Special Education services are accessed through a process of Referral, Evaluation, and Eligibility.
Referral
A parent, teacher, school counselor or others involved in a student’s education, who believe that a student may require services can make a referral to the School Support Team (S-Team) or the MTSS Data Team. Referral to the team will not necessarily result in referral to special education. The school district is required to seek ways to meet the unique educational needs of all children within the general education program prior to referring a child to special education. The team develops a plan of instructional interventions and accommodations to meet the student’s needs within the general program. The team may determine that a student will be formally referred to determine eligibility for special education service.
Evaluation
When a student is formally referred, the IEP Team is formed and develops the evaluation plan and determines eligibility. The required members of the IEP Team include: parent(s), general education teacher, special education teacher, an assessment specialist, often a school psychologist, and an LEA (local education authority), often a school administrator. Parental permission is required for all initial evaluations and placements. The school district has sixty (60) calendar days from the time permission is obtained to complete the evaluation and determine eligibility.
Eligibility
The determination of eligibility for special education services is two-pronged. After the completion of the evaluation, the IEP team meets to determine whether the evaluation results indicate that the student has one or more disabilities and whether due to the disability the student requires special education services to make progress in the general education program. Disability categories and criteria are set by state and federal special education law. Students must be reevaluated for eligibility every three years.
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