Legal Requirements and Changes: Child Find, Evaluation, Eligibility Administrative Training Carie Hurford Emily McCambridge

This training… Will Provide: Current requirements based on state and federal law for Child Find, Evaluation, & Eligibility Clarification but is not necessarily a Q & A Will Not Provide: Specific Forms for your SIT

What do I want to KNOW when I leave today?  How can students qualify for special education?  Do we have to have SIT?  Does MTSS remove the requirement for SIT?  How does the removal of “discrepancy model” change special education eligibility?  Can parents override the SIT process by requesting an evaluation?  How many SIT meetings do we have to have before a student can be referred for special education evaluation?  Other questions?

Always Required: General Education Intervention (GEI) General Education Intervention (GEI) Documentation of GEI The 2 Prong Test  –  Determine whether the child is a child with an exceptionality –  Determine whether the child needs special education and related service (Specially designed instruction that can not be provided by general education)

Child Find/General Education Interventions Kansas describes two models of GEI – MTSS – Individual Problem Solving Approach Schools must carry out interventions and document the child’s progress within both models The interventions and progress monitoring data will provide information about the child’s needs

Relationship of General Education Interventions and the Evaluation Process General Education Intervention is an integral part of the evaluation process – General Education Intervention and Instruction information is required to answer “Prong 2” – General Education Intervention and instructional information is required to rule out Exclusionary Factors 

GEI: Using Individual Problem Solving Approach Individual Problem Solving through SIT Progress Monitoring Data is used to refine interventions SIT teams have charts, meeting notes and intervention logs that show results from the steps above 

Prior to an initial evaluation, the school must have data based documentation of the following: appropriate instruction repeatedly assessing /progress monitoring provided the assessment results to the child’s parents the assessment results indicate an evaluation appropriate Kansas 2012 Eligibility Indicators  InstructionAssessment&

Implementation of interventions Fidelity Systematic

GEI responsibility - Parent request for evaluation School must respond to request no more than 15 days – School may honor request and begin evaluation – School may refuse (must explain) – Parent may withdraw request for evaluation in order for GEI to occur General education intervention process is conducted simultaneously

Items needed before a comprehensive evaluation can be recommended: Vision and Hearing screening Attendance (and retention) Medical information Interventions already tried DATA to make SIT decisions for further recommendations

Ultimately… What is the referral question? -What interventions have we been focusing on? Specific skills… Specific needs -Guides assessments -Helps narrow the focus of comprehensive evaluation -What is special education (specialized instruction) going to do for this student?

In your team….

Evaluation and Eligibility Two methods of evaluation – Response to Intervention – Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses

Response to Intervention: Evaluation Option #1 Building level MTSS meets the specifications of Kansas MTSS Implementation Guide and MTSS Structuring Guide. School-wide data collection system is used for: – Universal Screening – Progress Monitoring – Diagnostic Assessment Collaborative teams are effectively functioning Interventions are being provided in a systematic way

Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses: Evaluation Option #2 When building is implementing a form of MTSS that does not meet the specifications of the Kansas MTSS Implementation Guide and Kansas MTSS Structuring Guide GEI is implemented using the individual student problem solving approach There is no school-wide universal screening of essential skills (CBM) SIT teams develop intervention plans

More on the Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses… Does not eliminate Cognitive Assessments Does not eliminate Achievement Assessments May require more assessment

Evaluation: Appropriate Testing Practices Evaluation teams must decide which tests are appropriate to use given the referral question and what types of assessment are needed to answer questions about an individual student’s need for intervention and support. Eliminating the use of IQ-achievement discrepancy for eligibility determination does not mean eliminating the appropriate use of IQ and achievement tests. IQ-achievement discrepancy is not the same as the patterns of strengths and weakness approach.

In your team, discuss where this required information will come from…

Eligibility Determination Eligibility decisions for all exceptionalities should focus on student achievement within the context of age and/or grade- level standards. Two prong test still applies: –  Do the data support the presence of an exceptionality? –  Do the data support the need for specially designed instruction (special education and related services)?

Eligibility Determination Eligibility decisions for all exceptionalities should focus on student achievement within the context of age and/or grade- level standards. Two prong test still applies: –  Do the data support the presence of an exceptionality? –  Do the data support the need for specially designed instruction (special education and related services)?

Eligibility Determination  Exceptionality? Data must indicate a match with a particular category of exceptionality and the team has ruled out the presence of any exclusionary factors.  Need? Data indicates a need for adapted content, methodology, or delivery of instruction is so great that it cannot be provided in regular education without the support of special education and specially designed instruction.

Changes: Eligibility

What do I KNOW?  How can students qualify for special education?  Do we have to have SIT?  Does MTSS remove the requirement for SIT?  How does the removal of “discrepancy model” change special education eligibility?  Can parents override the SIT process by requesting an evaluation?  How many SIT meetings do we have to have before a student can be referred for special education evaluation?  Other questions?  Are there resources to help our SIT with: Data collection Interventions Assessments