If not already registered with Erie County Home Schoolers Diploma Association, evaluators of students requesting our diploma must file their credentials with ECHSDA when the student sends in the Filing Form.
Follow the link for a list of qualified evaluators on file with ECHSDA.
Referencing Act 1988-169, qualified evaluators include licensed clinical or school psychologists, Pennsylvania certified teachers, nonpublic school teachers or administrators with two years of teaching experience within the last ten years, and persons with other qualifications who have the prior consent of the district of residence superintendent to conduct the evaluation. Evaluators requiring prior consent from the superintendent need to obtain that permission in writing and include a copy with their Filing Forms.
A teacher or administrator who evaluates at the secondary level must have at least two years of experience in grading any of the following subjects: English, to include language, literature, speech, reading and composition; science, to include biology, chemistry and physics; geography; social studies, to include economics, civics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; foreign language; and mathematics, to include general mathematics, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and geometry.
In addition to the evaluator qualifications defined in Act 1988-169, individuals who have obtained prior consent of the district of residence superintendent to evaluate home education programs for two years are considered to be qualified evaluators.
Evaluator and Supervisor Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of evaluators and supervisors to determine whether the academic and honors courses are completed at the specified levels. An honors project or paper should be above average. In order to avoid filler, bloated font, and excess white space just to reach a minimum number of pages, the Diploma Association has not determined a specific number of pages of writing required.
Transfer students wishing to obtain an Academic or Honors Diploma must satisfy the evaluator that the courses taken in school were roughly equivalent or the best courses available to them. They will then follow ECHSDA requirements for their desired diploma option.
New evaluator registrations will be added yearly in March.