Eligibility Determination

The determination of whether the child is a pupil with a disability is defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.02, shall be made by a team of qualified professionals and the parent of the pupil. Parents were not always included in the group that determined their child’s eligibility and, in fact, were often excluded. Since the IDEA Amendments of 1997, parents are to be part of the group that determines their child’s eligibility and are also to be provided a copy of the evaluation report, as well as documentation of the determination of the child’s eligibility. Evaluation teams will typically hold a meeting where they consider the eligibility of the child for special education and related services. At this meeting, the child’s assessment results should be explained to the parents. The specialists who assessed the child will explain what they did, the child’s results on those tests or other evaluation procedures,  and what the child’s scores mean when compared to other children of the same age and grade. It is important to remember that this group may not determine that a child is eligible if the determinant factor for making that judgment is the child’s lack of instruction in reading or math or the child’s limited English proficiency. The child must otherwise meet the law’s definition of a “child with a disability”–meaning that he or she has one of the disabilities listed in the law and, because of that disability, needs special education and related services. If the evaluation results indicate that the child meets the definition of one or more of the disability categories identified by the MDE and he or she needs special education and related services, the results will form the basis for developing the child’s IEP.

Step 1 is determining whether the child is a child with a disability. The team reviews the data to determine whether or not the child is a child with a disability.  To do this, team members compare the data about the child to see if there is a match to one of the disability categories.  However, even when the data point to a particular area of disability, there are exclusionary factors that must be examined before determining the child is a child with a disability.

Step 2 is determining whether the child needs special education and related services. Having a disability, though, does not necessarily make a child eligible for special education. The second prong of the test of eligibility is to determine whether or not the child needs special education and related services. It is helpful for teams to remember that by definition special education means specially-designed instruction and, that specially-designed instruction means adapting the content, methodology or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs of a child that result from the child’s disability.  This means that to have a need for special education services, the child has specific needs which are so unique that they require specially designed instruction to access and/or make progress in the general education curriculum. 

To determine a student’s eligibility for special education, each district must conduct a full and individualized evaluation of the student. The evaluation must meet all state and federal requirements. The evaluation team uses both formal and informal procedures to determine the specific areas of a student’s strengths and needs. 

The evaluation must include the following steps and may include others:  

• Provide the parent(s) with prior written notice of each proposed evaluation.  

• Ensure tests or evaluation tools are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel.  

• Assess the student in all areas related to the suspected disability.  

• Present all evaluation results to the parent(s) in writing within state and federal timelines.  

• Determine whether the child or student meets state eligibility criteria.  

• Ensure the individual evaluation is sufficiently comprehensive for the team to identify all of the student’s special education and related services needs, whether or not linked to the disability category in which the child has been classified. 

When sharing results with parents Provide the big picture, not all of the details like individual test scores. Start by reviewing the comprehensive summary to give a quick overview of the results. Keep language free from jargon and don’t speak too quickly and remember less is more. Include the good news like what student strengths did you identify during this evaluation process? Don’t assume parents are familiar with the process or the educational system. Explain what this all means including the next steps. Be sensitive to parents’ emotions. This can be big news and may take time to process.

This section refers to Minnesota Rule 3525.1354, subp. 1. 

The team may determine a pupil is eligible for special instruction and related services because the pupil has a disability and needs specially designed instruction even though the pupil does not meet the specific requirement in parts 3525.1354. The team must include the documentation in the pupil’s special education record according to items A, B, C, and D. 

A. The pupil’s record must contain documents that explain why the standards and procedures that are used with the majority of pupils resulted in invalid findings for this pupil. 

B. The record must indicate what objective data were used to conclude that the pupil has a disability and is in need of special instruction and related services. These data include for example, test scores, work products, and self-reports teacher comments, medical data, previous testing, observational data, ecological [evaluations], and other developmental data. 

C. Because the eligibility decision is based on a synthesis of multiple data and not all data are equally valid, the team must indicate which data had the greatest relative importance for the eligibility decision. 

D. The team override decision must be signed by the team members agreeing to the override decision. For those team members who disagree with the override decision, a statement of why they disagree and their signature must be included.