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062904 |
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SPECIAL EDUCATION
STUDENTS: |
EHBAA |
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IDENTIFICATION,
EVALUATION, AND ELIGIBILITY |
(LEGAL) |
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CHILD FIND |
The District shall ensure that all
children residing within the District who have disabilities, regardless of
the severity of their disabilities, including those attending pnvate schools, and who are in need of special education
and related services are identified, located, and evaluated. The District
shall have a practical method for determining which children are currently
receiving needed special education and related services and which children
are not currently receiving needed special education and related services.
This requirement applies to highly mobile children (including migrant and
homeless children) and children who are suspected of being in need of special
education but who are advancing from grade to grade. 20 U.S.C.
1412(a)(3), 1413(a); 34 CFR 300.125 |
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REFERRALS |
Referral of students for a full and
individual initial evaluation for possible special education services shall
be a part of the District's overall general education referral or screening
system. Prior to referral, students experiencing difficulty in the general
classroom should be considered for all support services available to all
students, such as tutorial, remedial, compensatory, and other services. If
the student continues to experience difficulty in the general classroom after
the provision of interventions, District personnel must refer the student for
a full and individual initial evaluation. This referral for a full and
individual initial evaluation may be initiated by school personnel, the
student's parents or legal guardian, or another person involved in the
education or care of the student. The referral for a full and individual
initial evaluation must be completed in accordance with Education Code
29.004, related to the 60 calendar day time line. 19 TAC 89.1011 |
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NOTICE OF RIGHTS |
Before the District proposes or
refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational
placement of a student or the provision of a free appropriate education to a
student, the District shall provide written notice to the student's parent or
guardian. 20 U.S.C. 1415(b)(3) 34 CFR 300.503(a) [See EHBAD] |
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TESTS AND EVALUATION
MATERIALS |
The District shall ensure that tests
and other evaluation materials used to assess a child are selected and
administered so as not to be discnminatory on a
racial or cultural basis and are provided and administered in the child's
native language or other mode of communication, unless it is clearly not
feasible to do so. Any standardized tests given to the child shall have been
validated for the specific purpose for which they are used, administered by
trained and knowledgeable personnel, and administered in accordance with any
instructions provided by the producer of the tests. In addition, the Distnct shall ensure that the child is assessed in all
areas of suspected disability and that assessment tools and strategies that
provide relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the
educational needs of the child are provided. 20 U.S.C. 1414(b)(3); 34 CFR
300.532 |
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INITIAL EVALUATION |
Before initially providing special
education and related services to a child with a disability, the District
shall conduct a full and individual initial evaluation. Before the District
conducts an initial assessment, it shall: 1. Give the child's parent prior written
notice, which includes a full explanation of all procedural safeguards and
describes any evaluation procedures the District proposes to conduct; and 2. Obtain parental consent for the evaluation. Parental consent shall not be
construed as consent for placement. If the parents refuse consent for the
evaluation, the District may continue to pursue an evaluation by utilizing
mediation and due process procedures, If a parent revokes consent, that
revocation is not retroactive (that is, it does not negate an action that has
occurred after the consent was given and before the consent was revoked).
[See EHBD] 20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(1), (b); 34 CFR
300.500(b) (1); 300.505; 300.531 |
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TESTING |
The initial evaluation shall consist
of procedures to determine whether a child is a child with a disability, as
defined below at ELIGIBILITY, and to determine the educational needs of the
child. In conducting the evaluation, the District shall: 1. Use a variety of assessment tools and
strategies to gather relevant functional and developmental information,
including information provided by the parent, that may assist in determining
whether the child is a child with a disability, and the content of the
child's IEP, including information related to enabling the child to be
involved in and progress in the general curriculum; 2. Not use any single procedure as the sole
criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability or
determining an appropriate educational program for the child; and 3. Use technically sound instruments that may
assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors, in
addition to physical or developmental factors. 20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(1)(B); 34 CFR
300.320 4. Assessment tools and strategies provide
relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the
educational needs of the child. 34 CFR 300.532 |
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TIME LINE |
A written report of a full and
individual initial evaluation shall be completed not later than the 60th
calendar day following the date on which the District, in accordance with 20
U.S.C. Section 1414(a), as amended, receives written consent for the
evaluation, signed by the child's parent or legal guardian. The evaluation
shall be conducted in accordance with federal and state law and using procedures
that are appropriate for the student's most proficient method of
communication. Education Code 29.004 On request of a child's parent, before
obtaining the parent's consent under 20 U.S.C, 1414 for the administration of
any psychological examination or test to the child that is included as part
of the evaluation of the child's need for special education, the District
shall provide to the child's parent: 1. The name and type of the examination or test;
and 2. An explanation of how the examination or test
will be used to develop an appropriate Individualized Education Program (IEP)
for the child. If the District determines that an
additional examination or test is required for the evaluation of a child's
need for special education after obtaining consent from the child's parent,
the District shall provide the information described above to the child's
parent regarding the additional examination or test and shall obtain
