The District shall ensure that all children residing within the District who have disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disabilities, including those attending pnvate schools, and who are in need of special education and related services are identified, located, and evaluated. The District shall have a practical method for determining which children are currently receiving needed special education and related services and which children are not currently receiving needed special education and related services. This requirement applies to highly mobile children (including migrant and homeless children) and children who are suspected of being in need of special education but who are advancing from grade to grade.

Referral of students for a full and individual initial evaluation for possible special education services shall be a part of the District's overall general education referral or screening system. Prior to referral, students experiencing difficulty in the general classroom should be considered for all support services available to all students, such as tutorial, remedial, compensatory, and other services. If the student continues to experience difficulty in the general classroom after the provision of interventions, District personnel must refer the student for a full and individual initial evaluation. This referral for a full and individual initial evaluation may be initiated by school personnel, the student's parents or legal guardian, or another person involved in the education or care of the student. The referral for a full and individual initial evaluation must be completed in accordance with Education Code 29.004, related to the 60 calendar day time line. 19 TAC 89.1011

Before the District proposes or refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of a student or the provision of a free appropriate education to a student, the District shall provide written notice to the student's parent or guardian. 20 U.S.C. 1415(b)(3) 34 CFR 300.503(a) [See EHBAD]

The District shall ensure that tests and other evaluation materials used to assess a child are selected and administered so as not to be discnminatory on a racial or cultural basis and are provided and administered in the child's native language or other mode of communication, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. Any standardized tests given to the child shall have been validated for the specific purpose for which they are used, administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel, and administered in accordance with any instructions provided by the producer of the tests. In addition, the Distnct shall ensure that the child is assessed in all areas of suspected disability and that assessment tools and strategies that provide relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the educational needs of the child are provided.

20 U.S.C. 1414(b)(3); 34 CFR 300.532

Before initially providing special education and related services to a child with a disability, the District shall conduct a full and individual initial evaluation. Before the District conducts an initial assessment, it shall:

1.  Give the child's parent prior written notice, which includes a full explanation of all procedural safeguards and describes any evaluation procedures the District proposes to conduct; and

2. Obtain parental consent for the evaluation.

Parental consent shall not be construed as consent for placement. If the parents refuse consent for the evaluation, the District may continue to pursue an evaluation by utilizing mediation and due process procedures, If a parent revokes consent, that revocation is not retroactive (that is, it does not negate an action that has occurred after the consent was given and before the consent was revoked). [See EHBD]

20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(1), (b); 34 CFR 300.500(b) (1); 300.505; 300.531

The initial evaluation shall consist of procedures to determine whether a child is a child with a disability, as defined below at ELIGIBILITY, and to determine the educational needs of the child. In conducting the evaluation, the District shall:

1.  Use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional and developmental information, including information provided by the parent, that may assist in determining whether the child is a child with a disability, and the content of the child's IEP, including information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum;

2. Not use any single procedure as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability or determining an appropriate educational program for the child; and

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

20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(1)(B); 34 CFR 300.320

4. Assessment tools and strategies provide relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the educational needs of the child. 34 CFR 300.532

A written report of a full and individual initial evaluation shall be completed not later than the 60th calendar day following the date on which the District, in accordance with 20 U.S.C. Section 1414(a), as amended, receives written consent for the evaluation, signed by the child's parent or legal guardian. The evaluation shall be conducted in accordance with federal and state law and using procedures that are appropriate for the student's most proficient method of communication. Education Code 29.004

On request of a child's parent, before obtaining the parent's consent under 20 U.S.C, 1414 for the administration of any psychological examination or test to the child that is included as part of the evaluation of the child's need for special education, the District shall provide to the child's parent:

1. The name and type of the examination or test; and

2. An explanation of how the examination or test will be used to develop an appropriate Individualized Education Program (IEP) for the child.

If the District determines that an additional examination or test is required for the evaluation of a child's need for special education after obtaining consent from the child's parent, the District shall provide the information described above to the child's parent regarding the additional examination or test and shall obtain additional consent for the examination or test.

The time required for the District to provide information and seek consent under Education Code 29.0041(b) may not be counted toward the 60 calendar days for completion of an evaluation under Education Code 29.004. If a parent does not give consent under Education Code 29.0041(b) within 20 calendar days after the date the District provided to the parent the information required, the parent's consent is considered denied.

