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Thank you for inviting us to collaborate with you here!

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Thank you for inviting us to collaborate with you here!

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Catherine

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If student has reached all of the goals of the IEP and is experiencing lessened or no effects from the disabilty, it is a viable option to dissolve the IEP team due to success in bringing the student up to par with the standards and expectations of the class.

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Depending on results of the review day, we may need to create a new IEP to create adjusted goals that will encourage student to make progress

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Schedule meeting with student and/or parents

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Schedule meeting with student and/or parents

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If child does:
a.) well during the academic assessment, or
b).Does not test positive for an academic disability

Then, determine what is causing poor results in the classroom (ie Health, family, motivation. ) Schedule meeting with student and eventually parents to discover reasons for teacher concern

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Determine a length of time to schedule a review meeting with the IEP team. It should be no less than once a year but should be alot more frequent. During the meeting the team will discuss and progress or lack thereof from the student, determining what the next goals should be from the IEP or even if there needs to be an IEP anymore.

It is also suggested that once every three years, the team reevaluates the student to determine if they still exhibit effects (less or more) from the learning disability.

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An annual review is an IEP meeting required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that must be held at least once a year. The meeting brings the IEP team together to review the student's progress and program, and plan for the following year. As with other IEP meetings, the school district must provide parents with advance written notice of the meeting and consider their availability when scheduling the meeting. The meeting has these parts:
1. Review of Progress since Last Annual IEP Meeting
The team first discusses the student's progress on IEP goals and objectives that were written last year. Different team members, including parents, report.

The team measures whether the IEP is working by reviewing the gains the team had expected the student to make over the past year, known as the Present Levels of Performance (PLOP). The Annual Review starts with a review of how the plan worked in helping the student meet those goals. If a student did not meet a goal, the discussion should include whether the appropriate support, services, accommodations/modifications and specialized instruction were provided, whether the placement was appropriate, and what factors interfered with the student meeting that goal. If the student easily met or exceeded the goals, this means that the student may need a higher set of expectations for next year-and the placement and support necessary to accomplish greater challenges!
2. Write New Goals and Determine Specialized Instruction and Services Necessary to Support Those Goals
As always, goals should be Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and Relevant, and Time-specific (SMART). Because goals drive the IEP, take the time to have a broad discussion of what areas a student needs goals in-academics, social skills, behavior, mental health, motor skills, etc. All areas of need, regardless of the disability, must be addressed. If not, the student cannot gain skills in each area of need necessary for educational success.
3. Consider Placement and Services
Determine whether the current placement and program are working based on the prior steps, and will support the new goals. If your student is not participating in a general education classroom, this is a good time to ask what supports will be necessary to provide a greater percentage of the time learning with non-disabled peers. If the student attends a state-certified non-public school (NPS), this is a time to discuss how he or she may be provided with integrated learning opportunities with typically developing peers.
4. Create the New IEP
The meeting is "complete" when the IEP team, including the parent, has agreed to an IEP document that fully describes the student's program for the upcoming year. Any areas where the previous plan did not work well should be identified and corrected. Needs for transitional support (most critical when students are changing from preschool to kindergarten, elementary to middle school, middle to high school, and high school to adult-focused support if the student is not graduating) should also be discussed. Does the new school staff need more training? Should the Behavior Support Plan be modified in light of the new setting? How can the student learn about the physical site, find their classroom, know who to go to for help? What about transportation, or extended school year (ESY)-are these related services needed in the IEP?
5. IEP Notes
A District staff person will take notes/minutes of the meeting, including any parent feedback or concerns, and how the team reached their decisions. Documents a parent brings to the meeting and wants entered into the meeting record should be noted. An IEP Notes summary is part of the IEP document.

The annual IEP is a document to guide a student to a meaningful destination. And it is legally binding. We generally suggest that, given how much is discussed and how important this one-year "roadmap" is, that the parent take the proposed new IEP document home to review for a few days, and sign attendance only at the meeting. But if the parent is in agreement with the proposed plan, he or she can sign the IEP, which then takes effect immediately. If a parent cannot agree with the total IEP, a parent may "sign the IEP with exception" and write which parts they believe are not appropriate or need correction. All other parts consented to must be implemented.

