PSA: FOR WEST VIRGINA HOMESCHOOLERS APPLYING FOR THE PROMISE SCHOLARSHIP
These are the known facts as of 3/15/2014:
1. You do not need to “un-enroll” from homeschooling status or from any classes that you are taking prior to taking the TASC pre-test. If anyone at the Adult Education centers tells you differently, have them contact the state Board of Education.
2. You do not have to not be homeschooling for 30 days prior to registering.
3. You do have to take the pre-test prior to registering for the TASC. The pre-test runs 3.5 hours.
4. You should go to the local Board of Education office to pick up a TASC registration form. That form, when signed by school officials, will allow you to take the TASC for free. Otherwise, it’ll cost you somewhere around $100. You’ll need to bring the letter from the local BoE showing that you’re homeschooling.
5. The state Board of Education has not yet determined the TASC cut scores for PROMISE eligibility. Since the test is still not ready, the state BoE told me that they will “definitely have to extend the July 1st deadline.” That being said, it is still strongly suggested that you try to get your scores in by June 30th, just to be safe.
End of facts. Now, my opinions:
Apparently, some (all?) local Adult Education centers have been interpreting the state requirement that someone must have quit high school for 30 days prior to taking the GED as a requirement that homeschoolers must do the same. That’s silly, of course. How do you un-enroll from homeschool? Homeschoolers take the GED (and now the TASC) solely in order to qualify for the PROMISE scholarship. It has nothing to do with graduating. So, although the test is the same, the different reasons for taking it should have clued the Adult Education centers/local Boards of Education that the rules for registering were likely to be different. In at least some counties, that has not been the case for many, many years. As of yesterday, it ought to be in Wood County. I spoke to the local Adult Education Center, the PROMISE scholarship foundation, and the state Board of Education yesterday. And they spoke to each other, so that at the end of the day, we reached an understanding that graduating homeschoolers can register for the TASC as outlined in the “facts” section, above.