IEP Myths Debunked: Eligibility and the Outside Evaluation
Parents: Are you in the process of eligibility? Did you provide the school with an outside evaluation? Did the school respond, “now we have to evaluate?” If so, please read.
Why?
Schools are not allowed to prolong your child’s eligibility determination or potential IEP development to further test. The District is required to hold an IEP eligibility meeting within 10 days of receipt of the private evaluation. *Note: The District can OFFER to do additional / more testing to supplement your outside evaluation/s, but this occurs AFTER you meet as a TEAM! (And no, this meeting is not the same as the phone call from the Team Chair when he or she tells you the school must test first).
“Within 10 school days from the time the school district receives the report of the independent education evaluation the Team shall reconvene and consider the independent evaluation and whether a new or amended IEP is appropriate.” (See Image 1 below). The language is pretty clear. The Team shall (must) review the report and make a determination: your child is eligible, and If so, the Team develops an IEP ( full or partial). “NEW” denotes eligibility determination (and therefore a full or partial IEP) and “AMENDED” denotes the modification of an existing IEP based on data. If, AFTER the Team convenes to review your outside report, the TEAM (and this includes you) finds that this report is not sufficient to determine initial eligibility, the District is required to offer a consent form to evaluate (and this is where the *note ties in from above).
I have received three calls on this topic this week. It upsets me that your child, who may need specialized services and/or related services to access the curriculum, is sitting in IEP tandem while the school claims they cannot meet until they have “their chance to test.” As a timeline example: If you sent your outside report to the District on September 7th, the Team would have met by September 18th. Instead, your Chair called you on the 10th to say, “Now we get to evaluate.” They send a consent form. You sign, return, and best scenario, they receive it by September 18th. Evaluations commence and the Team convenes within the 45 school days. This brings our hypothetical Team to finally meet to discuss your child on/by November 23rd, which (you guess!) includes the same outside evaluation you sent the Team on September 7th.
Please feel free to reach out! I am always happy to answer questions! There are so many great Advocates, Attorneys, and Advocacy Groups in our State.
Mass Advocates: https://www.massadvocates.org/contact
Federation for Children with Special Needs: https://fcsn.org/about-us/contact-us/
