Step 2: Assessments

An assessment involves gathering information about your child to determine whether your child has a disability and the nature and extent of special education services that your child may need. Assessments may include individual testing, observations of the child at school, interviews with the child and school personnel who work with the child, and a review of school records, reports, and work samples.

During the assessment:

• Your child will be assessed in all areas related to his or her suspected disability.

• A multidisciplinary team, including at least one teacher or s with knowledge in the area of your child's suspected disability, will assess your child.

• The assessment will be conducted in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what your child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally unless it is not feasible to provide or administer. When necessary, a qualified interpreter will be used to assist with the assessment.

• The assessment will include a variety of appropriate tests to measure your child's strengths and needs. The persons administering these tests will be qualified to do so.

• The assessment will be adapted for students with impaired sensory, physical, or speaking skills.

• Testing and assessment materials and procedures will not be racially, culturally, or sexually discriminatory.

Your Right to an Independent Educational Evaluation of Your Child

You have the right, at any time, to obtain at your expense an assessment by a qualified examiner who is not employed by the school district (i.e., an independent assessor) and have the findings from the assessment considered at an IEP meeting. You may also present the assessment report as evidence at a due process hearing regarding your child.

You also have the right to request that the District pays for an independent educational evaluation of your child if you disagree with the District’s assessment. If you request an independent assessment at District expense, the District may either (1) agree to fund the assessment or (2) initiate due process proceedings to show its assessment was proper. If the District utilizes the due process proceedings and the final decision of the hearing officer is that the District's assessment was proper, you still have the right to an independent educational evaluation, but you will be required to pay for that evaluation.

Whenever the District pays for an independent educational evaluation, the criteria under which the assessment is obtained, including the location of the assessment and the qualifications of the examiner, must be the same criteria used by the District when it initiates an assessment.

You are entitled to only one independent evaluation of your child at public expense each time the District conducts an evaluation with which you disagree.