There may come a time in your homeschooling journey where you wish to see where your children stand academically, or perhaps this is legally required where you live. Often this evaluation is accomplished through standardized testing, usually remembered as the week-long testing from our own childhood days. In today’s schools the results of these tests are used to judge everything from which children should be promoted to how much funding a school will receive. As a result, many parents are opposed to standardized testing.

Additionally, many parents are concerned about the effects of the actual testing, specifically the stress caused to the child during testing, a special concern to homeschooling parents. The Personalized Achievement Summary System (PASS), offered by Hewitt Homeschooling Resources (http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com), is a standardized test that was designed with homeschoolers in mind.

The PASS recognizes that students do not fit into a box and may be operating at any one of five individual levels within a single grade level. The PASS test accommodates these differences by offering different levels of testing, your child's level is determined through a short placement test that arrives with the actual tests. The parent decides what grade level they want their child compared against, making the test as truly customizable as any standardized test can be.

The PASS test is a favorite among homeschooling families not only because of the level of customization, but also because the test is untimed and tests in only three key areas. To avoid burn-out from taking hours upon hours of testing, the PASS analyzes learning in only three key subjects, reading, language and math, the core subjects.

My children recently completed the PASS as a method of legally-required annual evaluation. This was their first experience with standardized testing and I was concerned, especially about my oldest child who suffers with anxiety issues. My children completed the test in two days, a total of about five hours including the placement test and test-taking instruction. I am not a believer in testing children and as a result my children have never been issued a test assignment, not even an informal math drill test. I was concerned as to how my children would adapt to the testing, however, the only tedious part of the testing experience was teaching my children how to fill in answer bubbles correctly. The informal atmosphere allowed by the PASS set my children at ease and the day was treated as “special” and involved a day at the library with an ice cream treat afterward.

The PASS is administered at home by a parent and is available only for grades three through eight. Be aware that if your state requires standardized testing the PASS may not be accepted. The PASS is officially accepted only in North Carolina, New York and Alaska for annual reporting purposes.

The PASS test can be ordered through Hewitt Homeschooling Resources at http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com.