Minn. R. agency 129, ch. 3525, EVALUATION, NOTICE, AND HEARING, pt. 3525.2710 - EVALUATIONS AND REEVALUATIONS
Subpart
1.
Initial evaluations.
A school district shall conduct a full and individual initial evaluation according to this part before the initial provision of special education and related services to a pupil under this chapter. The initial evaluation shall consist of procedures to determine whether a child is a pupil with a disability that adversely affects the child's educational performance as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.02, who by reason thereof needs special education and related services, and to determine the educational needs of the pupil. The district proposing to conduct an initial evaluation to determine if the child qualifies as a pupil with a disability shall obtain an informed consent from the parent of the child before the evaluation is conducted. A district may not override the written refusal of a parent to consent to an initial evaluation or reevaluation. Parental consent for evaluation shall not be construed as consent for placement for receipt of special education and related services.
Subp. 2.
Reevaluations.
A district shall ensure that a reevaluation of each pupil is conducted if conditions warrant a reevaluation or if the pupil's parent or teacher requests a reevaluation, but at least once every three years and in accordance with subparts 3 and 4.
Subp. 3.
Evaluation procedures.
Evaluations and reevaluations shall be conducted according to the following procedures:
A. The
district shall provide notice to the parents of a pupil, according to Code of
Federal Regulations, title 34, sections 300.500 to 300.505, that describes any
evaluation procedures the district proposes to conduct.
B. In conducting the evaluation, the district
shall:
(1) use a variety of evaluation tools
and strategies to gather relevant functional and developmental information,
including information provided by the parent, that are designed to assist in
determining whether the child is a pupil with a disability and the content of
the pupil's individualized education program, including information related to
enabling the pupil to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum or,
for preschool pupils, to participate in appropriate activities;
(2) not use any single procedure as the sole
criterion for determining whether a child is a pupil with a disability or
determining an appropriate education program for the pupil; and
(3) use technically sound instruments that
are designed to assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral
factors, in addition to physical or developmental factors.
C. Each district shall ensure that:
(1) tests and other evaluation materials used
to evaluate a child under this part are selected and administered so as not to
be discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis, and are provided and
administered in the pupil's native language or other mode of communication,
unless it is clearly not feasible to do so;
(2) materials and procedures used to evaluate
an English learner are selected and administered to ensure that they measure
the extent to which the child has a disability and needs special education and
related services, rather than measure the child's English language
skills;
(3) any standardized tests
that are given to the child have been validated for the specific purpose for
which they are used, are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel,
and are administered in accordance with any instructions provided by the
producer of such tests;
(4) the
child is evaluated in all areas of suspected disability, including, if
appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general
intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor
abilities;
(5) evaluation tools and
strategies that provide relevant information that directly assists persons in
determining the educational needs of the pupil are provided;
(6) if an evaluation is not conducted under
standard conditions, a description of the extent to which it varied from
standard conditions must be included in the evaluation report;
(7) tests and other evaluation materials
include those tailored to evaluate specific areas of educational need and not
merely those that are designed to provide a single general intelligence
quotient;
(8) tests are selected
and administered so as best to ensure that if a test is administered to a child
with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, the test results accurately
reflect the child's aptitude or achievement level or whatever other factors the
test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the child's impaired sensory,
manual, or speaking skills, unless those skills are the factors that the test
purports to measure; and
(9) in
evaluating each pupil with a disability, the evaluation is sufficiently
comprehensive to identify all of the pupil's special education and related
services needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category in
which the pupil has been classified.
D. Upon completion of administration of tests
and other evaluation materials, the determination of whether the child is a
pupil with a disability as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section
125A.02,
shall be made by a team of qualified professionals and the parent of the pupil
in accordance with item E, and a copy of the evaluation report and the
documentation of determination of eligibility will be given to the
parent.
E. In making a
determination of eligibility under item D, a child shall not be determined to
be a pupil with a disability if the determinant factor for such determination
is lack of instruction in reading or math or limited English proficiency, and
the child does not otherwise meet eligibility criteria under parts
3525.1325 to
3525.1351.
Subp. 4.
Additional requirements for
evaluations and reevaluations.
A. As
part of an initial evaluation, if appropriate, and as part of any reevaluation
under this part, or a reinstatement under part
3525.3100, the IEP team and other
qualified professionals, as appropriate, shall:
(1) review existing evaluation data on the
pupil, including evaluations and information provided by the parents of the
pupil, current classroom-based assessments and observations, and teacher and
related services providers observation; and
(2) on the basis of the review, and input
from the pupil's parents, identify what additional data, if any, are needed to
determine whether the pupil has a particular category of disability, as
described in Minnesota Statutes, section
125A.02,
or, in case of a reevaluation of a pupil, whether the pupil continues to have
such a disability, the present levels of performance and educational needs of
the pupil, whether the pupil needs special education and related services, or
in the case of a reevaluation of a pupil, whether the pupil continues to need
special education and related services, and whether any additions or
modifications to the special education and related services are needed to
enable the pupil to meet the measurable annual goals set out in the
individualized education program of the pupil and to participate, as
appropriate, in the general curriculum.
B. The district shall administer such tests
and other evaluation materials as may be needed to produce the data identified
by the IEP team under item A, subitem (2).
C. Each district shall obtain informed
parental consent, in accordance with subpart
1, prior to conducting any
reevaluation of a pupil, except that such informed parental consent need not be
obtained if the district can demonstrate that it had taken reasonable measures
to obtain such consent and the pupil's parent has failed to respond.
D. If the IEP team and other qualified
professionals, as appropriate, determine that no additional data are needed to
determine whether the pupil continues to be a pupil with a disability, the
district shall notify the pupil's parents of that determination and the reasons
for it, and the right of such parents to request an evaluation to determine
whether the pupil continues to be a pupil with a disability, and shall not be
required to conduct such an evaluation unless requested to by the pupil's
parents.
E. A district shall
evaluate a pupil in accordance with this part before determining that the pupil
is no longer a pupil with a disability.
F. Prior to using any restrictive procedures,
the IEP team must conduct a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) as defined
in part
3525.0210, subpart 22. The team
must also document that it has ruled out any other treatable cause for the
behavior, for example, a medical or health condition, for the interfering
behavior.
Subp. 5.
Procedures for determining eligibility and placement.
A. In interpreting the evaluation data for
the purpose of determining if a child is a pupil with a disability under parts
3525.1325 to
3525.1351 and the educational
needs of the child, the school district shall:
(1) draw upon information from a variety of
sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, teacher
recommendations, physical condition, social or cultural background, and
adaptive behavior; and
(2) ensure
that the information obtained from all of the sources is documented and
carefully considered.
B.
If a determination is made that a child is a pupil with a disability who needs
special education and related services, an IEP must be developed for the pupil
according to part
3525.2810.
Subp. 6.
Evaluation report.
An evaluation report must be completed and delivered to the pupil's parents within the specified evaluation timeline. At a minimum, the evaluation report must include:
A. a
summary of all evaluation results;
B. documentation of whether the pupil has a
particular category of disability or, in the case of a reevaluation, whether
the pupil continues to have such a disability;
C. the pupil's present levels of performance
and educational needs that derive from the disability;
D. whether the child needs special education
and related services or, in the case of a reevaluation, whether the pupil
continues to need special education and related services; and
E. whether any additions or modifications to
the special education and related services are needed to enable the pupil to
meet the measurable annual goals set out in the pupil's IEP and to participate,
as appropriate, in the general curriculum.
Notes
Statutory Authority:
L
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