Authority:  34 C.F.R. Part 300;  Texas Education Code (TEC);  19 T.A.C. Chapter 89

FULL AND INDIVIDUAL EVALUATION

 Federal and State Requirements

Citations

        Initial Evaluations  
Before conducting the initial evaluation, conduct a Determination of Needed Evaluation Data, if appropriate.

300.533

Conduct  and date initial evaluation for each student being considered for special education and related services.

300.320(a)

Ensure that a full and individual evaluation is conducted for each student being considered for special education and related services:  300.320(a)
  • To determine whether the student is a student with a disability.
300.320(a)(1)
  • To determine the educational needs of the student.
300.320(a)(2)
Conduct initial evaluation according to the Procedures for Evaluation.

300.320(b)(1)

Conduct the evaluation using procedures that are appropriate for the student's most proficient method of communication. TEC 29.004
Conduct a full and individual initial evaluation before the initial provision of special education and related services to a student with a disability under the IDEA.

300.531

A written report for a full individual and initial evaluation of a student shall be completed not later than sixty calendar days following the date on which the school district receives written consent for the evaluation signed by the student's parent or legal guardian.  

TEC 29.004

TEC 29.0041

The ARD committee shall make its decisions regarding students referred for a full and individual initial evaluation within 30 calendar days from the date of the completion of the written full and individual initial evaluation report. If the 30th day falls during the summer and school is not in session, the ARD committee shall have until the first day of classes in the fall to finalize decisions concerning the initial eligibility determination, the IEP, and placement, unless the full and individual initial evaluation indicates that the student will need extended school year (ESY) services during that summer.

89.1050(d)

           
Reevaluations  
Before conducting any reevaluation, conduct a Determination of Needed Evaluation Data.

300.533

Conduct and date a reevaluation:

  

  • Every three years.

300.536(b)

  • If conditions warrant (i.e. ARD request).
300.536(b)
  • If the student’s parent requests.

300.536(b)

  • If the student's teacher requests.

300.536(b)

  • Before determining that the student is no longer a student with a disability (unless dismissal is due to graduation with a regular high school diploma or exceeding age eligibility for a free appropriate public education).

300.534(c)

Conduct reevaluation according to the Procedures for Evaluation.

300.321(a)

 
Procedures for Evaluation  
 
Administer tests and other evaluation materials as may be needed to produce the data identified in the Determination of Needed Evaluation Data. 300.533(c)
A multidisciplinary team collects or reviews evaluation data in connection with the determination of a student’s eligibility.

89.1040(b)

Ensure that tests and other evaluation materials used to assess a student are selected and administered so as not to be discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis.

300.532(a)(1)(i)

Ensure that tests and other evaluation materials used to assess a student are provided and administered in the student's native language or other mode of communication, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.

300.532(a)(1)(ii)

 

Ensure that materials and procedures used to assess a student with limited English proficiency are selected and administered to ensure that they measure the extent to which the student has a disability and needs special education, rather than measuring the student's English language skills.

300.532(a)(2)

Include a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional and developmental information about the student that may assist in determining whether the student is a student   with a disability.

300.532(b)(1)

  • The term child with a disability means a child evaluated in accordance with Full and Individual Evaluation as having mental retardation, a hearing impairment including deafness, a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment including blindness, serious emotional disturbance (hereafter referred to as emotional disturbance), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services.
300.7(a)(1)

 

  • If it is determined, through an appropriate Full and Individual Evaluation, that a child has one of the disabilities, but only needs a related service (under federal and State standards) and not special education, the child is not a child with a disability under IDEA.
300.7(a)(2)

 

  • The term special education means specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a student with a disability.
300.26(a)(1)

 

Include a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional and developmental information about the student that may assist in determining the content of the student's IEP.     300.532(b)(2)
      
Sources of data must include:     
  • Information provided by the parent.

300.532(b)

  • Information related to enabling the student to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum.

300.532(b)

  • For a preschool student, information related to enabling the student to participate in appropriate activities.

300.532(b)

Assess in all areas related to suspected disability, including if appropriate:

300.532(g)

  • Health.

300.532(g)

  • Vision.

300.532(g)

  • Hearing.

300.532(g)

 
  • Social.

300.532(g)

 
  • Emotional status.

300.532(g)

 
  • General intelligence.

300.532(g)

 
  • Academic performance.

300.532(g)
300.346(a)(2)(iii)

 
  • Communicative status.

300.532(g)

 
  • Motor abilities.

300.532(g)

Use tests and other evaluation materials including those tailored to assess specific areas of educational need and not merely those that are designed to provide a single general intelligence quotient.

300.532(d)

Ensure that any standardized tests that are given to a student are validated for the specific purpose for which they are used.

300.532(c)(1)(i)

Ensure that any standardized tests that are given to a student are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel in accordance with any instructions provided by the producer of the tests.

300.532(c)(1)(ii)

If an assessment is not conducted under standard conditions, provide in the evaluation report a description of the extent to which it varied from standard conditions (e. g., the qualifications of the person administering the test, or the method of test administration).

300.532(c)(2)

Use technically sound instruments that may assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors, in addition to physical or developmental factors.

300.532(i)

Select and administer tests so as best to ensure that if a test is administered to a student with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, the test results accurately reflect the student's aptitude or achievement level or whatever other factors the test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (unless those skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).

300.532(e)

Include more than one procedure for determining:

300.532(f)

  • Whether a student is a student with a disability.

300.532(f)
  • An appropriate educational program for the student.

300.532(f)

Include relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the educational needs of the student.

 300.532(j)

 

When evaluating each student with a disability, the evaluation is sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the special education needs and related (supportive) services as are required to assist a student with a disability to benefit from special education, whether or not they are commonly linked to the disability category in which the student has been classified.

300.532(h)
300.24(a)

 

The determination of whether a student is eligible is made by the student's ARD committee.

89.1040(b)
300.534(a)(1)

The ARD committee shall make its decisions regarding students referred for a full and individual initial evaluation within 30 calendar days from the date of the completion of the written full and individual initial evaluation report. If the 30th day falls during the summer and school is not in session, the ARD committee shall have until the first day of classes in the fall to finalize decisions concerning placement and the IEP, unless the full and individual initial evaluation indicates that the student will need extended year services during that summer. 89.1050(d).

 

A student with a disability who is 18 years of age or older or whose disabilities of minority have been removed for general purposes under Chapter 31, Family Code, shall have the same right to make educational decisions as a student without a disability, except that the school district shall provide any notice required by IDEA, Part B to both the student and the parents.  All other rights accorded to parents under IDEA, Part B transfer to the student.  All rights accorded to parents under IDEA, Part B transfer to students who are incarcerated in an adult or juvenile, state or local correctional institution.  See Notice of Transfer of Parental Rights. TEC 29.017