Before reading this material, it would be helpful for you
to first read the State of NC Private School Requirements.

Do the Public Schools of North Carolina annual tests meet the testing requirement?  No.  North Carolina public schools' End of Grade and End of Course tests are not nationally standardized and therefore do not satisfy the annual nationally standardized test requirements for North Carolina non-public schools.

How can nationally standardized tests be ordered?  Two of the major nationally standardized student test publishers from which conventional non-public school administrators can order are CTB/McGraw-Hill and Harcourt's Psychological Corporation.  You may obtain contact information for them by clicking on their respective corporate names.  These publishers usually require the purchase of at least 35 student test booklets (or similar large quantities) for any given grade level.  If you would prefer to order less than that number for any given grade level, you may want to consider ordering instead from a home school test distributor which sells quantities as few as one per grade level.  You may access a list of them by clicking on home school test distributors.

How can the Public Schools of NC Student End-of-Grade, End-of- Course, Competency tests, etc. be ordered?  These NC public school tests are not nationally standardized as required for all grade 3, 6, 9 and 11 non-public school students.  If you wish, though, to also administer (at extra expense) any of these NC public school state standardized tests, click on Non-Public School Testing Service for information about them.

How do I know a test meets North Carolina legal criteria:  The North Carolina non-public school testing law requires that the test satisfy three criteria.  The test must be nationally standardized (reports scores as national percentiles, stanines and/or grade equivalents; and, compares student test results to a national norm); be an achievement test (one measuring subject knowledge); and, cover at least the subject areas of English grammar, reading, spelling (language arts) and math.

How does one obtain a school code number for students registering for a college entrance/placement test?  Non-Public School code numbers are not provided or assigned by the State of North Carolina.  They must be obtained directly from the test publisher.  Contact either the ACT or the College Board organization to obtain them, depending on which test is chosen.  Also, see "What are the AP and the CLEP tests" below and also the last question on this page.

Is a minimum test score required for promotion to the next grade level?  Non-public school law does not require that a student attain a certain minimum score on the nationally standardized test administered in a non-public school before he/she is promoted to the next grade level in that school.  However, it does state concerning the grade 11 test that non-public schools ". . . shall establish a minimum score which must be attained by a student . . . in order to be graduated from high school."  Also, see "Graduation Requirements, High School."

Must NC non-public schools administer to its students the same standardized tests as administered to NC public school students?  No.  The chief administrator of each conventional non-public school chooses which nationally standardized achievement test is administered.  The nationally standardized test for grades 3, 6 and 9 must measure achievement in the areas of English grammar, reading, spelling and mathematics.  The grade 11 test must measure competencies in the verbal and quantitative areas.  Non-public school law also requires that the test results be kept on file at the school's office for one year after the testing date for annual inspection by a DNPE staff representative.

Special Education Students:  Does NC non-public school law exempt them from nationally standardized testing?  No.  NC non-public schools are exempt from all NC public school laws and policies concerning standardized testing.  Non-public school law does not exempt special needs (or any other) students from the grade 3, 6, 9 and 11 nationally standardized test requirement.  Concerning the non-public school standardized testing requirement, G.S. 115C-549, 550, 557 and 558 state that the test is to be administered in those grade levels each year "…to all students enrolled or regularly attending…"  There are no exceptions given for any reason.

What are the AP and the CLEP tests?  They are tests provided by the College Board which produces several college entrance/placement tests.  For more information about each of them, click on AP and on CLEP.  Please note that these two tests do not meet all three NC legal criteria for acceptance in meeting the NC non-public school testing requirement.  Also, see the above questions "How do I know a test meets North Carolina legal criteria" and also "How does one obtain a school code number for students registering for a college entrance/placement test."

Will the ACT, PSAT/NMSQT and SAT college entrance/preparation tests satisfy NC’s non-public school testing requirement?  The ACT and SAT Subject (formerly the SAT II) tests are each legally acceptable for students on any grade level; however, the PSAT/NMSQT and the SAT Reasoning (formerly the SAT I) tests are legally acceptable only for grade 11 students.  As explained in the answer to the fourth question in this document, there are three criteria that each test must meet.  All four of these college entrance tests are nationally standardized tests.  The ACT and the SAT Subject (formerly the SAT II) tests both measure student achievement in at least the subject areas of language arts and math.  Hence, these two tests satisfy all three of the NC non-public school test criteria and may be used by non-public schools for students in any grade level (preferably high school).  However, both the PSAT/NMSQT and the SAT Reasoning (formerly the SAT I) tests are designed to measure student aptitude (reasoning skills in the verbal and quantitative areas) rather than student achievement.  Therefore, they do not satisfy all three criteria for grade 3, 6 or 9 students.  Note, though, that the grade 11 statutory testing requirement is more broadly worded allowing their use for grade 11 students.  See G.S. 115C-550 and G.S. 115C-558.  Non-Public schools choosing to use either the PSAT/NMSQT or only the SAT Reasoning test for grade 3, 6 or 9 students will need to also have those students take a nationally standardized achievement test in order to satisfy NC's non-public school testing law.  If the non-public school requires its grade 3, 6 or 9 students  to take the SAT Reasoning test, DNPE recommends that the SAT Subject test then also be taken within the same school year in order to comply with NC's non-public school testing law.  Also, see the above question "How does one obtain a school code number for students registering for a college entrance/placement test." 

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