15.7 School Records

Education professionals have a wealth of information about a student’s impairment and functional limitations, written from an academic perspective, which can hold relevance when considering vocational functional limitations for DVR eligibility and comprehensive assessment.

With a signed release of information provided by the student or youth, DVR staff shall obtain all appropriate school records, including medical, psychological, vocational, educational, recreational, and other informational records relating to the student or youth’s disability or impediments to employment and rehabilitation needs. These records are provided by the local school agency at no cost to DVR.

Whenever possible, and prior to the purchase of additional assessments, educational records shall be utilized by the DVR Counselor to determine eligibility and complete the comprehensive assessment.

DVR Counselors are responsible for maintaining familiarity with the tools utilized by local education partners and these shall be used to gather the most comprehensive body of evidence available to support eligibility for DVR, the comprehensive assessment, the development of the IPE, and the entire vocational rehabilitation process.

Students receiving services under IDEA must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The IEP and other documents contained within the special education file (most notably the most recent triennial report) will provide valuable information to the DVR Counselor in preparation for eligibility determination, severity of disability designation, and the comprehensive assessment and vocational goal development process. DVR staff shall obtain and use these documents in the eligibility determination and vocational planning process.

Education records are not always contained within the official special education file. Documents beneficial to the DVR process may also be located in files maintained by non-classroom education staff. DVR staff shall consult with educators on a case-by-case basis regarding the existence of relevant documents and how these documents can be obtained.

Signatures on education records are unlikely. In place of actual signatures, the DVR Counselor shall accept documents which contain the names and credentials of the Special Education Team members who participated in IEP meetings or who administered educational assessments. These records from educators responsible for the public education of students with disabilities shall be considered to be records from qualified personnel.

For DVR eligibility and Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE) development, types of information requested from a local education partner may include:

1. Special Education Files

• Individualized Education Program (IEP)

• Supporting assessment summaries and scores

• Supplemental plans including:

▪ Communication Plan

▪ Behavior Support Plan

▪ Literacy Modality Plan

▪ Health Plan

▪ Assistive Technology Plan

2. Teacher’s Working File

• Student work samples

• Transition-focused assessment

• Work experience information

• Sample resume

• Interest inventories

3. Related Services Provider Files

• Psychologist

• Therapists including but not limited to: Occupational, Physical, Speech, and Health (Nurse)

4. Student Portfolio/Career Center Files/College-in-Colorado Profiles/Naviance Profiles

• Demographic Information

• Transition-focused assessments

• Work experience information

• Sample resume

5. Summary of Performance (SOP)

• • The SOP is a current compilation of information regarding the student, including life goals, preferences and interests, functional and academic strengths and needs, needed accommodations, and strategies for success, received by special education students upon exiting.

6. Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP)

• • The ICAP is created for all students and includes their efforts in exploring careers, academic progress, experiences in contextual and service learning, records of post high school linkages made, and other data reflecting student’s progress toward postsecondary and workforce readiness for all students grades 9 – 12.

Referrals to DVR from school systems are usually students who receive services under IDEA and therefore have a categorical special education disability designation. These designations align with corresponding federal terms and requirements and/or terminology used in the field. An eligibility criterion for each designation is determined by members of a multidisciplinary education team of qualified personnel with appropriate professional credentials. Education officials responsible for the public education of students with disabilities are considered by DVR to be qualified personnel for the purpose of the first DVR eligibility criterion (determination of a physical or mental impairment).

The 14 educational disability designations determined and used by the public secondary education system are:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

• Deaf-blindness

• Developmental Delay

• Hearing Impairment, including deafness

• Infant/toddler with a disability

• Intellectual disability

• Multiple disabilities

• Orthopedic impairment

• Other health impairment

• Serious emotional disability (SED)

• Specific learning disability (SLD)

• Speech or language impairment

• Traumatic brain injury

• Visual impairment, including blindness

Students and youth not receiving services under IDEA may also be appropriate for referral to DVR. Students and youth with disabilities who are not recipients of special education services could be referred from related education providers including school administrators, counselors, therapists, nurses, general education teachers, and others. These students and youth may or may not have a documented disability, they may or may not have a Section 504 Plan (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) in place, and their disability may not present a barrier in the academic environment, but may present impediments to employment.