SPPS: Special Education

1. SPPS: Special Education Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Evaluation Compliance Training 2012-13

2. Evaluation: General Requirements • These rules pertain to all evaluations regardless of disability category or whether it is an initial or reevaluation • When you have completed an evaluation and want to add testing for another area, such as Developmental Adapted Physical Education (DAPE), you cannot do an addendum to the old report and just add the new information in an attachment. • There needs to be one comprehensive evaluation incorporating all information.

3. Evaluation: Materials & Procedures

4. Evaluation: Materials and Procedures The evaluation is sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child’s special education and related service needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified. 34 C.R.R. 300.304(c)(6)

5. Materials and Procedures: Sufficiently Comprehensive Point of Clarification: • An evaluation must be designed to determine eligibility and to identify needs. Without both components, it is not sufficiently comprehensive.

6. Evaluation: Materials & Procedures “A variety of assessment tools and strategies are used to gather relevant functional, developmental and academic information about the child including information provided by the parent.” 34 C.F.R. § 300.304(b)(1)

7. Materials and Procedures: Sufficiently Comprehensive Points of Clarification • A sufficiently comprehensive evaluation must address all areas of concern. • Sources for identifying areas of concern could include: • Parent and teacher report • Prereferral interventions and referral paperwork • Formal and informal assessment results • Individual Education Program (IEP) and progress reports

8. Materials and Procedures: Sufficiently Comprehensive • Disability categories require specific assessment data to determine eligibility as indicated in the specific eligibility criteria. • When one of the required data elements is missing, the evaluation would not be sufficiently comprehensive. • Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) required for Emotional Behavior Disorder (EBD) eligibility. • Adaptive behavior measure required for Developmental Cognitive Disability (DCD) eligibility.

9. Evaluation: Materials and Procedures As part of an initial evaluation (if appropriate) and as part of any reevaluation, the IEP Team and other qualified professionals, as appropriate, must review existing evaluation data on the child. 34 C.F.R. 300.305(a)(1)

10. Materials and Procedures: Existing Data • Points of Clarification: • When determining areas to assess, the team should consider all existing evaluation data on the child and tailor the evaluation accordingly. • Sources of existing evaluation data may include: • Prereferral intervention data • Outside evaluation data • Formal and informal assessment data

11. Materials and Procedures: Existing Data Verification Documentation may be located: • In Prior Written Notice (PWN) detailing information used as the basis for the proposed action. • In the Evaluation Report (ER) in the reason for referral, background information, or review of previous assessments. • This would be a citation if there was no evidence of existing evaluation data being reviewed as part of the evaluation when there is evidence such data exists.

12. Evaluation: Materials and Procedures A variety of assessment tools and strategies are used to gather relevant functional, developmental and academic information about the child, including information provided by the parent. 34 C.F.R. 300.304(b)(1)

13. Materials and Procedures: Variety of Tools • Point of Clarification: • 34 C.F.R. 300.306(c) requires the public agency, when determining eligibility, to draw from a variety of sources which may include: • Aptitude and achievement tests • Parent input • Teacher recommendations • Information regarding a child’s physical condition • Social or cultural background, and • Adaptive behavior

14. Materials and Procedures: Variety of Tools Point of Clarification: 34 C.R.R. 300.304(b)(2) states “the public agency must not use any single measure or assessment as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability and for determining an appropriate educational program for the child.”

15. Materials and Procedures: Variety of Tools Points of Clarification: • Most eligibility criteria require a number of different data sources (intelligence test, achievement test, observations, FBA, etc.). • State criteria and assessment requirements for eligibility must be considered when choosing assessment tools.

16. Evaluation: Materials and Procedures Assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a child are used for the purposes for which the assessments or measures are valid and reliable. 34 C.F.R. 300.304(c)(1)(iii)

17. Materials and Procedures: Valid and Reliable Points of Clarification: • Validity-Does the instrument measure what it is intended to measure? • Reliability – Does the instrument measure consistently?

18. Materials and Procedures: Valid and Reliable Points of Clarification: • There are no legal parameters to define what is acceptable in terms of validity or reliability measurements. • For example, there is no minimum requirement for a reliability coefficient. • Most nationally-normed, nationally published measures have met professional standards of reliability and validity. • When in question, check the test manual or with the publisher for information on the reliability and validity of a particular measure.

19. Materials and Procedures: Valid and Reliable Points of clarification: • In addition to requiring the measure be valid and reliable, this also refers to using the measure for the purpose for which it was intended. • Intelligence tests are used to determine intelligence, not academic performance. • Language tests are used to determine language skills, no academic performance.

20. Materials and Procedures: Valid and Reliable Sample of Noncompliance: Using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals – Fourth Edition (CELF-IV) language test results for Specific Learning Disability (SLD) eligibility determination. Sample of Compliance: Using the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement (WJ-III ACH) results for SLD eligibility determination.

21. Evaluation: Materials and Procedures Assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a child are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel. 34 C.F.R. 300.304(c)(1)(iv)

22. Materials and Procedures: Knowledgeable Personnel Points of Clarification • Most formal assessment measures have specific examiner qualification requirements. • When in question, check with the test manual or publisher for details on the examiner qualifications for a particular measure.

23. Evaluation: Materials and Procedures Assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a child are provided and administered in the child’s native language or other mode of communication and in the form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is clearly not feasible to provide or administer. 34 C.F.R. 300.304 (c)(1)(ii)

24. Materials and Procedures: Native Language Points of Clarification • This citation is most often associated with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students or English Language Learners (ELL), but would also apply to students with other sensory, communication, or even motor impairments. • When an assessment is administered in another language or mode of communication, that information should be documented under “other factors” on the evaluation plan/PWN.

