can walk the transcript with you.
This is a plain-language summary of Pennsylvania’s requirements as they stand in 2026, not legal advice. Your district has its own forms and its own office, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education publishes the current guidance.