Evaluation

If the decision is to evaluate, the district needs your written parental consent to do so. Once the IEP Team has your written consent to test your child, they have 60 calendar days to complete the evaluation process and hold a meeting to determine eligibility. Unless a parent states in writing that they do not want this, the school district must provide parents (by email unless the parent and the school district agree on another method) copies of each examiner’s evaluation and assessment report(s) at least 5 days prior to the meeting.

The special education evaluation process has two purposes. The data it provides is used to:

• determine eligibility for special education and

• identify all your child’s educational needs.

Therefore, evaluations must use a variety of tools and strategies. Areas to be tested may include academic performance, cognitive ability, speech/language, motor skills, social/emotional/behavioral skills, and functional/adaptive skills. If the IEP Team determines a specific type of assessment or evaluation tool needs to be conducted, it is the school district’s responsibility to arrange and pay for it.

It is important to know that NH has requirements as to what types of evaluations are needed for each disability category and who is qualified to conduct those evaluations. For more information, view this resource on Qualified Examiners from NH Standards.

Parents always have the right to have someone from outside the school district conduct an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE).

See below for more information on NH’s evaluation requirements or go to the next step.

Next Step – Determining Eligibility

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, timelines for evaluations are year-round and include weekends, holidays, school vacations and snow days.

For initial evaluations, the evaluation process must be completed within 60 calendar days from when the school district receives your consent for evaluation. Extensions are not allowed for initial evaluations. For reevaluations, parents may agree in writing, to an extension of no more than 30 days.

You can ask the IEP Team what specific tests they are proposing and what purpose or areas they are used to assess.  You want to make sure that the evaluations will assess all areas that were raised in the referral and discussion at the disposition of referral meeting.  For example, if your child has behavioral issues a Functional Behavioral Assessment will provide the IEP team with the information they will need to understand and support your child’s behavioral needs.

School districts have options for how they determine whether a child has a specific learning disability. However, school districts must have a written policy on how they determine a specific learning disability. Parents may request a copy of this policy.  It is important to know that the use of tiered interventions or Response to Intervention is not a complete evaluation.  It also cannot be used to delay or deny evaluating a child. Click for more information on RtI (PDF).

The New Hampshire Department of Education has developed the New Hampshire Dyslexia Guidebook. The Dyslexia Guidebook serves as a resource for New Hampshire public schools, charter schools, educators, and parents for information and guidance about the screening procedures for students exhibiting potential signs of a neurological learning disability, including dyslexia.  Find the New Hampshire Dyslexia Guidelines here.

Children with disabilities are formally reevaluated at least every 3 years. Parents or other team members may request a re-evaluation if they have concerns though generally re-evaluations cannot occur more than once a year. A child must be reevaluated before they can be determined no longer eligible for special education, except for when they will become no longer eligible because of graduation with a regular high school diploma or aging out of special education at age 21 inclusive.

Evaluation Requirements

• Evaluations must be nondiscriminatory and generally in the child’s native language or mode of communication.
• Evaluations are to be provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do, academically and functionally
• Tests must be validated, selected and administered to accurately reflect what the test measures, not the child’s impaired skills, unless that is the purpose of the test
• Technically sound instruments are to be used to assess the relative contribution of cognitive, behavioral, physical or developmental factors
• Evaluations are to be used for the purposes for which the assessments or measures are valid and reliable
• Children are to be assessed in all areas of suspected disabilities
• A single procedure may not be used to determine eligibility or an appropriate educational program
• A variety of assessment tools and strategies, including information from the parents
• The child’s present levels of academic achievement and related developmental needs are to be assessed
• Evaluations must identify all of the child’s special education and related service needs, whether or not commonly linked to the child’s disabilities
• Evaluation materials must assess specific areas of educational need and not merely provide a single general intelligence quotient
• Tests are to be administered in accordance with the test instructions by certified or licensed personnel
• If an assessment is not conducted under standard conditions (ex: portions of the test were read aloud to the student), a description of how it varied must be included in the evaluation report.

For students suspected of having a Specific Learning disability

• An observation of the student’s academic performance in the regular classroom setting must be conducted and a written report developed
• A LEA may use either the “discrepancy” model (identifying whether a significant discrepancy exists between the student’s ability and achievement), or they may use a process to determine if the child responds to scientific, research-based interventions.