Naperville area homeschoolers negotiated with school authorities, and common sense prevailed. A potential district policy revision demanding that a “district-approved external accrediting agency” certified any homeschool credits and grades transferred onto a public high school transcript was dropped.
The Naperville Sun reports this news from Indian Prairie School District 204′s school board meeting:

D204 compromises on home-school policy June 23, 2009 By TIM WALDORF

“The difference that you’re going to see in this new version versus the old is that in the old we indicated that we were not going to accept any credits from a no-accredited school toward graduation. So they would all have to be accredited or else we weren’t going to issue a diploma,” said Mike Popp, District 204′s school improvement and planning director.

“In this version, we’re saying, ‘You know what? That’s not appropriate.’ We’re going ahead and saying we are going to accept those credits, but we put in what you talked about last time: is there a way for us to sit down with an individual student and talk about those individual courses to go ahead and honor the credit that he or she earned?”

The old version (and other pertinent details) was pointed out on News & Commentary here: Educational Rigor

It appears that Mike Popp was reasonable, and kept the dialogue open with local homeschoolers. If homeschoolers did choose to enroll in the public high school, then their previous hard work at home should not have been disregarded because of lack of accreditation.

I don’t see a pass/fail on a transcript as a problem. Our particular family does not do grades. Learning materials are either mastered or not:

However, honoring those credits is one thing. Honoring the grades attached to them is another.

District 204′s transcripts would separately list the unaccredited coursework, and not assign a letter grade to any of it. They would only note whether students passed or failed these unaccredited classes.

Consequently, home school students would have to turn in two transcripts — one from District 204 and one of their own making — when applying to colleges.

Universities and colleges seem to be scrambling and recruiting for that “homemade”/home education transcript. Our local IL community college admissions counselor said that he’s seen (and accepted) homeschool transcripts of various forms. He was part of a homeschool workshop at the college to recruit homeschoolers. Continuing in the article:

The policy will also require these students to complete two credits in a District 204 high school in each of two consecutive semesters prior to graduation. So, in their senior year, these home school students seeking District 204 diplomas — District 204 estimates there are roughly 15 of them a year — will have to attend a District 204 high school on nearly a full-time basis, and pass four senior-level classes in order to graduate.

That seems like a fair policy.

I was a little puzzled that homeschoolers would be entering the public high school just to get a public school diploma? That piece of paper didn’t seem as useful as a homeschool diploma, or as many Illinois homeschoolers do, just entering ‘higher education’ with transcript in hand. That’s my biased homeschool opinion, of course.

“The example, by way of analogy that’s in my head, is that it’s what a university would tell you,” said board member Mark Metzger. “You can’t accumulate credits at Eastern and Western and Southern, and then call up U of I and say, ‘I’m going to take a class there, and I want my diploma from you.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

Mr. Metzger’s thoughts are right on. If a public school diploma is sought, that public school should be attended.

But again, I don’t see the advantage of seeking a public school diploma, if homeschooled teens can finish out their education at home before college. Mark Metzger mentioned the University of Illinois, which is ranked 25th in this Graduate School of Education World University Rankings. It is a very competitive school, but yet “30-40 home school students are admitted each year“.

Home Schooled Applicants FAQ

Does the University of Illinois admit home school graduates?

Yes, we encourage home schooled students to apply to the University.

We are very interested in having talented, well-qualified applicants from a variety of settings. Home schoolers would provide a diversity of academic experiences to the campus.

From a homeschool advocate stance, I’m pleased to see that homeschooling credit was given (in more ways than one).

As an Illinois homeschooler, this headline below published in the Fox Valley Villages Sun definitely got my attention as a very strange possibility.  Homeschoolers are independent of the public school system, and school district policies shouldn’t have anything to do with a homeschooler’s graduation.

Policy revisions could hurt home-schoolers

Proposed changes could make it impossible for them to graduate

But after reading the article, it appears the proposed changes refer to homeschoolers who made the decision to enroll (transfer into) public schools.  According to Human Resources Asst. Superintendent Nancy Valenta, an Indian Prairie School District policy revision proposal addresses area homeschool transferees to “pass the same muster” and obtain the “same sense of rigor and standards present in the school“.

In other words, via the School Way, Valenta was pushing for a district policy revision demanding that a “district-approved external accrediting agency” certified any homeschool credits and grades transferred onto a public high school transcript.

From the article:

Home-schooling mother of three and Naperville resident Wendy Montalbano has been home-schooling for two years and does not plan on sending her children back to the public school system unless an emergency forces her to work to support the family. If that happened, credits such as an anatomy class taught by a medical doctor that her son took this year would not transfer to the district. Her son would have to repeat any classes he took while home schooled before graduating.

I wouldn’t think they’d be attracting too many homeschoolers back to that school district with this new proposal. Wendy Montalbano and Holly Ramsey (Naperville Home Educators founder/moderator) are working with school district staffer Mike Popp, to change the proposal into a more realistic version that reflects homeschoolers’ actual knowledge acquisition.

Looking at some of the Naperville area learning opportunities including libraries, 4-H, park districts, science museums and living history sites, it does seem ironic that bureaucratic stamp of approval seems necessary.  The quality of those community enterprises is evident to those who use them.

The informational good fortune continues for the children, as some of the Naperville home educators also co-op. The kids can’t be lacking with the teachers involved in this organization. Learning Vine Homeschool Co-op founder Chris Digweed notes that:

The Learning Vine has been offering quality classes to homeschoolers for many years, and is currently launching a new academic program which will begin this coming fall.   It will provide intensive, college preparatory coursework for high school students which will include AP study classes, intensive mathematics, science, and honors level literature and writing studies.

Many Illinois school districts don’t offer that multitude of college preparatory opportunities. Surely an equal or better “sense of rigor and standards present in the school” is also recognizable in private school opportunities. A practical person would think that educational due should be given even without accreditation.  But I might just be thinking outside the school building (box).

Brava to Dawn DeSart, who thought input about policy should be heard from the community taxpayers that it affects.  She appears to be a true community servant.

School board member Dawn DeSart, who questioned the policy revision in Monday’s meeting, said she would like the current policy to stand or else to have a standardized test administered to all students entering the district.”Whatever the policy says I just want it to be fair,” DeSart said. “Even though people like Wendy don’t have children in the school system, they’re still in the district – they still get a property tax bill like the rest of us do, so they definitely need to have input.

The negotiations are ongoing.  It appears that the proposal will be heard again at the June 22nd school board meeting. Let common sense prevail.  Learning is the bottom line.  Accreditation should not be.