New York homeschool law for high school: graduation, diploma and records

Education Law § 3204 allows a child to attend upon instruction "at a public school or elsewhere", requires a competent teacher, and requires instruction elsewhere to be substantially equivalent to public school instruction. The procedures for home instruction are in 8 NYCRR 100.10. NYSED says parents who organize a tutor for a group for the majority of the program are operating a religious or independent school, not home instruction.

N.Y. Educ. Law § 3204; N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(a); NYSED, Home Instruction Questions and Answers

The law as of September 29, 2026.

New York at a glance

As of September 29, 2026

Notice to the state: Notice every year
Parents must give written notice of their intent to instruct at home to the superintendent of the school district of residence by July 1 of each school year (the school year runs July 1 to June 30), or within 14 days after starting home instruction or moving into the district during the year. The regulation does not list required contents for the notice; within 10 business days of receiving it, the district must send the parent a copy of section 100.10 and an IHIP form for each child.N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(b)(1), (2); N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(c)(1)
Records the law asks for: Required
Each year the parent submits an Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) by August 15 or within four weeks of receiving the form, whichever is later, listing the child's name, age and grade, the syllabi, curriculum materials, textbooks or plan of instruction for each required subject, the quarterly report dates, and the names of the instructors. The parent files a quarterly report on each IHIP date giving hours of instruction, the material covered in each subject, a grade or written narrative for each subject, and a written explanation if less than 80 percent of the planned material was covered, and must keep attendance records and make them available to the district on request. NYSED says no other parent records are legally required, though it recommends keeping evidence of the program.N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(c)(2), (d); N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(f)(4), (g); NYSED, Home Instruction Questions and Answers
Testing or evaluation: Required
An annual assessment is filed with the fourth quarterly report: either a commercially published norm-referenced achievement test from the regulation's list (adequate if the composite score is above the 33rd percentile or shows one academic year of growth), or a written narrative by a New York certified teacher, a home instruction peer group review panel or another person chosen by the parent with the superintendent's consent. The parent may choose the narrative every year in grades 1-3 and no more often than every other year in grades 4-8; the regulation permits no narrative alternative in grades 9-12, so a test is required each of those years. An inadequate result places the program on probation for up to two school years with a remediation plan.N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(h); N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(i)
Graduation requirements: Some set in state law
The Commissioner's regulation sets the required high school courses for home instruction in grades 9-12, listed below; the units are cumulative over grades 9 through 12, and a unit means 6,480 minutes (108 hours) of instruction. These are required instruction, not diploma requirements: NYSED says a home-instructed student cannot be awarded a local or Regents diploma.
English: 4 units
Social studies: 4 units, including 1 unit of American history, one-half unit of participation in government and one-half unit of economics
Mathematics: 2 units
Science: 2 units
Art and/or music: 1 unit
Health education: one-half unit
Physical education: 2 units
Electives: 3 units
Also required in grades K-12 (Education Law §§ 801, 804, 806 and 808, as listed in the regulation): patriotism and citizenship; health education regarding alcohol, drug and tobacco misuse; highway safety and traffic regulations, including bicycle safety; fire and arson prevention and safety
N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(e)(1), (e)(2)(iv), (e)(2)(v); NYSED, Home Instruction Questions and Answers
Diploma: Issued by: no diploma recognized in law; the superintendent may certify substantial equivalence
NYSED states that a high school diploma may be awarded only to a student enrolled in a registered secondary school, so a home-instructed student cannot receive a local or Regents diploma, and no New York law provides for a parent-issued diploma. The recognized document is a letter from the superintendent of the district of residence certifying that the student completed the substantial equivalent of a four-year high school course (8 NYCRR 3.47(a)(2)); NYSED guidance says the superintendent must perform this evaluation on request for a student of compulsory school age, while for a student beyond compulsory age NYSED strongly encourages it and its Q&A says the superintendent may, but is under no obligation to, attest.N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 3.47(a)(2); NYSED, Guidelines on Revised Rules Relating to Conferral of a College Degree and Home Instruction (Feb. 14, 2005); NYSED, Home Instruction Questions and Answers
Compulsory school ages: 6 to 16: a child who turns 6 on or before December 1 must receive instruction from the start of that school year (otherwise from the following September), and must continue until the last day of the school year in which the child turns 16. A district's board of education may require minors aged 16 to 17 who are not employed to attend until the end of the school year in which they turn 17; NYSED's Q&A notes that New York City uses 17.N.Y. Educ. Law § 3205(1)(a), (1)(c), (3); NYSED, Home Instruction Questions and Answers