Education Code 29.0041

As part of an initial evaluation, and as part of any reevaluation, the ARD committee and other qualified professionals, as appropnate, shall review existing evaluation data on the child, including evaluations and information provided by the parents of the child, current classroom-based assessments and observations, and teacher and related service providers' observations. On the basis of this review, and input from the child's parents, the ARD committee shall identify what additional data, if any, are needed to determine:

1. Whether the child has a particular category of disability, or in the case of a reevaluation, whether the child continues to have such a disability;

2. The present levels of performance and educational needs of the child;

3. Whether the child needs special education and related services, or in the case of a reevaluation of a child, whether the child continues to need special education and related services; and

4. Whether any additions or modifications to the special education and related services are needed to enable the child to meet the measurable annual goals set out in the child's individualized education program and to participate, as appropriate, in the general curriculum.

The review may be conducted without a meeting. If the review determines that no additional data are needed, the District shall so notify the parents of that determination, the reasons for it, and the parents' right to request an assessment to determine whether, for the purposes of receiving special education services, the child continues to be a child with a disability.

20 U.S.C. 1414(c)(1), 34 CFR 300.533

To be eligible for special education services a student must have been determined to have one or more of the disabilities listed in
federal regulations or in state law or both. 19 TAC 89.1040

A student is eligible to participate in the District's special education program if the student is between the ages of 3 and 21 inclusive with one or more disabilities (physical disability, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, learning disability, autism, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual or auditory impairment, orthopedic impairments, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, multiple disabilities, or other health impairments) that prevent the student from being adequately or safely educated in the public schools without the provision of special services. A student with a visual or auditory impairment shall be eligible to participate in the District's special education program from birth. Graduation with a regular high school diploma pursuant to 19 TAC 89.1070(b)(1)-(2) terminates a student's eligibility to receive services. An eligible student receiving special education services who is 21 years of age on September 1 of a school year shall be eligible for services through the end of that school year or until graduation with a regular high school diploma, whichever comes first. 20 U.S.C. 1401(3); 34 CFR 3007; Education Code 29.003(b), 30.002; 19 TAC 89.1035

A child between the ages of three and five who is evaluated as having mental retardation, emotional disturbance, a specific learning disability, or autism may be described as noncategorical early childhood. 20 U.S.C. 1401(3); 34 CFR 300.7; 19 TAC 89.1040

Upon completion of tests and other evaluation materials, the determination of whether the child is eligible for special education shall be made by the ARD committee and the parent. In making the determination, a child shall not be determined to be a child with a disability if the determinant factor for the determination is lack of instruction in reading or math or limited English proficiency. A copy of the evaluation report and the documentation of determination of eligibility must be given to the parent. 20 U.S.C. 1414(b)(4), (5); 34 CFR 300.534

The District shall develop a system to notify District residents with children ages three to five who are eligible for enrollment in a special education program of the availability of the program. Education Code 29.009

The District shall ensure that each child with a disability is reevaluated if conditions warrant or if the child's parent or teacher requests a reevaluation, but at least once every three years. Before conducting a reevaluation, the District shall give the parent notice that describes any evaluation procedures the District proposes to conduct and shall obtain written parental consent, except that such informed parental consent need not be obtained if the District can demonstrate that it had taken reasonable measures to obtain consent and the parent has failed to respond. 20 U.S.C. 1414(a)(2), (b), (c); 34 CFR 300.505, 300.536

The District shall evaluate a child with a disability before determining that the child is no longer a child with a disability. 20 U.S.C. 1414(c)(5); 34 CFR 300.534(c)(1)

The parents of a child with a disability have a right to obtain an independent educational evaluation if they disagree with the District's evaluation. Upon request for an independent evaluation, the District shall provide parents with information regarding where one can be obtained. Whenever an independent evaluation is at public expense, the criteria under which the evaluation is obtained, including the location of the evaluation and the qualifications of the examiner, must be the same as the criteria that the District uses when it initiates an evaluation. If a parent requests an independent evaluation, the District shall either ensure that an evaluation is performed at public expense or initiate a due process hearing to establish that the District's evaluation is appropriate. If the District initiates a hearing, and the District's evaluation is found to be appropriate, the parent still has a right to an independent evaluation, but not at public expense.