Washington may change HSAP requirements

WASHINGTON — Educators involved with Washington’s Home School Assistance Program (HSAP) say they’re considering plans to raise completion requirements for students who use it. While talks are in very early stages, right now, HSAP staff say they may reach a decision before next school year.

The news comes as the district’s school board debates a proposal to allow HSAP students to walk at the high school commencement ceremony, despite their reception of a certificate of completion rather than a conventional diploma.

Currently, an HSAP certificate of completion in Washington requires students to complete 48 high school credit hours, while a high school diploma requires 56. The difference is mostly due to a gap in elective credit hours, not in core subjects like math, science or government.

Washington HSAP Teacher Angela Fritz said staff were already considering a reevaluation of their certificate of completion criteria, but that newfound attention on the issue galvanized those talks.

“These guidelines were in place when each one of us came into the program … so we just had never looked at it,” she said. “This prompted us to say, ‘Hm, this is interesting, let’s look at this a little closer.’”

A formal plan does not yet exist in writing, but Fritz said a new set of requirements would likely raise HSAP students to the same total number of credit hours as their conventionally educated peers. Those eight new hours could come from increased elective-taking requirements, or additional core classes for home-schoolers.

Veta Thode, Washington’s curriculum director and by extension the Home School Assistance Program’s principal of record, said the current HSAP completion criteria were likely based on those of the Assure Center, at the time it was conceived. The Assure Center has since transformed into the Washington Regional Alternative Program, another schooling option which does allow students to walk at commencement.

HSAP teachers and Thode said they hoped to have a more concrete plan by the end of the season, although that timeline is tentative.

“If it’s going to change, we would want to make that change this Spring,” Thode said. “It would be something that the home-school folks could tell the students that are enrolling in the fall.”

Also unclear are the implications of a change for already enrolled HSAP pupils. Fritz and Thode said one unresolved point of discussion was whether those with years of home schooling already completed would still need to fulfill the additional requirements, since they signed up with the understanding of a lower minimum credit hour load.

Ultimately, staff said they were not sure if the final decision on certificate requirements would fall to HSAP teachers, the Washington school board, or an administrator of the district.

In general, Fritz said she worried some arguments about commencement participation were based on misunderstandings of the home schooling process. She said Washington’s roughly 110 HSAP students completed similar work with comparable oversight to those learning in the building full-time.

“Our students are enrolled in the Washington Community School District and as such, bring funding to the district and are accountable to state guidelines,” she said in an email. “They are all under the supervision of certified teachers, as well as their parents.”

Specifically, HSAP students are required by state law to check in with a certified teacher at least four times per quarter, two of them in-person. Those check-ins can be one-on-one meetings, classes, or exams taken at the district HSAP office. The program is one of five home schooling options allowed by the state of Iowa, three of which allow dual enrollment at a public school district.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com