Minnesota Administrative Rules

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.

Statutory Authority:

MS s 14.389; L 1999 c 123 s 19,20; L 2014 c 312 art 17 s 12

History:

26 SR 657; 28 SR 1292; 32 SR 653; L 2012 c 239 art 1 s 33; 39 SR 1168

Published Electronically:

February 10, 2015