What is Evaluation?

Evaluation in preschool special education and related services (Under Part B, Section 619 of IDEA) means the process of reviewing information from parents, existing data, and results of assessment procedures at an IEP team meeting to:

• Determine initial and ongoing eligibility - whether a child has a category of disability and the nature and extent of the special education and related services that the child needs [34 CFR §300.306(a)(1); COMAR 13A.05.03 B(25);
• Determine the child’s educational needs, or present levels of academic achievement and functional performance; and
• Guide decision making about an appropriate educational program for the child (whether any additions or modifications are needed in the special education and related services to enable the child to meet the goals set out in the IEP and to participate, as appropriate, in the general curriculum).

In determining an eligible child’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, the IEP team considers how the child’s disability affects participation in appropriate activities, or how the child’s identified needs affect involvement and progress in the general curriculum.
[34 CFR §§300.320(a)(1)(i)-(ii)]

Evaluation must:

• Be a full and individual, reflecting all areas related to the child’s suspected disability [34 CFR 300.304(c)(4); COMAR 13A.05.01.05(B)(1)]  
• Areas may include:
  • health,
  • vision and hearing,
  • social and emotional status,
  • general intelligence,
  • academic performance,
  • communicative status, and
  • motor abilities
• Be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the child’s special education and related services needs; [34 CFR §300.304(c)(6)]
• Be nondiscriminatory on a racial or cultural basis; [34 CFR §300.304 (c)(1)(i); (COMAR 13.05.05(A)]
• Consider the child and family’s language and mode of communication; [34 CFR §300.304(c)(1)(ii)] and
• Consider adaptations for physical disabilities, including vision and/or hearing impairment.