Detailed information is available here.

A licensed teacher providing private supervision is hired by the homeschooled student's parent. A licensed teacher providing HSAP supervision is selected, hired, and assigned by the public school providing the Home School Assistance Program. In order to access the services of a HSAP supervising teacher, the parent must enroll the homeschooled student in the public school Home School Assistance Program.

Parent-selected supervising teachers must meet with the student and parent at least twice every 45 days of instruction (one out of every two visits must be face-to-face). Home School Assistance Program supervising teachers must meet with the student and parent at least four times every 45 days of instruction (one out of every two visits must be face-to-face).

A privately-retained supervising teacher must have a valid Iowa teaching certificate or practitioner license appropriate to the grade level of the student. This includes an Iowa substitute teaching license or a substitute authorization. (More information is available below on substitute licenses and substitute authorizations.)

Yes! Parents who have active Iowa teaching licenses or substitute authorizations can enter their own names and license folder numbers on the CPI Form A in the teacher section.

As in the case of all supervising teachers, the parents' licenses or authorizations must be valid for the grade level of the children being supervised/instructed.

As long as your supervising teacher's license is appropriate for the grade levels of each of your homeschooled children, you will need only one supervising teacher.

Please note that some Iowa teacher licenses are limited to specific grade levels (e.g. K-6, K-8, 5-12, etc.) Be sure to ask your selected teacher if his or her license is appropriate to provide supervision for all of your children of compulsory school attendance age (6-16).

Any appropriately licensed teacher can serve as a supervising teacher. You can ask a family member or friend who qualifies to be your supervisor.

Homeschooling parents can also request a referral to one of the teachers on the Homeschool Iowa supervising teacher database.

You will need to have the name and folder number of your parent-selected supervising teacher before you complete your Competent Private Instruction Report form. The CPI form must be submitted by September 1.

A parent-selected supervising teacher must:

• consult with and advise the student's parent.
• provide formal and informal assessments of the student's progress to the student and the student's parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian.
• maintain a diary, record, or log* of visits and assistance provided.
• refer to the child's district of residence for evaluation a child who the practitioner has reason to believe may be in need of special education.

* The log is a private document. Parents and their supervising teacher can decide who will retain it. 

A substitute authorization is not a teaching license. The Department of Education created it to meet the high demand for substitute teachers.

A person seeking a substitute authorization must have an Associate's degree (or 60 or more post-secondary semester hours) and complete a substitute training program available through the AEA system.

The substitute authorization is good for 5 years. Renewal requires 2 renewal credits and the mandatory reporter training for child and dependent adult abuse.

Although it would seem at first that this does not relate to home educators, for decades, the Department of Education has expressly confirmed the use of a substitute authorization for supervisory services in privately-funded home schools (not HSAPs) -- until the DE published its new handbook in 2025.

The 2025 DE Private Instruction Handbook (which is a guidance document and not legally binding) states that the substitute authorization can only be used by a parent instructing his/her own child -- even though the current Chapter 31 administrative rules governing private instruction – 31.3(1)(c) – say that a substitute authorization may be used for CPI instruction or supervision of a any student not in a public school HSAP. 

A person holding a substitute teaching license must have completed a teacher education program. A substitute teaching license authorizes the person to substitute teach in any area, on any level, K-12, for a maximum of 90 days per assignment.

A person holding a substitute authorization must  have completed an Associate's degree (or 60 or more post-secondary semester hours) and complete a substitute training program available through the AEA system. A substitute authorization allows the person to substitute in the middle school, junior high or high school for a maximum of 5 days per assignment. (Note that the substitute authorization is now valid for grades K-12.)

According the Department of Education administrative rules, 31.3(1)(c), either a substitute license folder number or a substitute authorization folder number will be accepted as a licensed supervising teacher folder number in privately-funded home schools.

A substitute authorization may be issued to an individual who:

• has completed an Associate's degree (or 60 or more post-secondary semester hours)
• has completed a substitute training program available through the AEA system.

Substitute authorization courses are offered through Area Education Agencies system. Use the AEA website to find the online substitute authorization course.

Application forms for the substitute authorization are available on the website for the Iowa Bureau of Educational Examiners. You'll need to create an account on their system to apply. 

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