# Arkansas nixes state mandated testing



## TraderBob (Oct 21, 2010)

http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ar/201504060.asp



> For the past 30 years, since 1985 when Arkansasâ homeschool law was first enacted, homeschool students have been required to take state tests that have no stated purpose. This came to an end on April 1, 2015, when Governor Asa Hutchinson signed into law House Bill 1381 repealing the lawâs testing provisions. Representative Nate Bell (District 20) sponsored this legislation.
> 
> Prior law required homeschool students to take a nationally recognized norm-referenced achievement test selected by the State Board of Education in the same grades for which norm-referenced tests were required of public school students. But there was no minimum score that homeschoolers had to achieve on the tests, and only administrative summaries without personally identifiable information went to the Arkansas Department of Education. These summaries showed that homeschool students were consistently outperforming their public school peers. Homeschool parents were not required to keep test scores as part of their childrenâs school records.


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## motherhenshow (Apr 7, 2015)

Bob, this is good news! Any expanded freedom in education is a good thing, I think. It is a parent's responsibility to educate, not the state's.


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