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⚖️ Pennsylvania Homeschool Laws & Requirements

What Pennsylvania law asks of homeschool families — notice or registration, school days and subjects, testing, records and diplomas — summarized from our Pennsylvania guide with links to the official sources.

Homeschooling in Pennsylvania: the basics

The law: in 1988, Act 169 added home education programs to Pennsylvania's compulsory attendance law (24 P.S. § 13-1327(d)) and created 24 P.S. § 13-1327.1, the home education program section. Act 67 of 2005 added extracurricular activities, Act 196 of 2014 added state-recognized diplomas and removed the district's review of portfolios, and Act 55 of 2022 opened district classes and career and technical education to home-educated students from the 2023–24 school year.
A right, not a permission: PDE says homeschooling is a right as long as the required documentation is submitted, and school district approval is not required to start (22 Pa. Code § 11.31a). A home education program is a program, not a nonpublic school.
Who must be taught: since the 2020–21 school year, compulsory attendance runs from age 6 to 18. A child who has turned 6 on or before September 1 must enroll in school or begin a home education program that year. Kindergarten is not required, but a child who was enrolled in public school for kindergarten or above, or in any school or tutoring program for first grade or above, needs an affidavit and an evaluation every year regardless of age.
Who may supervise: the parent, guardian or person with legal custody who directs the program must have a high school diploma or its equivalent. The supervisor, every adult living in the home and anyone with legal custody of the child must not have been convicted of the criminal offenses listed in 24 P.S. § 1-111(e) within the five years before the affidavit.
The affidavit: file it with the superintendent of your school district of residence before the program starts; every later affidavit is due by August 1. It covers the school year from July 1 to June 30, so a year-round family may file as early as July 1. It must include the supervisor's name; the child's name and age; the program's address and phone number; a statement that the required subjects will be taught in English; an outline of proposed education objectives by subject area; evidence of immunization (24 P.S. § 13-1303(a)); evidence of the health and medical services required for the child's age or grade (Article XIV); an assurance that the program will comply with the law; and the criminal-history certification. PDE posts sample affidavits and unsworn declarations for the elementary (K–6) and secondary (7–12) levels; an unsworn declaration doesn't need a notary but is signed under penalty of perjury. Check your district's board policy for the forms it asks for.
The outline of objectives: PDE describes it as a "game plan" for the year, like a table of contents. It can't be used to decide whether an appropriate education took place, and your program doesn't have to follow the district's curriculum order.
Time required: a minimum of 180 days of instruction, or 900 hours a year at the elementary level (K–6) or 990 hours at the secondary level (7–12). If you count days, you don't have to record hours. Home-educated students are not truant when they aren't studying during public school hours — the supervisor sets the schedule, including evenings and weekends.
Elementary subjects (K–6): English, including spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires; health and physiology; physical education; music; and art.
Secondary subjects (7–12): English, including language, literature, speech and composition; science; geography; social studies, including civics, world history and history of the United States and Pennsylvania; mathematics, including general mathematics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health; and safety education, including fire prevention. Economics, biology, chemistry, foreign languages, trigonometry and other courses may be added at the supervisor's discretion.
Curriculum from your district: the school district of residence must lend, on request and free of charge, copies of its planned courses, textbooks and other curriculum materials suited to the student's age and grade (24 P.S. § 13-1327.1(f)). The supervisor doesn't have to deliver all instruction personally; co-ops, online courses, tutors and other sources all count when the work shows up in the portfolio.
Moving within Pennsylvania: apply to your current superintendent by registered mail 30 days before you move for a letter of transfer, and file it with the new district's superintendent. Families arriving from another state don't need a letter of transfer, but the new district may ask for proof of residency.
Other legal routes: a properly qualified private tutor — a Pennsylvania-certified teacher who files background checks with the district and teaches one family at a time — also satisfies compulsory attendance, with no affidavit or evaluation, but has no direct path to a state-recognized diploma. Attendance at a school run by a bona fide church or other religious body that provides 180 days or 900/990 hours, or at a day or boarding school accredited by an association the State Board of Education approves, also meets the law.
Cyber charter schools are public schools: PDE says cyber charter schools are public schools and are not homeschooling, and their diplomas are state-recognized. Private cyber schools and other "umbrella schools" (correspondence courses, private online providers) are not registered with PDE and don't lead to a state-recognized diploma; a family using one is homeschooling and must file the affidavit and the annual evaluation.

Read the full section in our Pennsylvania guide

The portfolio, testing and the June 30 evaluation

The portfolio: keep (1) samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials used or developed by the student, and (2) a log, made at the time of instruction, that names the reading materials used by title. The log shows that you met the 180 days or 900/990 hours. In grades 3, 5 and 8, add the reading/language arts and math results from the state tests (PSSA) or another approved nationally normed test. The portfolio stays with the family and goes to your evaluator; since Act 196 of 2014 the district no longer reviews it.

