Membership

Mandatory Requirement for membership:

These test guidelines apply to all. Students must meet the test score criteria BEFORE joining ESA. Students are not to be “provisionary members” waiting for a test score….

UPDATED 5/15/24 – We are currently working with the various tests to update the Benchmark Scores for the lower level grades for the College Admission Tests.

• College Admission Tests
  • SAT – 1200 (Benchmark ESA Score for 25 years)
    • PSAT
    • PSAT 10
    • PSAT 8/9 – 9th
    • PSAT 8/9 – 8th
  • ACT – 26 (Benchmark ESA Score for 25 years)
    • Pre-ACT 10
    • Pre-ACT 8/9
  • CLT
    • CLT – 91
    • CLT 10 – 88
• Achievement Tests
  • IOWA Assessment – 90% of complete battery
  • SAT – 90% (the score listed under the National PR-S or PR column)
  • Terra Nova – 90% (listed under the NPR column)

Additional Requirements as established by each individual chapter may include requirements such as:

• 3.5 grade point average based on a 4.0 scale.  (This GPA may include the parent transcript, early admission college courses, co-op or support group homeschool class grades, or similar coursework supervised/directed by the homeschooling parent.)
• Essay written by applicant
• Statement of faith; membership in a certain organization such as a state, regional, or local homeschool group; co-op; or sponsoring organization
• Attendance, service, participation guidelines  – We do recommend that chapters have meetings, but the chapter may determine how often.
• Other requirements established by the By-laws of each local chapter
• Letters of recommendation (collect include with your packet)

Chapters should have two deep leadership which means a minimum of two sponsors, not from the same family. We also recommend that chapters have a minimum of five eligible students to start a chapter. By-laws are to be developed by the students and made available to prospective members.  Chapters must hold meetings.  We do not charter chapters which do NOT meet.  The meetings may be monthly, quarterly, or even weekly, but chapters must hold meetings.

Please Note:  ESA is limited to home school students; this is the only limitation we have.   Anyone who is interested may apply for a chapter.  Support groups, co-ops, church groups, or other interested parties may apply for a charter.   Individual chapters do have the right to establish their own membership guidelines to be compatible with the organization that sponsors it.  We are friendly to people of all faiths and political persuasions! We do reserve the right to locate chapters so that they do not compete with one another for students.

Homeschool Eligibility – Only those students who meet the HSLDA definition of a home schooler are eligible for ESA membership.  This rule states that a student must complete 50% of his/her studies at home under the direct supervision of the parent. Co-ops, group classes, and even community college courses are acceptable as long as the 50% rule is followed.   Students enrolled in public school programs, charter school programs, full-time college programs, or other programs where more than 50% of the school time is spent in the supervision of a school setting or where the public school receives 50% funding for the student’s attendance or where the public school system, umbrella school, on-line school assigns the grades without parent participation, are not eligible for ESA membership.

Information for ESA Members – We are pleased to announce that Houston Christian University in Houston, Texas has established a $1000 scholarship for ESA members.  If interested, contact the University for more information.

NEW ADDRESS: 208 E. Edgewood Dr., Friendswood, TX 77546