If you are not in agreement with some or all of the IEP, contact your Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) if you need help with next steps. You can also contact your local PTI if you have specific questions about education and students with disabilities age 0-26.
From the California Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

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An annual review is an IEP meeting required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that must be held at least once a year. The meeting brings the IEP team together to review the student's progress and program, and plan for the following year.

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After conducting the IEP meeting, be quick to use it in effect. School and parents must immediately follow the written steps of the IEP to provide timely intervention. Track behavior and progress (or lack of) from the student. Make short and long term goals as a benchmark on where we expect the student to be during the plan.

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Current as of 2018 This info in Spanish | Esta información en español
Another component of the IEP that IDEA requires is specifying how the child's progress will be measured. This statement flows naturally out of the annual goals written for the child, which must be measurable. Measuring the progress that a child is making toward his or her stated annual goals is an essential part of the special educational process, because it gives the IEP team concrete evidence as to whether the individualized program as designed by that team is actually effective or whether adjustments to services or instruction need to be made. And, of course, it's equally essential to report back to the child's parents, so they are informed about their child's learning.

IDEA's Exact Words

IDEA states that each child's IEP must contain:

(3) A description of-

(i) How the child's progress toward meeting the annual goals described in paragraph (2) of this section will be measured; and

(ii) When periodic reports on the progress the child is making toward meeting the annual goals (such as through the use of quarterly or other periodic reports, concurrent with the issuance of report cards) will be provided...[§300.320(a)(3)]

Prompting Questions to Help Guide the Discussion

IEP teams may find it easier to address this component of the IEP by framing the discussion around specific questions. For example, the IEP team might ask itself these three questions:

How will the child's progress be measured?

When will the child's progress be measured?

How well will the child need to perform in order to achieve his or her stated IEP goals (and, for some children, benchmarks or objectives)?

The information on how well a child must perform and how his or her progress will be measured is often called evaluation criteria. Well-written evaluation criteria are stated in objective, measurable terms. (You'll note the tie-in with the requirement that the annual goals written for a child must be measurable.) For example, a child might be required to perform a task "with 90% accuracy" or get 18 out of 20 words correct in each of 5 trials. These are concrete numbers or scores, establishing what the IEP team considers an acceptable level of performance or progress for the child.

In other instances, progress may not be measured in number scores, such as statements like this:

By June 15, Vicky will complete the obstacle course unassisted, as documented by the adapted physical education teacher.

In this example, the teacher will observe and take notes while Vicky completes the obstacle course. Teacher observation/notes are one way of checking progress. Other ways of checking progress may include:

reviewing class work and homework assignments;

giving quizzes, tests, or teacher-made assessments; and

giving informal and/or formal assessments (the QRI or Woodcock-Johnson, for example).

Reporting to Parents on the Child's Progress

IDEA's exact words above also refer to the periodic reporting of each child's progress, which gives parents, other members of the IEP team, and the public agency the opportunity to review the IEP and make adjustments if they are warranted. When a child does not make the progress expected, then it's essential to determine why and take corrective action.

The 2004 Amendments to IDEA are not especially prescriptive about the timing of such progress reports. This is because the statute itself does not require report cards or quarterly report cards. When IDEA mentions them in §300.320(a)(ii) (see above), they "are used as examples...of when periodic reports on the child's progress toward meeting the annual goals might be provided" (71 Fed. Reg. at 46664, emphasis added). As the Department of Education clarifies:

The specific times that progress reports are provided to parents and the specific manner and format in which a child's progress toward meeting the annual goals is reported is best left to State and local officials to determine. ( Id.)

In OSEP's letter to Pugh on January 18, 2017, the Department reiterated this position, adding, "Thus, State educational agencies and their local educational agencies have discretion to determine the specific content of the periodic progress reports provided to parents of children with disabilities, and in reporting progress on annual goals."

Would you like to read about another component of the IEP?
If so, use the links below to jump there quickly.
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Annual Goals
Once a child's needs are identified, the IEP team works to develop appropriate goals to address those needs. Annual goal describe what the child is expected to do or learn within a 12-month period.

Measuring and Reporting Progress (you're already here!)
Each child's IEP must also contain a description of how his or her progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured and when it will be reported to parents. Learn more about how to write this statement in this short article.

Related Services
To help a child with a disability benefit from special education, he or she may also need extra help in one area or another, such as speaking or moving. This additional help is called related services. Find out all about these critical services here.

