Assessment, Eligibility, and Building the IEP
From referral to a defensible program
Child find obligates districts to identify and evaluate all children suspected of a disability, including those in private schools. After referral, the district obtains informed written parental consent and completes the initial evaluation within the required timeline (commonly 60 days). Evaluation is multidisciplinary, uses multiple technically sound measures, is administered in the child's native language or usual mode of communication, and may never rest on a single measure as the sole criterion. Response to intervention and other pre-referral data are informative, but they do not delay an evaluation when a disability is suspected.
The IEP team must include a regular education teacher (if the child participates in regular education), a special education teacher, a representative of the district qualified to supervise provision of services, someone who can interpret evaluation results, the parents, the student when appropriate, and other individuals with knowledge or expertise at the parents' or district's discretion. The document must contain present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, measurable annual goals with a description of how progress will be measured and reported, the special education and related services, supplementary aids and services, program modifications and supports for school personnel, an explanation of the extent of nonparticipation with nondisabled peers, assessment accommodations, service dates, and - beginning no later than age 16 - transition services with measurable postsecondary goals based on age-appropriate transition assessments. Reevaluation occurs at least every three years unless parents and district agree otherwise, and not more than once a year unless agreed.
Test-score traps: standard scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, so 85 is one standard deviation below the mean (about the 16th percentile) and 70 is two below (about the 2nd percentile). Grade equivalents overstate deficits and should never be read as "third grade, second month." Distinguish reliability (consistency) from validity (measuring what it claims), and norm-referenced from criterion-referenced and curriculum-based measures.
Rule of thumb: when a stem asks what to do next after disappointing evaluation or progress data, the answer usually begins with "convene the IEP team and review the data."