How homeschooling is authorized in New York

Home instructionA parent may provide instruction at home, which must be given by a competent teacher and be at least substantially equivalent to public school instruction, following the notice, IHIP, quarterly report and annual assessment procedures in the Commissioner's regulation. Basis: statute and regulationN.Y. Educ. Law § 3204(1), (2); N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10

What New York law means for your transcript

The regulation defines a unit as 6,480 minutes (108 hours) of instruction, so high school courses can be reported on a transcript in those units (8 NYCRR 100.10(e)(1)).
NYSED says credit is given only by schools, so units on a parent transcript record instruction rather than school credit, and a receiving high school's principal decides what credit to award.
Keeping copies of the grades 9-12 IHIPs, quarterly reports and annual assessments filed under 8 NYCRR 100.10 is practice that supports a request for the superintendent's letter of substantial equivalence.
Listing Regents exam scores is practice; NYSED suggests a student who took Regents exams ask the district for a letterhead list of the exams, dates and scores to share with colleges.

College admission and state aid for New York homeschoolers

8 NYCRR 3.47(a)(2) governs conferral of a college degree in New York, not admission: a candidate must show a high school diploma or a superintendent-certified substantial equivalent, and a candidate beyond compulsory school age may instead show a high school equivalency diploma, 24 college semester hours in a set distribution (6 English language arts, 3 mathematics, 3 natural sciences, 3 social sciences, 3 humanities, 6 other), a prior degree, or passing scores on five Regents examinations (English, mathematics, U.S. history and government, a science, and global history and geography). A compulsory-age student studying full time (at least 12 semester hours) at a college must first give the college an IHIP that authorizes that study. For state student aid, NYSED's 2005 guidance quotes Education Law § 661(4)(c): a certificate of graduation from a secondary school, its recognized equivalent, or a passing score on a federally approved ability-to-benefit examination.N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 3.47(a)(2), (b); N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 100.10(d)(5); N.Y. Educ. Law § 661(4)(c) (text not confirmed); NYSED, Guidelines on Revised Rules Relating to Conferral of a College Degree and Home Instruction (Feb. 14, 2005)

Recent changes to New York homeschool law

No change to 8 NYCRR 100.10 or 8 NYCRR 3.47 was found for 2023 to 2026: section 100.10 was last amended effective September 30, 2020 (a COVID-19 waiver of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 assessments) and section 3.47 effective September 29, 2021. Bills S 199 / A 2326 (a statewide process for letters of substantial equivalency) and S 4037 / A 323 (lowering the compulsory school age from 6 to 5) were introduced in 2025 and, according to HSLDA, died when the 2025-2026 legislative session ended in June 2026; none of them is law.

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What we could not confirm

These points could not be checked against the statute or regulation text, so treat them with care:

Did not open N.Y. Education Law § 661(4)(c) itself (nysenate.gov returns 403 to scripted requests); its wording is taken from NYSED's February 14, 2005 guidance memo, which may predate later amendments to the aid statute.
The status of S 199 / A 2326 and S 4037 / A 323 comes from HSLDA's bill-tracking posts; it was not confirmed on the Legislature's own bill pages.
New York City's use of age 17 comes from NYSED's Q&A; the district resolution itself was not opened.
The 8 NYCRR text was read from Cornell LII's copy of the regulations, not from the official NYCRR publication.

Sources

General information about New York law as of September 29, 2026, not legal advice. Laws change, so check the statute before you rely on it. Found an error? Email [email protected].