Accommodations in Assessment
IDEA requires that students with disabilities take part in state or districtwide assessments. The IEP team must decide if the student needs accommodations in testing or another type of assessment entirely. In this component of the IEP, the team documents how the student will participate.

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Measuring and Reporting Student Progress

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Current as of 2018 This info in Spanish | Esta información en español Another component of the IEP that IDEA requires is specifying how the child's progress will be measured. This statement flows naturally out of the annual goals written for the child, which must be measurable.

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If child is found to have academic disability: Schedule and Create an IEP for the student

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If child is found to have academic disability: Schedule and Create an IEP for the student

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If your child is found eligible for special education services, schedule an individualized education plan meeting with your school's professionals and parents (sometimes the student) to create and IEP team. The IEP team will discuss the child's needs and steps needed to take for the child to fulfill realistic goals on bringing them back on track with the class.

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Accurate and updated information as of July 2021 In Spanish | En español This article describes how the IEP meeting is scheduled, who comes, and the special factors that team members must consider when writing an IEP. IEP teams are made up of individuals who bring different perspectives and expertise to the table.

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If assessment result is poor : Test for disability affecting academics

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If assessment result is poor : Test for disability affecting academics

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Advice parents or special education administrator of child who has the potential of exhibiting learning disability and test them using professionals. Do not move on with the process until having a proper report from the professional.

Learning Disability can include

Autism

Deafness

Deaf-blindness

Developmental delay

Emotional disturbance

Hearing impairment

Intellectual disability

Multiple disabilities

Orthopedic impairment

Other health impairment

Specific learning disability

Speech or language impairment

Traumatic brain injury

Visual impairment, including blindness.

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Accurate and updated information as of April 2022
In Spanish | en español

Evaluation is an essential beginning step in the special education process for a child with a disability. Before a child can receive special education and related services for the first time, a full and individual initial evaluation of the child must be conducted to see if the child has a disability and is eligible for special education. Informed parent consent must be obtained before this evaluation may be conducted.

The evaluation process is guided by requirements in Part B of our nation's special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This page will help you learn more about what these requirements are.
Table of Contents
Purposes of Evaluation

The initial evaluation of a child is required by IDEA before any special education and related services can be provided to that child. The purposes of conducting this evaluation are straightforward:

To see if the child is a "child with a disability," as defined by IDEA

To gather information that will help determine the child's educational needs

To guide decision making about appropriate educational programming for the child.

IDEA's Definition of a "Child with a Disability"

IDEA lists different disability categories under which a child may be found eligible for special education and related services. These categories are:

Autism

Deafness

Deaf-blindness

Developmental delay

Emotional disturbance

Hearing impairment

Intellectual disability

Multiple disabilities

Orthopedic impairment

Other health impairment

Specific learning disability

Speech or language impairment

Traumatic brain injury

Visual impairment, including blindness.

To find out more about these disabilities and how IDEA defines them, you'll find Categories of Disability under IDEA right to the point.

Having a disability, though, does not necessarily make a child eligible for special education. Consider this language from the IDEA regulations:

Child with a disability means a child evaluated in accordance with §§300.304 through 300.311 as having [one of the disabilities listed above] and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. [ emphasis added]

This provision includes the very important phrase "...and who, by reason thereof..." This means that, because of the disability, the child needs special education and related services. Many children have disabilities that do not bring with them the need for extra educational assistance or individualized educational programming. If a child has a disability but is not eligible under IDEA, he or she may be eligible for the protections afforded by other laws-such as of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. It's not uncommon for a child to have a 504 plan at school to address disability-related educational needs. Such a child will receive needed assistance but not under IDEA.

Identifying Children for Evaluation

Before a child's eligibility under IDEA can be determined, however, a full and individual evaluation of the child must be conducted. There are at least two ways in which a child may be identified to receive an evaluation under IDEA:

(1) Parents may request that their child be evaluated. Parents are often the first to notice that their child's learning, behavior, or development may be a cause for concern. If they're worried about their child's progress in school and think he or she might need extra help from special education services, they may call, email, or writeto their child's teacher, the school's principal, or the Director of Special Education in the school district. If the school agrees that an evaluation is needed, it must evaluate the child at no cost to parents.