additional consent for the examination or test. The time required for the District to
provide information and seek consent under Education Code 29.0041(b) may not
be counted toward the 60 calendar days for completion of an evaluation under
Education Code 29.004. If a parent does not give consent under Education Code
29.0041(b) within 20 calendar days after the date the District provided to
the parent the information required, the parent's consent is considered
denied. |
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REVIEW OF |
As part of an initial evaluation, and
as part of any reevaluation, the ARD committee and other qualified
professionals, as appropnate, shall review existing
evaluation data on the child, including evaluations and information provided
by the parents of the child, current classroom-based assessments and
observations, and teacher and related service providers' observations. On the
basis of this review, and input from the child's parents, the ARD committee
shall identify what additional data, if any, are needed to determine: 1. Whether the child has a particular category of
disability, or in the case of a reevaluation, whether the child continues to
have such a disability; 2. The present levels of performance and
educational needs of the child; 3. Whether the child needs special education and
related services, or in the case of a reevaluation of a child, whether the
child continues to need special education and related services; and 4. Whether any additions or modifications to the
special education and related services are needed to enable the child to meet
the measurable annual goals set out in the child's individualized education
program and to participate, as appropriate, in the general curriculum. The review may be conducted without a
meeting. If the review determines that no additional data are needed, the
District shall so notify the parents of that determination, the reasons for
it, and the parents' right to request an assessment to determine whether, for
the purposes of receiving special education services, the child continues to
be a child with a disability. 20 U.S.C. 1414(c)(1), 34 CFR
300.533 |
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ELIGIBILITY |
To be eligible for special education
services a student must have been determined to have one or more of the
disabilities listed in A student is eligible to participate
in the District's special education program if the student is between the
ages of 3 and 21 inclusive with one or more disabilities (physical
disability, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, learning disability,
autism, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual or
auditory impairment, orthopedic impairments, a specific learning disability,
deaf-blindness, multiple disabilities, or other health impairments) that
prevent the student from being adequately or safely educated in the public
schools without the provision of special services. A student with a visual or
auditory impairment shall be eligible to participate in the District's
special education program from birth. Graduation with a regular high school
diploma pursuant to 19 TAC 89.1070(b)(1)-(2)
terminates a student's eligibility to receive services. An eligible student
receiving special education services who is 21 years of age on September 1 of
a school year shall be eligible for services through the end of that school
year or until graduation with a regular high school diploma, whichever comes
first. 20 U.S.C. 1401(3); 34 CFR 3007; Education Code 29.003(b), 30.002;
19 TAC 89.1035 A child between the ages of three and
five who is evaluated as having mental retardation, emotional disturbance, a
specific learning disability, or autism may be described as noncategorical early childhood. 20 U.S.C. 1401(3); 34
CFR 300.7; 19 TAC 89.1040 |
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DETERMINATION OF
ELIGIBILITY |
Upon completion of tests and other
evaluation materials, the determination of whether the child is eligible for
special education shall be made by the ARD committee and the parent. In
making the determination, a child shall not be determined to be a child with
a disability if the determinant factor for the determination is lack of
instruction in reading or math or limited English proficiency. A copy of the
evaluation report and the documentation of determination of eligibility must
be given to the parent. 20 U.S.C. 1414(b)(4), (5); 34 CFR 300.534 |
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PUBLIC NOTICE |
The District shall develop a system to
notify District residents with children ages |
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REEVALUATIONS |
The District shall ensure that each
child with a disability is reevaluated if conditions warrant or if the
child's parent or teacher requests a reevaluation, but at least once every
three years. Before conducting a reevaluation, the District shall give the
parent notice that describes any evaluation procedures the District proposes
to conduct and shall obtain written parental consent, except that such
informed parental consent need not be obtained if the District can
demonstrate that it had taken reasonable measures to obtain consent and the
parent has failed to respond. 20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(2), (b), (c); 34 CFR
300.505, 300.536 |
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CHANGE IN ELIGIBILITY |
The District shall evaluate a child
with a disability before determining that the child is no longer a child with
a disability. 20 U.S.C. 1414(c)(5); 34 CFR 300.534(c)(1) |
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INDEPENDENT EVALUATION AT PUBLIC EXPENSE |
The parents of a child with a
disability have a right to obtain an independent educational evaluation if
they disagree with the District's evaluation. Upon request for an independent
evaluation, the District shall provide parents with information regarding
where one can be obtained. Whenever an independent evaluation is at public
expense, the criteria under which the evaluation is obtained, including the
location of the evaluation and the qualifications of the examiner, must be
the same as the criteria that the District uses when it initiates an
evaluation. If a parent requests an independent evaluation, the District
shall either ensure that an evaluation is performed at public expense or
initiate a due process hearing to establish that the District's evaluation is
appropriate. If the District initiates a hearing, and the District's
evaluation is found to be appropriate, the parent still has a right to an
independent evaluation, but not at public expense. |
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AT PRIVATE EXPENSE |
If the parent obtains
an independent educational evaluation at private expense, the results of the
evaluation shall be considered by the District, if it meets District
criteria, in any decision made with respect to providing a free appropriate
public education to the child. |
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DATE
ISSUED: |
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UPDATE
72 |
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EHBAA
(LEGAL)—P |
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