25. Materials and Procedures: Native Language Point of Clarification: • Based on the referral information, background of the student, and parent and teacher input, if there is something to suggest sensory, communication, or motor concerns for the student exist, there must be documentation in the ER or on the PWN that either state: • The factors were considered, resulting in changes or accommodations to the testing; or • The factors were considered and it was decided no changes or accommodation to testing were needed.

26. Materials and Procedures: Native Language Point of Clarification: • The extent to which an assessment varied for standard conditions, included the language or other mode of communication that was used in assessing a child, must be included in the ER. • For example, when assessment materials are not available in the children’s native language or other mode of communication, alterations may need to be made to the standardized procedures to administer tests including paraphrasing instructions, demonstrating how tasks are to be performed, or reading test items. Results must be interpreted cautiously and all modifications described thoroughly in the evaluation report, along with their implications for the test results.

27. Sample Accommodations for ELL • Under “Other factors”: “Since English is not Javier and his parents’ primary language, an interpreter will be used in communicating with the student and his parents during the evaluation. Only standardized test scores that are normed in his native language will be used for the evaluation.”

28. Evaluation: Materials and Procedures Assessments and other evaluation materials used to assess a child are selected and administered as not to be discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis. 34 C.F.R. 300.304 (c)(1)(i)

29. Evaluation Report (ER) As part of an initial evaluation (if appropriate) and as part of any reevaluation, the IEP Team and other qualified professionals, as appropriate, must review existing evaluation data on the child including evaluations and the information provided by the parents of the child. 34 C.F.R. 300.305(a)(1)(i)

30. ER: Parent Information • Parent input should be related to the areas of student concern. • Parent input does not require meeting with the parent. • Input can be obtained over the phone or other means.

31. ER: Parent Information Points of Clarification: • There is no requirement as to the amount of parent input required. • Some disability categories, such as DCD, require specific information from the home. • It is not sufficient to indicate that a rating scale was sent home and not returned. The burden remains with the district to obtain parent input. • If multiple attempts to obtain parental input were unsuccessful, you must document the attempts and methods to gather information from the parent.

32. Evaluation Report (ER) At a minimum an evaluation report must include: a summary of all evaluation results. Minn. R. 3525.2710, subp. 6(A)

33. ER: Summary of Evaluation Points of Clarification: • The results of all assessment measures listed on the Notice of Evaluation/PWN must be addressed in a comprehensive ER and • The ER must contain a comprehensive summary of the evaluation results.

34. ER: Summary of Evaluation Points of Clarification • If a test or measure is listed on the Notice of Evaluation/PWN, it must be reported in the ER. • Conversely, results from an evaluation measure documented in the ER must be listed on the PWN: Consent to Evaluate.

35. Evaluation Report (ER) At a minimum an evaluation report must include: the pupil’s Present Level of Performance and educational needs that derive from the disability; Minn. R. 3525.2710, subp. 6(c)

36. ER: Present Levels and Needs Points of clarification: • The ER must document the student’s Present Levels Academic and Functional of Performance (PLAAFP). • The ER must document educational needs that derive from the findings or results of the evaluation.

37. ER: Present Levels and Needs Points of Clarification: • The present Levels of Performance must incorporate current assessment results, information on current academic and functional performance in the classroom, and input from those working with the student to get a complete and updated picture of that student. • The Present Levels of Performance must include more than a list of assessment results and scores. • Additional sources of Present Levels of Performance information include observations, work samples, curriculum-based measures, informal procedures, and progress on current goals and objectives.

38. ER: Present Levels and Needs Points of Clarification: • Educational need statements should address skills and/or behaviors that need improvement in order for the child to participate and progress in the general curriculum. • Educational needs must be related to the disability and must indicate a need for specialized instruction or direct services.

39. Evaluation Report (ER) An Evaluation Report must include: documentation of whether the pupil has a particular category of disability or, in the case of a reevaluation, whether the pupil continues to have such a disability. Minn. R. 3525.2710, subp. 6(B)

40. ER: Documentation of Disability Points of clarification: • The initial ER must document that the student meets the criteria for a categorical disability. • Reevaluation reports must document that all criteria components have been addressed and the student continues to have a disability.

41. Evaluation Report (ER) An Evaluation Report must include: whether the child needs special education and related services or, in the case of a reevaluation, whether the pupil continues to need special education and related services; Minn. R. 3525.2719, subp. 6(D)

42. ER: Need for Service Points of Clarification: • In addition to determining that a student has a disability, the ER must indicate the need, or continued need, for special education and related services. • It is possible to have a student identified as a student with a disability, yet not have an established need for special education and related services. • For example, a child may have a physical impairment, yet not demonstrate a need for specialized instruction in order to participate and progress in general education.

43. Evaluation Report (ER) An Evaluation Report must include: whether any additions or modifications to the special education and related services are needed to enable the pupil to meet the measurable annual goals set out in the pupil’s IEP and to participate, as appropriate, in the general curriculum. Minn.R.3525.2710, subp. 6(E)

44. ER: Additions or Modifications Points of Clarification: • This requirement applies to initial and reevaluations. • The ER should address the following questions section: • In addition to the special education services being recommended to address the student’s identified needs, what else is needed for the student to meet annual goals and participate in general education? • What additions or modifications to special education will the IEP team need to spell out when developing or revising the IEP?

45. ER: Modifications • Modifications must be directly linked to evaluation results and needs. • The modifications identified in the ER must match with the modifications on the IEP.