(2) The school system may ask to evaluate the child. Based on a teacher's recommendation, observations, or results from tests given to all children in a particular grade, a school may recommend that a child receive further screening or assessment to determine if he or she has a disability and needs special education and related services. The school system must ask parents for permission to evaluate the child, and parents must give their informed written permission before the evaluation may be conducted.

Giving Parents Notice

It is important to know that IDEA requires the school system to notify parents in writing that it would like to evaluate their child (or that it is refusing to evaluate the child). This is called giving prior written notice. It is not enough for the agency to tell parents that it would like to evaluate their child or that it refuses to evaluate their child. The school must also:

explain why it wants to conduct the evaluation (or why it refuses);

describe each evaluation procedure, assessment, record, or report used as a basis for proposing the evaluation (or refusing to conduct the evaluation);

where parents can go to obtain help in understanding IDEA's provisions;

what other options the school considered and why those were rejected; and

a description of any other factors that are relevant to the school's proposal (or refusal) to evaluate the child.

The purpose behind this thorough explanation is to make sure that parents are fully informed, understand what is being proposed (or refused), understand what evaluation of their child will involve (or why the school system is refusing to conduct an evaluation of the child), and understand their right to refuse consent for evaluation, or to otherwise exercise their rights under IDEA's procedural safeguards if the school refuses to evaluate.

All written communication from the school must be in a form the general public can understand. It must be provided in parents' native language if they do not read English, or in the mode of communication they normally use (such as Braille or large print) unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. If parents' native language or other mode of communication is not a written language, the school must take steps to ensure:

that the notice is translated orally (or by other means) to parents in their native language or other mode of communication,

that parents understand the content of the notice, and

that there is written evidence that the above two requirements have been met.

Parental Consent

Before the school may proceed with the evaluation, parents must give their informed written consent. This consent is for the evaluation only. It does not mean that the school has the parents' permission to provide special education services to the child. That requires a separate consent.

If parents refuse consent for an initial evaluation (or simply don't respond to the school's request), the school must carefully document all its attempts to obtain parent consent. It may also continue to pursue conducting the evaluation by using the law's due process procedures or its procedures, unless doing so would be inconsistent with state law relating to parental consent.

However, if the child is home-schooled or has been placed in a private school by parents (meaning, the parents are paying for the cost of the private school), the school may not override parents' lack of consent for initial evaluation of the child. As the Department of Education (2006) notes:

...once parents opt out of the public school system, States and school districts do not have the same interest in requiring parents to agree to the evaluation of their children. In such cases, it would be overly intrusive for the school district to insist on an evaluation over a parent's objection. (71 Fed. Reg. at 46635)

Timeframe for Initial Evaluation

Let's move on from the prerequisites for initial evaluation (parent notification and parent consent) to the actual process of initial evaluation and what the law requires. Let us assume that parents' informed consent has been given, and it's time to evaluate the child. Must this evaluation be conducted within a certain period of time after parents give their consent?

Yes. In its reauthorization of IDEA in 2004, Congress added a specific timeframe: The initial evaluation must be conducted within 60 days of receiving parental consent for the evaluation-or if the state establishes its own timeframe for conducting an initial evaluation, within that timeframe. (In other words: Any timeframe established by the state takes precedence over the 60-day timeline required by IDEA.)

The Scope of Evaluation

A child's initial evaluation must be full and individual, focused on that child and only that child. This is a longstanding provision of IDEA. An evaluation of a child under IDEA means much more than the child sitting in a room with the rest of his or her class taking an exam for that class, that school, that district, or that state. How the child performs on such exams will contribute useful information to an IDEA-related evaluation, but large-scale tests or group-administered instruments are not enough to diagnose a disability or determine what, if any, special education or related services the child might need, let alone plan an appropriate educational program for the child.

The evaluation must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information about the child, including information provided by the parent. When conducting an initial evaluation, it's important to examine all areas of a child's functioning to determine not only if the child is a child with a disability, but also determine the child's educational needs. This full and individual evaluation includes evaluating the child's:

health,

vision and hearing,

social and emotional status,

general intelligence,

academic performance,

communicative status, and

motor abilities

As IDEA states, the school system must ensure that-

...the evaluation is sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child's special education and related services needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified.

Review Existing Data

Evaluation (and particularly reevaluation) typically begins with a review of existing evaluation data on the child, which may come from the child's classroom work, his or her performance on State or district assessments, information provided by the parents, and so on.

