Special Education Eligibility Process

Given: RTI

Phase 1: Good Instruction

and Monitoring of Progress

Phase 2: Pre-referal

Phase 3: Referral for

SPED evaluation

15 days: assessment plan

60 days: complete evaluation

Phase 4: SPED

evaluation

Phase 5: Eligibility

(FAPE)

30 days: develop IEP

Phase 6: IEP Meeting

Phase 7: IEP

Implementation

• Implementation of IEP must be done immediately after the IEP has been developed and parents have signed it.

• Team can decide to meet at any time or when any member requests it.

• Documentation of students progress must be provided to ensure that student is working towards achieving its annual goals.
• Goals don't necessarily need to be met in a school year.

• IEP team is responsible for ensuring that the IEP is implemented.

Phase 8:

Reevaluation

• The IEP Team meets every year to evaluate the implementation of the current IEP and to develop one for the following year.
• This meeting includes:
• Positive and negative elements of the SPED services
• Based on assessments, determine services that will be provided
• New goals
• Data showing student progress
• Every three years the student is required a formal evaluation.
• Determines if the student continues to receive services
• Formal evaluations can be conducted as needed
• Student may be exited from receiving SPED services if it is determined by formal evaluations and assessments.
• Student may continue to receive support through a 504 plan or RTI

Special Education Eligibility Process

504 Plan

• 504 plan is designed for students to support students so they can participate in the academic curriculum at the same levels as their classmates.

• 504 plan defines disability as "physical or mental impairment in which substantially limits one or more major life activities".

Tier 3

Referral for SPED Evaluation

RTI- Tier 1

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

Implementation of IEP

• Student will continue to receive Tier 3 interventions. Depending on the results of the assessment; if behavior is a concern a behavior intervention plan (BIP)can be created.

• General Education teacher provides research- based curriculum and instruction to all students in GE class.
• Interventions can be flexible grouping (small group, whole class, partner), speak clearly, use visuals, use sentence frames, ask for understanding.
• Students are assessed 3 times per year including progress reports or report cards.
• Data is collected, and student growth or progress is determined.
• Teacher may recognize a student that exhibits a consistent need or problem.

• Tier 3 provides intensive individual support to students who are still struggling in Tier 2.
• Individualized interventions are conducted by a SPED Teacher or Reading Specialist in a separate classroom for approximately 50 minutes per day.
• Small group instruction (3-5 students)
• If the student still continues to show difficulties after the interventions, the student can be referred to special education evaluation.
• Referrals can be initiated by school staff, student parent, doctor, agencies or anyone who is involved in the child's education.
• In order to begin the evaluation, the school must obtain consent from the parent or legal guardian.
• Once consent is given, the team has 15 days to create assessment plan.

• IEP Team Meeting will be held (within 30 days of completing evaluation) to share the results of assessments and determine if the student is eligible for special education services.
• If eligible, the team will develop the IEP within 30 days.
• Student is eligible if:
• under IDEA the student has a disability that negatively impacts its academic performance
• the students need SPED services in order to successfully benefit from education
• If the student is not eligible to receive SPED services, but still needs assistance accessing the academic curriculum other alternatives are provided.

Response to Intervention (RTI)

RTI - Tier 2

IEP and LRE

• RTI is a multi-tiered model for learning environment, instructional assessments and strategies.
• Provides:
• High quality instruction
• Research based interventions
• Small group/ individualized instruction
• Progress monitoring that guides academic/ behavioral decisions
• Data that drives instruction and that is applicable to major educational decisions
• Differentiated instruction for all children and learners

Annual IEP and Tri-annuals

• This Tier targets non- responders to Tier 1. It identifies, develops and incorporates other research- based instruction.
• Pre-referral is done by the members of the Student Study Team (SST): parents, teacher, administrator, instructional assistants, nurse, and guidance counselor.
• The team should consider the frequency of the issue, have documentation of the issue and identify if the behavior is appropriate for the child's age.
• Gen Ed. teacher, Reading Specialist or Special Ed. teacher can provide small group interventions ( 3-5 students) in a different class or GE class.
• Progress monitoring occurs more frequent and student can be assessed 2 times per month.
• Interventions can be 20-30 min per day, approximately two to four days every week for at least nine weeks.

• Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a legal document between school district and parents that delineates special education services that will be provided by the local education agency (LEA)(school district) to the student.
• IEP team includes parent(s), general education and special education teacher, psychologist, LEA representative, student (if appropriate )
• IEP team is responsible for developing IEP, evaluating its effectiveness every year and develop any further plans.
• For those students in which behavior is an area of concern, a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) should be included in the IEP.
• Parents need to be provided with a notice of their rights, and the parent consent is needed to implement IEP services.

Evaluation

Basic parts of IEP

• Once parent consent is given, the multidisciplinary team has 60 days to complete the assessment.
• Multidisciplinary team includes: school psychologist, SPED teacher, GE teacher, parent, school administrative, doctors.
• Assessment can't be done unless parent consent is received.
• Most evaluations measure student's intelligence, achievement, behavior, disability- specific, and medical.
• Informal observations, data obtained from interventions, and past student's work should be used in order to determine eligibility.
• Assessment and evaluations must be administered in the language that will provide the best and most accurate information about the student.

• Student profile
• IEP initiation and duration dates
• Special instructional factors
• Transportation needs
• Opportunities for inclusion/ extra curricular activities
• Frequency and method of report of goals
• can include benchmarks
• BIP if needed
• If student is 16 years or older, include transition plan from HS
• Signature page