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Annual Homeschool TestingNorth Carolina law requires annual standardized testing for homeschool students. Rebecca provides testing that satisfies the requirement and goes further, giving parents real insight into where their child stands.
North Carolina General Statute 115C-563 is the legal foundation for all home school testing requirements in the state. The law is straightforward: every home school student must be tested annually using a nationally standardized achievement battery, covering four subject areas. You keep the results at home and make them available to the State if requested.
The four required subjects are English grammar, reading, spelling, and mathematics. These are not minimum-competency tests: they measure where your child stands relative to national norms, giving you a clear picture of both progress and areas that may deserve more instructional attention.
The statute also specifies that the test must be administered by a "qualified person." That language matters. A licensed psychological associate holds a professional credential recognized under this standard, which is one reason families who want more than a score often seek out a provider like Rebecca rather than a testing coordinator or a group-format test.
The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Fifth Edition, covers all four areas required under NC law. Each subtest is administered one-on-one, at the child's pace, allowing Rebecca to observe how the child thinks through each task and not just whether they get the answer right.
The WJ-5 reading subtests assess letter-word identification, passage comprehension, and reading fluency. Results reveal whether a student is decoding accurately, reading at an age-appropriate pace, and comprehending what they read. Patterns across these subtests can signal early signs of reading difficulty even before they show up in day-to-day schoolwork.
Writing subtests measure a student's ability to produce written language: sentence construction, grammar, punctuation, and the mechanical conventions of written English. This directly addresses the NC law's English grammar requirement and gives parents a concrete picture of written expression skills relative to the student's grade and age peers.
The spelling subtest assesses a student's ability to produce correctly spelled words from dictation. Spelling is listed as a separate required subject under NC law, and the WJ-5 isolates it as a distinct measure. For students with emerging phonological weaknesses, spelling scores are often the earliest indicator of a pattern worth monitoring.
Math subtests cover calculation (written arithmetic) and applied problems (word problems and quantitative reasoning). The two components together reflect both procedural skill and the ability to apply mathematical thinking to real situations. For students in different math curricula, the results help parents understand how their approach is building foundational competence.
The WJ-5 is not a group test. Rebecca administers every subtest individually, working directly with the child in a quiet, comfortable session. There are no answer sheets to bubble in and no timed group sittings. The one-on-one format means the session is relaxed, the child's approach to each task is observable, and the results reflect actual ability rather than test-taking anxiety.
Most providers hand families a computer-generated score printout and call it done. Rebecca's report goes further, because the legal requirement and your actual parenting needs are not the same thing.
The score summary is in the report. It includes the nationally normed standard scores and grade-equivalent data across all four required subject areas, which is exactly what NC law calls for. You can file those pages and check the legal box.
What makes the report useful is everything around the scores. Rebecca includes her clinical observations from the session: how the child approached difficult items, whether they self-corrected, where they showed frustration or confidence, how their processing pace compared to their accuracy. These observations cannot come from a scanned answer sheet.
The report then summarizes the student's relative strengths and areas of weakness across the tested domains, and closes with specific recommendations for the coming school year. If a pattern in the data suggests a concern worth investigating more deeply, Rebecca will name it plainly and explain what a next step might look like.
You are your child's primary educator. You notice things every day. What the testing adds is an independent, standardized look at how your child compares to students their age across the country, plus a trained clinician's observations from a structured, one-on-one evaluation context.
Families who return to Rebecca year after year say the most valuable part is watching the data over time. A single year's scores tell you where things stand now. A series of annual reports tells you whether a curriculum change worked, whether a skill gap is closing or widening, and whether a concern you had two years ago has resolved or persisted.
The report is yours. You are not required to share it with anyone. But if you ever need to present documentation to another provider, a co-op, or the State, Rebecca's report carries the weight of a licensed professional's evaluation, not just a score sheet.
Homeschool parents ask good questions. Here are honest answers to the ones that come up most often.
North Carolina General Statute 115C-563 requires that every home school student receive annual nationally standardized achievement testing covering English grammar, reading, spelling, and mathematics. The results must be retained at home by the parent-administrator and made available to the State upon request. The law does not set a minimum score or require that results be submitted annually, but testing must occur and records must be kept.
Once per school year, every year your child is enrolled in a home school in North Carolina. There is no grace period or exemption for younger students. Most families schedule testing in the spring toward the end of the academic year so that the results reflect the full year of instruction.
The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Fifth Edition (WJ-5) is one of the most widely respected and research-supported academic achievement batteries available. It measures reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics through individually administered subtests, producing nationally normed standard scores and grade-equivalent data. Because it is individually administered, Rebecca can follow the child's pace, observe how they approach each task, and note qualitative information that a group test cannot capture.
North Carolina law requires that the test be administered by a "qualified person." A licensed psychological associate qualifies under this standard. Rebecca holds North Carolina LPA license #5339 and has administered standardized assessments professionally for more than 20 years. Many families specifically choose a licensed psychological professional because the session also produces clinical observations that go well beyond what a testing coordinator at a school or testing center can provide.
You will receive a written report, not just a score printout. The report includes the standard scores required to satisfy NC law, along with Rebecca's clinical observations from the session, a summary of your child's strengths and areas of relative weakness, and specific recommendations for instruction going forward. This is the part that most distinguishes Rebecca's service: the report is designed to be useful for the next school year, not just to satisfy a legal checkbox.
Yes, and often they are. Parents have used the WJ-5 results and Rebecca's report to identify early signs of a learning difficulty that warranted a fuller evaluation, to support accommodations at a co-op or hybrid school, to apply for the NC Opportunity Scholarship or ESA+ program, and to document academic progress over multiple years. Because Rebecca provides clinical observations alongside the scores, the report carries more weight than a basic score summary when families need to present documentation to another provider or program.
Anchor EEC is located in Cary, serving homeschool families across North Carolina. Many families have found Rebecca from significantly farther away, choosing to make the drive because her approach is different from a basic testing service. Families come regularly from Greensboro, Burlington, Johnston County, Wilson, Goldsboro, Sanford, Lumberton, Fayetteville, coastal NC, and Cumberland County.
Annual homeschool testing is $135 per student ($120 for each additional sibling). Anchor EEC is on the official NCSEAA provider list and accepts ClassWallet payments for ESA+ families. See all fees.
If your family is willing to travel to Cary for the testing session, Rebecca is happy to work with you regardless of where you live in North Carolina.
Call or email to discuss your child's grade level, the testing timeline that works for your family, and what the report will include. Most families schedule testing in the spring, so contact us early to reserve a session.