The purpose of this review is to decide if the existing data is sufficient to establish the child's eligibility and determine educational needs, or if additional information is needed. If the group determines there is sufficient information available to make the necessary determinations, the public agency must notify parents:

of that determination and the reason for it; and

that parents have the right to request assessment to determine the child's eligibility and educational needs.

Unless the parents request an assessment, the public agency is not required to conduct one.

If it is decided that additional data is needed, the group then identifies what is needed to determine:

whether your son or daughter has a particular category of disability (e.g., "other health impairment," "specific learning disability");

your child's present levels of performance (that is, how he or she is currently doing in school) and his or her academic and developmental needs;

whether your child needs special education and related services; and

if so, whether any additions or modifications are needed in the special education and related services to enable your child to meet the goals set out in the IEP to be developed and to participate, as appropriate, in the general curriculum.

An example may help crystallize the comprehensive scope of evaluations: Consider a first-grader with suspected hearing and vision impairments who's been referred for an initial evaluation. In order to fully gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information and identify all of the child's special education and related services needs, evaluation of this child will obviously need to focus on hearing and vision, as well as, cognitive, speech/language, motor, and social/behavioral skills, to determine:

the degree of impairment in vision and hearing and the impact of these impairments on the child;

if there are additional impairments in other areas of functioning (including those not commonly linked to hearing and/or vision) that impact the child's aptitude, performance, and achievement; and

what the child's educational needs are that must be addressed.

With this example, any of the following individuals might be part of this child's evaluation team: audiologist, psychologist, speech-language pathologist, social worker, occupational or physical therapist, vision specialist, regular classroom teacher, educational diagnosticians, or others.

Variety, Variety!

The evaluation must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies. This has been one of the cornerstones of IDEA's evaluation requirements from its earliest days. Under IDEA, it is inappropriate and unacceptable to base any eligibility decision upon the results of only one procedure. Tests alone will not give a comprehensive picture of how a child performs or what he or she knows or does not know. Only by collecting data through a variety of approaches (e.g., observations, interviews, tests, curriculum-based assessment, and so on) and from a variety of sources (parents, teachers, specialists, child) can an adequate picture be obtained of the child's strengths and weaknesses.

IDEA also requires schools to use technically sound instruments and processes in evaluation. Technically sound instruments generally refers to assessments that have been shown through research to be valid and reliable (71 Fed. Reg. at 46642). Technically sound processes requires that assessments and other evaluation materials be:

administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel;

administered in accordance with any instructions provided by the producer of the assessments; and

used for the purposes for which the assessments or measures are valid and reliable.

In conjunction with using a variety of sound tools and processes, assessments must include those that are tailored to assess specific areas of educational need (for example, reading or math) and not merely those that are designed to provide a single general intelligence quotient, or IQ.

Taken together, all of this information can be used to determine whether the child has a disability under IDEA, the specific nature of the child's special needs, whether the child needs special education and related services and, if so, to design an appropriate program.

Consider Language, Communication Mode, and Culture

Another important component in evaluation is to ensure that assessment tools are not discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis. Evaluation must also be conducted in the child's typical, accustomed mode of communication (unless it is clearly not feasible to do so) and in a form that will yield accurate information about what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally. For many, English is not the native language; others use sign to communicate, or assistive or alternative augmentative communication devices. To assess such a child using a means of communication or response not highly familiar to the child raises the probability that the evaluation results will yield minimal, if any, information about what the child knows and can do.

Specifically, consideration of language, culture, and communication mode means the following:

If your child has limited English proficiency, materials and procedures used to assess your child must be selected and administered to ensure that they measure the extent to which your child has a disability and needs special education, rather than measuring your child's English language skills.

This provision in the law is meant to protect children of different racial, cultural, or language backgrounds from misdiagnosis. For example, children's cultural backgrounds may affect their behavior or test responses in ways that teachers or other personnel do not understand. Similarly, if a child speaks a language other than English or has limited English proficiency, he or she may not understand directions or words on tests and may be unable to answer correctly. As a result, a child may mistakenly appear to be a slow learner or to have a hearing or communication problem.

If an assessment is not conducted under standard conditions-meaning that some condition of the test has been changed (such as the qualifications of the person giving the test or the method of giving the test)-a description of the extent to which it varied from standard conditions must be included in the evaluation report.

