Initial Evaluation Process
Student must be screened or observed, and the data supports an initial evaluation to determine eligibility for special education. The school team to consist of the following will conduct a Pre-planning Team Meeting to determine areas to be evaluated.
- School Psychologist
- Anticipated or designated Case Manager
- Related Service Provider(s) as appropriate
- General Education Teacher
- Other team members as appropriate
- Literacy coach
- School Principal
Case Manager will schedule a vision and hearing screening with the school nurse. If the student fails either or both, the case manager will contact the school psychologist to determine the next steps.
Case manager will add the student to SE.
► Select +Add SIS
► Find and Transfer student to SE
► Refresh screen so student will appear in portfolio and have Initial Evaluation Process.
► Click Documents folder for process documents
Meeting
Case manager will schedule Evaluation Planning Meeting with parent(s) to discuss initial evaluation and sign Consent for Evaluation. All staff to conduct an evaluation should be invited to this meeting to answer questions for parent. Contact your school psychologist and resource specialist for extenuating circumstances.
► Paperwork required for meeting
► Invitation: Document a minimum of 3 attempts to contact parent.
► Consent for Evaluation
- Complete the following areas
- Click Save
- Print Preview to have a copy for parent to sign at meeting.
► Written Notice Consent to Evaluate
► Provide parent with Procedural Safeguards
After the Evaluation Planning meeting with parents, case manager will complete the following paperwork.
► Referral
► Complete the following
► Give original signed Consent to Evaluate to Record Specialist
- Record Specialist will upload Consent to Evaluate in both of the following locations.
Record Specialist will send original to SSS Record Technician
► Observation Guide
This should be completed by the Case Manager or school psychologist as appropriate. This can be completed by a related service provider if they are also the case manager (usually specific to Speech Language Pathologist). The observation should occur in an environment other than your own classroom. On notes tab, write a summary in narrative form on your observations. Refrain from assumptions, and state observable facts.
Case Manager will finalize the invitation, Consent to Evaluate and Written Notice Consent to Evaluate.
► ESER
Cover Tab
Evaluation Areas Tab
Complete the Parent Information and Observations, and Classroom Observations/Concerns
Once the above paperwork has been completed as described, the case manager will:
- Notify, via email, their Record Specialist that Initial Process docs are ready for review and confirm that the Consent to Evaluate has been uploaded to the Referral Attachment Tab AND the Attached Docs in the Evaluation Process
- If you do not have a Records Specialist assigned to your building, scan and email yourself a copy of the signed consent and upload as described above using the naming convention identified in the Naming Convention section of this manual.
- Confirm with Record Specialist or personally send the original copy of the signed Consent to Evaluate to your SSS Record Technician via In-District Mail.
SSS Record Technician will review the process and notify team of evaluation and timeline via email.
Evaluation
Evaluators will complete their evaluation portions and enter information into the ESER. See SE User Guide for additional information.
Evaluators will email School Psychologists and Record Technician when they have completed their portion of the evaluation.
When all areas are complete, the school psychologist will determine eligibility and notify Record Technician and Case Manager that the evaluation is ready to review with parents.
review ESER
Case manager will consult with school psychologist, general education teacher, related service providers as appropriate, district representative as to when they are available for a meeting with parents. Case manager will schedule ESER review with family. Case manager will complete paperwork for meeting.
► Invitation to meeting - complete and finalize one in Ad Hoc Docs
Must invite the following roles
- Case Manager - must be present at meeting
- District Representative - must be present at meeting
- General Education Teacher - must be present at meeting
- Parent - must be invited. Parent consent is required to draft initial IEP. Best practice is to have parent in attendance.
- Evaluators - best practice to have them attend to review their evaluation results
- School Psychologist - best practice to have them attend to review evaluation results or discuss evaluation as they determined eligibility.
► ESER
Cover Tab
Evaluation Areas Tab - nothing for Case Manager to enter here
Eligibility Tab
Case manager will communicate with School Psychologist when they want to sign this page, before or during meeting. Print this page for School psychologist to sign. Once signed, case manager will give to Record Specialist to upload to Attachments in ESER using the naming convention as described in the Naming Convention section of this manual.
Notes Tab
Enter meeting notes here during the meeting. It is helpful to have another team member take notes during the meeting so you can run the meeting. Notes can be taken in a word document then copy/pasted into the Notes Tab after the meeting.
Summary/Participants Tab
Case manager will enter participant’s names and roles. Be sure to indicate which staff member will be acting as the roles of District Representative, Case Manager/SE Teacher, and General Education Teacher.
Case manager will print preview ESER and print the Summary/Participant page for signatures at the meeting.
with Results
The first step in working with a parent in disagreement, is to discuss the concerns. The concerns can then be problem-solved by the IEP team. This is best practice for resolving parental disagreement, addressing the concerns at the school level, and expediting the process. Thoroughly document any solutions with a Written Notice and follow through with the plan in a timely manner. Remember to communicate frequently with parents to keep them informed of the implementation of solutions.
If the parent continues to have concerns, contact your Resource Specialist immediately with the concerns and what solutions have been explored with the parent.
Disagrees with Results
Team members that disagrees with the eligibility determination at the ESER meeting, may indicate disagreement in the ESER notes and Written Notice. Team member will submit an explanation of their position. Contact your Resource Specialist in this situation for next steps.
Attachment Tab
This tab will have the eligibility page with school psychologist signature uploaded here by Record Specialist. After the meeting with parents, the meeting signature page will be uploaded here by Record Specialist with the naming convention detailed in the Naming Convention section of this manual.
► Written Notice - complete all boxes
Initial Placement
► Consent for Initial Placement
Enter date of meeting and print for meeting. Parent signs and dates at the meeting. This consent is the parent’s agreement to their child accessing special education services and an IEP will now be drafted.
for Initial Placement
When a parent declines to give consent for initial special education placement, the child remains in general education without special education services. If a parent, at a later date, decides they would like special education services, a new referral must be started if the compliance (90 calendar day timeline) date is past. If the compliance date is not past, a new referral need not be started. In the ESER notes, the information about refusal of services should be noted. Information from the first evaluation may be used for the new evaluation.
Enter date of meeting and print for meeting. Parent signs and dates at the meeting. This consent is the parent’s agreement to their child accessing special education services and an IEP will now be drafted. See IEP section of this manual.
icaid
Case manager will enter the date on this form for any student that will be receiving a related service (speech, OT, PT).
Form is located in Ad Hoc Docs. See Medicaid section for more in-depth information.
Signed original given to Record Specialist to upload as identified below with the naming convention described in the Naming Convention section of this manual.
Possible Exception:
If you do not have a Record Specialist assigned to your school, communicate with your SSS Record Technician about who will be uploading and editing paperwork prior to finalization.