Conducting the Educational Evaluation #sped

A multidisciplinary team, sometimes called the M-Team, conducts the educational evaluation. This team is a group of qualified professionals that may include a general education teacher; a special education teacher; a school psychologist or speech language pathologist; or other qualified professional(s) based on the student’s unique needs or suspected disability. Parent(s) play an important role with the M-Team by providing input and information about the student. 

The M-Team reviews existing information, identifies the suspected disability or disabilities for which the student should be evaluated, and determines what, if any, additional information is needed to help the CCC determine whether the student is eligible for special education services. After this review, if additional data is needed to make an eligibility determination, the M-Team gathers the additional information identified. This process may include administering tests, conducting observations, and collecting information from a variety of

TIMELINES FOR COMPLETING THE EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION 

The M-Team must complete its evaluation, and the CCC must convene within 50 school days from the date written parental consent is provided to licensed school personnel, except in five situations. 
• If the student has completed the RTI process and not made adequate progress within an appropriate period of time, the school has 20 school days from the date licensed personnel receive written parental consent to conduct the evaluation and convene the CCC. 
• There is a similar 20 school day timeline if the parent(s) requests an initial evaluation during the time a student is suspended or expelled. This is often referred to as an expedited evaluation. See the section on Discipline for more information. 
• For a student who is receiving First Steps early intervention services (from birth to age 3) and transitions from the First Steps program to the public school early childhood program the timeline is different. In this situation, the initial educational evaluation must be completed, the CCC convened, and any necessary special education services made available for the student no later than the student’s 3rd birthday. For more information, see the section on Early Childhood. 
• If the parent(s) provides written consent for an educational evaluation in one school corporation and the student moves to another school corporation while the evaluation is pending, the “new” school corporation must complete the educational evaluation as quickly as possible and within a time period agreed upon by the school and the parent(s). At 511 IAC 7- 40-5(d)(4)(A) it states that the receiving school must ensure ‘prompt completion’ of the educational evaluation. 
• If the parent(s) repeatedly fails to make the student available for the educational evaluation the school must document these events and will not necessarily be held to the 50 school day timeline.

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