If your child has impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, the law requires that tests are selected and administered so as best to ensure that test results accurately reflect his or her aptitude or achievement level (or whatever other factors the test claims to measure), and not merely reflect your child's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (unless the test being used is intended to measure those skills).

What About Evaluation for Specific Learning Disabilities?

IDEA's regulations specify additional procedures required to be used for determining the existence of a specific learning disability. Sections 300.307 through 300.311 spell out what these procedures are. You can learn more by reading of our Building the Legacy training curriculum on IDEA 2004.

It's important to note, though, that IDEA 2004 made dramatic changes in how children who are suspected of having a learning disability are to be evaluated.

States must not require the use of a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement.

States must permit the use of a process based on the child's response to scientific, research-based intervention; and

States may permit the use of other alternative research-based procedures for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability.

The team that makes the eligibility determination must include a regular education teacher and at least one person qualified to conduct individual diagnostic examinations of children, such as a school psychologist, speech-languate pathologist, or remedial reading teacher.

Determining Eligibility

Parents were not always included in the group that determined their child's eligibility and, in fact, were often excluded. Since the IDEA Amendments of 1997, parents are to be part of the group that determines their child's eligibility and are also to be provided a copy of the evaluation report, as well as documentation of the determination of the child's eligibility.

Some school systems will hold a meeting where they consider only the eligibility of the child for special education and related services. At this meeting, your child's assessment results should be explained. The specialists who assessed your child will explain what they did, why they used the tests they did, your child's results on those tests or other evaluation procedures, and what your child's scores mean when compared to other children of the same age and grade.

It is important to know that the group may not determine that a child is eligible if the determinant factor for making that judgment is the child's lack of instruction in reading or math or the child's limited English proficiency. The child must otherwise meet the law's definition of a "child with a disability"-meaning that he or she has one of the disabilities listed in the law and, because of that disability, needs special education and related services.

If the evaluation results indicate that your child meets the definition of one or more of the disabilities listed under IDEA and needs special education and related services, the results will form the basis for developing your child's IEP. The IEP is discussed in detail in CPIR's pages beginning at All About the IEP.

What Happens if You Don't Agree with the Evaluation Results?

If you, as parents of a child with a disability, disagree with the results of your child's evaluation as obtained by the public agency, you have the right to obtain what is known as an Independent Educational Evaluation , or IEE. An IEE means an evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner who is not employed by the public agency responsible for the education of your child. If you ask for an IEE, the public agency must provide you with, among other things, information about where an IEE may be obtained.

Who pays for the independent evaluation? The answer is that some IEEs are at public expense and others are paid for by the parents. For example, if you are the parent of a child with a disability and you disagree with the public agency's evaluation, you may request an IEE at public expense. "At public expense" means that the public agency either pays for the full cost of the evaluation or ensures that the evaluation is otherwise provided at no cost to you as parents. The public agency may grant your request and pay for the IEE, or it may initiate a hearing to show that its own evaluation was appropriate. The public agency may ask why you object to the public evaluation. However, the agency may not require you to explain, and it may not unreasonably delay either providing the IEE at public expense or initiating a due process hearing to defend the public evaluation.

If the public agency initiates a hearing and the final decision of the hearing officer is that the agency's evaluation was appropriate, then you still have the right to an IEE but not at public expense. As part of a due process hearing, a hearing officer may also request an IEE; if so, that IEE must be at public expense. Whenever an IEE is publicly funded, that IEE must meet the same criteria that the public agency uses when it initiates an evaluation. The public agency must tell you what these criteria are-such as location of the evaluation and the qualifications of the examiner-and they must be the same criteria the public agency uses when it initiates an evaluation, to the extent they are consistent with your right to an IEE. However, the public agency may not impose other conditions or timelines related to your obtaining an IEE at public expense.

Of course, you have the right to have your child independently evaluated at any time at your own expense. (Note: When the same tests are repeated within a short time period, the validity of the results can be seriously weakened.) The results of this evaluation must be considered by the public agency, if it meets agency criteria, in any decision made with respect to providing your child with FAPE. The results may also be presented as evidence at a hearing regarding your child.

What Happens Down the Road?

