If you’re waiting for the October 15th deadline and haven’t filled out your HOMER yet, consider sharing less data when you complete your online tracking form.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction collects data from your PI-1206 Enrollment Form. Data is recorded and publicly available.
You can complete your form by using the option “ungraded” instead of providing a grade level. You can use this option even if you use a curriculum based on individual grade levels.
The statutes do not require listing grade level of home educated students.
By using the ungraded box, you retain the ability to educate your child at the levels – in each subject – that fit him or her on an individual basis.
The option to use curriculum that fits each individual child, is an important benefit to home education. Homeschooling is not required to be “one-size-fits-all.”
MORE HERE: Wisconsin Homeschool Law
| Grade | 09-10 | % of 09-10 |
| Placement | Enrollment | Totals |
| (SOURCE) | ||
| 1 | 1,409 | 7.4 |
| 2 | 1,335 | 7.0 |
| 3 | 1,322 | 6.9 |
| 4 | 1,365 | 7.2 |
| 5 | 1,326 | 7.0 |
| 6 | 1,343 | 7.1 |
| 7 | 1,367 | 7.2 |
| 8 | 1,232 | 6.5 |
| Ungraded 1-8 | 2,555 | 13.4 |
| Sub-totals 1-8 | 13,254 | 69.6 |
| 9 | 1,316 | 6.9 |
| 10 | 1,183 | 6.2 |
| 11 | 1,184 | 6.2 |
| 12 | 967 | 5.1 |
| Ungraded 9-12 | 1,145 | 6.0 |
| Sub-totals 9-12 | 5,795 | 30.4 |
| TOTALS | 19,049 | 100.0 |
| Summary from 2008-09 to 2009-10 (SOURCE) |
||||
| Students | % change | |||
| Home-based decrease | -309 | -1.60% | ||
| Public decrease | -2,324 | -0.27% | ||
| Private decrease | -3,988 | -3.05% | ||
| Total decrease | -6,621 | -0.65% | ||
Maybe I’m just thinking about privacy issues in light of recent Facebook changes. Or maybe that The Wall Street Journal revealed yesterday that phone tracking devices are being used to gather data on individuals without warrant and sometimes without probable cause. Or this from the New York Times today. Meh. You’ve nothing to worry about if you haven’t done anything wrong, right?
Ever wonder what the DPI does with the enrollment information collected?
US schoolkids are catalogued by the government.
In Wisconsin the DPI has been working on a data collection system to meet federal requirements.
The Coursework Completion System (CWCS) will collect data specific to all courses completed by all students, grades K3-12. This new data collection will facilitate the standardization of student coursework information across the state, provide data necessary to answer important questions at the local and state levels, and enable Wisconsin to meet federal requirements.
As recipients of federal State Fiscal Stabilization Funding in 2009, Wisconsin is required to capture this data along with 11 other elements of the America Competes Act. It is the intention of DPI to accomplish this in as positive and proactive manner as possible.
(SOURCE)
Individual privacy. Think about it.
Southwest Wisconsin Community of Homeschools 