Testing in grades 3, 5 and 8: PDE says these tests are required without exception and there's no opt-out for home school students in English and math. Results go in the portfolio, not to the district. Your district must let your child take the PSSA free at the school your child would attend if you ask — tell the district early in the year so it can order tests; from the 2025–26 school year, homeschooled students take the PSSA and Keystone exams online with a PAsecureID from the district. Science isn't required by the home education law, and Keystone exams are optional.

Approved alternative tests: PDE approves the most current version of these tests: California Achievement Test, Comprehensive Testing Program (CTPIV), Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), Metropolitan Achievement Test, Peabody Achievement Individual Test – Revised Version, Stanford Achievement Test, Terra Nova, Woodcock-Johnson Revised Tests of Achievement, Woodcock-Johnson, and Wechsler Individual Achievement Test. The family pays for an alternative test, and the supervisor, a parent or a guardian may not administer it; PDE suggests a trained homeschool evaluator give it in a suitable setting.

Who can evaluate: a licensed clinical psychologist; a school psychologist; a Pennsylvania-certified teacher with at least two years of grading experience at the level evaluated (K–6 or 7–12); a nonpublic school teacher or administrator with at least two years of teaching experience in a Pennsylvania public or nonpublic school within the last ten years, at that level; or, with the superintendent's prior consent, a person with other qualifications. The evaluator can't be the supervisor or the supervisor's spouse. The superintendent can't reject an evaluator who meets one of these qualifications. PDE doesn't keep a list of evaluators, and the parent pays the evaluator's fee.

The evaluation: the evaluator interviews the student, reviews the portfolio and certifies in writing whether an appropriate education is occurring — instruction in the required subjects, for the required time, with sustained progress in the overall program. The supervisor sends it to the superintendent by June 30, or at the end of a program that doesn't last the whole year. Time can't be counted toward the required days or hours before the affidavit is filed.

If the evaluation is late: the superintendent must send a certified letter, return receipt requested, and you have 10 days from receipt to submit it; only then does the school board provide for a hearing. A phone call doesn't replace the certified letter, and you may keep homeschooling until the legal process is followed.

Mid-year and other concerns: if the superintendent has a reasonable belief that an appropriate education may not be occurring, or that the program is out of compliance with another provision, the superintendent may send a certified letter stating the basis; you then have 30 days to submit an evaluator's certification. Without it, the board provides a hearing.

Hearings: the hearing examiner can't be an officer, employee or agent of PDE or of your school district or intermediate unit. The hearing must be scheduled within 30 days and the decision issued within 15 days of the hearing. The outcome can be a remedial plan agreed to by the superintendent and supervisor, or the loss of homeschooling for that student for 12 months. Either side may appeal to the Secretary of Education, Commonwealth Court or the court of common pleas, and the program may continue during an appeal.

Read the full section in our Pennsylvania guide

Diplomas, transcripts and college

Two state-recognized homeschool diplomas: since October 31, 2014, a supervisor may award a high school diploma on PDE's standardized form (PDE 6008), co-signed by the student's twelfth-grade evaluator, or the student may graduate through one of the diploma-granting organizations PDE recognizes. PDE says both are equally recognized, and a diploma from a home education supervisor or an approved organization has the same legal rights and privileges as a diploma from any school in Pennsylvania.

Requirements for the supervisor diploma: an affidavit filed for the twelfth-grade (graduation) year; the graduation requirements completed while in the home education program; and an evaluator who meets the secondary-level qualifications and whose twelfth-grade evaluation was sent to the district. Only that twelfth-grade evaluator may co-sign the diploma, so confirm early that your evaluator is willing — and keep the original safe.

Graduation requirements: the law sets minimum courses in grades 9–12 of four years of English, three of mathematics, three of science, three of social studies and two of arts and humanities. PDE's May 2026 guide adds that students should also complete at least one health course, two physical education courses and six electives, aligned with state standards. Graduation should be based on completing courses and covering state standards rather than on credit counts.

Diploma-granting organizations: as of November 2026, PDE lists seven organizations authorized to grant state-recognized home education diplomas, for Pennsylvania residents only and only to students whose affidavit and evaluation were filed for the graduation year. They reapply every three years, so the list changes; check PDE's Home Education and Private Tutoring page.

Commonwealth Secondary School Diploma: a homeschooled or privately tutored student without another state-recognized diploma can earn one by passing a high school equivalency test or completing 30 college-level credits from a U.S. accredited institution (22 Pa. Code § 4.72). This is the main diploma route for privately tutored students.

Transcripts: PDE recommends that parents keep transcripts, because districts no longer track completed courses. Ask each year's evaluator to sign a detailed list of the courses reviewed — it helps the twelfth-grade evaluator confirm graduation and helps if your student later enrolls in a school. When a homeschooled student enters a public or private school, that school decides grade placement and which credits it accepts.

Read the full section in our Pennsylvania guide

Official sources

Summarized from our Pennsylvania guide (as of November 2026) and articles. Rules change — confirm on the official pages before you act.

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