After the initial evaluation, evaluations must be conducted at least every three years (generally called a triennial evaluation) after your child has been placed in special education. Reevaluations can also occur more frequently if conditions warrant, or if you or your child's teacher request a reevaluation. Informed parental consent is also necessary for reevaluations.

As with initial evaluations, reevaluations begin with the review of existing evaluation data, including evaluations and information provided by you, the child's parents. Your consent is not required for the review of existing data on your child. As with initial evaluation, this review is to identify what additional data, if any, are needed to determine whether your child continues to be a "child with a disability" and continues to need special education and related services. If the group determines that additional data are needed, then the public agency must administer tests and other evaluation materials as needed to produce the data. Prior to collecting this additional information, the agency must obtain your informed written consent.

Or, if the group determines that no additional data are needed to determine whether your child continues to be a "child with a disability," the public agency must notify you:

of this determination and the reasons for it; and

of your right, as parents, to request an assessment to determine whether, for the purposes of services under IDEA, your child continues to be a "child with a disability."

A final note with respect to reevaluations: Before determining that your child is no longer a "child with a disability" and, thus, no longer eligible for special education services under IDEA, the public agency must evaluate your child in accordance with all of the provisions described above. This evaluation, however, is not required before terminating your child's eligibility due to graduation with a regular high school diploma or due to exceeding the age eligibility for FAPE under State law.

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You may find the following sections of our website particularly helpful for understanding the requirements and responsibilities intrinsic to the special education process.

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Evaluating School-Aged Children for Disability

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Accurate and updated information as of April 2022 In Spanish | en español Evaluation is an essential beginning step in the special education process for a child with a disability. Before a child can receive special education and related services for the first time, a full and individual initial evaluation of the child must be conducted to see if the child has a disability and is eligible for special education.

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To determine if a child a struggling, we need to first check how the child scores using class wide or standardized testing and comparing their performance with their peers. Depending on your country or state, you may want to use a certain type of test. Here is a list of standardized tests in the USA.

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Once, the ACT and SAT were big factors in determining whether or not you'd get into the school of your choice, but today schools are moving away from these tests, in large part because research has shown that they aren't reliable indicators of how successful students will be in college.

That doesn't mean that student achievement tests have totally gone by the wayside, however. There are still a number of tests that matter in a big way at nearly every level of education, as well as innovative new models of assessment that are changing the way we think about standardized tests. Here, we've collected a few of both, showcasing the tests that students need to pay attention to today, as well as developments they can expect in the future.
15 Standardized Tests Being Used In Education Today
K-12

Students in K-12 classes are taking these tests that may play a role in their own achievement and public education policy.

1. Common Core State Testing: If you thought standardized tests were a huge part of schooling before Common Core, things are about to expand much further. The new Common Core State Standards call for testing students not only in math and reading but also in subjects like foreign language, economics, the arts, and physical education. That's a whole lot of testing and it's predicted that it will span the entire K-12 experience. The results of these tests will play a big role in teacher evaluation, education policy, and even funding, so they're not to be dismissed lightly.

2. TerraNova: TerraNova is a series of student achievement tests produced by McGraw-Hill that are designed to be given to students in K-12 to assess their understanding of reading, language arts, math, science, social studies, vocabulary, spelling, and other areas. The tests are used by the Department of Defense, the state of California, and several other states throughout the U.S.

3. International Baccalaureate Exam: While much more important in Europe and other places around the world, the IB exam can still play a big role for students in IB schools in the U.S. The exam not only marks the culmination of IB education; it can also take the place of the SAT and even give students college credit in languages and other subjects.

4. Stanford Achievement Test: Often called the SAT 10, this test produced by educational publisher Pearson is used both here and abroad for assessing skills in reading comprehension, mathematics, problem solving, language, spelling, listening comprehension, science, and social science. While incredibly comprehensive, it is becoming less common as states develop their own standardized tests under the mandate of the No Child Left Behind Act. A similar test, designed for use in urban areas, is the Metropolitan Test.

5. STAR Tests: STAR tests were created by Renaissance Learning for use in K-12 education. The tests are somewhat unique in that they are completed over the computer and use adaptive technology. Educators can use the tests to evaluate students in reading, early literacy, or math. They can often be an important tool in preparing students for state and high-stakes tests, and are often used to monitor student progress rather than to determine state or local education policy.

6. PARCC and SBAC Tests: PARCC (the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) and SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) are two groups looking to change the face of standardized testing in the U.S. These new tests will be given on the computer and may rely on computer skills to answer questions (students must drag items or highlight phrases). Another change is that some questions require research, writing, and problem solving, though the tests haven't been able to totally get away from multiple choice questions.

7. New York Performance Standards Consortium Test: The New York Performance Standards Consortium, an alliance of 28 public high schools, is using a different kind of test to evaluate students. Students at these schools take performance-based assessments instead of standardized tests in all areas except for language arts. This small change, asking students to write essays and research papers, do science experiments, and create applied math problems rather than answer multiple choice questions, is having a big impact. The schools in the program have cut dropout rates in half, and the number of students who head to college after graduation has skyrocketed.

8. Learning Record and Work Sampling System: Two other kinds of innovative student assessments that are gaining ground are Learning Record and Work Sampling System, both of which draw on a student's work in class to measure progress, rather than on a specific test. Teachers attach scores to things like writing samples or science experiments, allowing them to get a better sense of a student's progress over time, rather than in a single instance.

Post-Secondary

Even if your school of choice doesn't place high value on the SAT or ACT, you may still find these tests critical to your journey into higher education and your career.

9. AP Exams: There are currently 34 different AP courses that students can enroll in, offering access to college-level study in everything from calculus to art history. Students who opt to take AP courses and the subsequent exams can earn college credit at a much lower price, and potentially even graduate earlier, so the tests can be a big deal to those who take them.

10. SAT Subject Tests: The SAT may not be necessary to score you a spot at some colleges, but the subject tests offered by the College Board can still play a big role in determining your college career. These tests allow students to showcase their achievement in specific subject areas, like English, history, mathematics, and science. While not required, they can often help students demonstrate their ability to excel in a given topic, even if they struggle in other parts of the general test.

11. WorkKeys: For students who don't plan to go on to college, there are still standardized tests that matter. One of these is WorkKeys. This test, created by the ACT people, is used by high schools (and colleges, too) to measure the workplace skills of students. The test can help students find a career that is a good match for them or get help in discerning which skills they can work on to help them get ahead in a field of their choice.

Graduate

Planning to head to graduate or professional school? These tests can play a big role in your admissions.

12. GRE: The Graduate Record Examination, more commonly called the GRE, is a required examination for admission to most graduate schools in the U.S. The test evaluates a student's knowledge of verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking skills. The test just underwent a major overhaul in 2011, reevaluating the adaptive nature of the problems offered to students. How much of a role the GRE plays in acceptance to grad school varies, but at many it can be an important factor in selection.

13. LSAT: Students looking to get into any law school in the U.S. will first need to take the LSAT (the Law School Admission Test). The test evaluates students on their reading comprehension as well as their logic and reasoning. The test is a critical part of the law school admissions process, especially here in the U.S., but is also used in Canada and for some schools in Australia.

14. MCAT: For aspiring doctors, the MCAT is still a very important test when applying to medical school. The computer-based examination helps test the ability of students to think critically and solve problems as well as assessing their scientific knowledge and writing ability. Specialized professions in health care may require other tests like the DAT (Dental Admission Test), the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test), and the OAT (Optometry Admission Test).

15. VCAT: If it's your dream to work with animals, not people, in a medical setting, then you'll need to take the Veterinary College Admission Test. This assessment uses questions that evaluate a student's knowledge of biology and chemistry as well as reading comprehension, quantitative reasoning, and verbal skills.

16. Professional Tests: In many fields, in order to be certified as professionals, candidates must take tests to prove they have learned everything required to perform their job duties. These tests are taken in the final semesters of school or after students have graduated. They include the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, Bar Examination, NCLEX, PRAXIS, UCPA Exam, and the United States Medical Licensing Examination, among others. These can be some of the most important achievement tests students will even take, as failure to pass them can inhibit progress in a career.

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16 Standardized Tests Being Used In Education Today

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Once, the ACT and SAT were big factors in determining whether or not you'd get into the school of your choice, but today schools are moving away from these tests, in large part because research has shown that they aren't reliable indicators of how successful students will be in college.

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Identify student at risk of struggling  

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Identify student at risk of struggling  

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Signs of a struggling student: Takes a long time to or does not finish work. Easily Frustrated. Has difficulty understanding teachers. Makes errors consistently