SECTION IV: EVALUATION AND DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY
Policy Statement
It is the policy of the ROP MOE that schools shall adopt and use the procedures in its procedural manual to evaluate children who are suspected of having a disability and who may be in need of special education and related services. Before any action is taken with respect to the provision of services for a child with a disability in a special education program, the Special Education Program will conduct a full and individual evaluation of the child's educational needs. The evaluation will assess all areas related to the suspected disability and assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors, in addition to physical or developmental factors. The information will help determine whether the child is eligible, and help contribute to the content of the child's IEP, including how the child will participate and progress in the general curriculum.
Parental Consent
Prior to any evaluation, the ROP MOE shall ensure that informed parental consent is obtained for initial evaluation and that if the parent does not provide consent or fails to respond to the request for consent, the ROP MOE will not use mediation or due process procedures to obtain the consent. The ROP MOE will make reasonable efforts to obtain informed consent from the parent for the initial provision of special education and related services to the child.
Prior to the initial provision of special education and related services, the ROP MOE will obtain informed consent from the parent of the child. The ROP MOE will make reasonable efforts to obtain informed consent from the parent for the initial provision of special education and related services to the child. If the parent does not provide consent or fails to respond to the consent, the ROP MOE will not use the mediation or due process procedures to obtain the consent.
If, at any time subsequent to the initial provision of special education and related services, the parent of a child revokes consent in writing for the continued provision of special education and related services, the ROP MOE will not continue to provide special education and related services to the child, but must provide prior written notice before ceasing the provision of special education and related services; It shall be the policy of the ROP MOE not to use a parentʹs refusal to consent to one service or activity under this section to deny the parent or child any other service, benefit, or activity of the ROP MOE, except as required by Part B of IDEA. If a parent of a child who is home schooled or placed in a private school by the parents at their own expense does not provide consent for the initial evaluation or the reevaluation, or the parent fails to respond to a request to provide consent, the ROP MOE will not use the consent override procedure of mediation and/or due process and the ROP MOE agency is not required to consider the child as eligible for services.
To meet the reasonable efforts requirement, the ROP MOE must document its attempts to obtain parental consent as per Part B of IDEA.
Evaluation and Reevaluation
The parent of a child or the ROP MOE may initiate a request for an initial evaluation to determine if the child is a child with a disability. The procedures for conducting an initial evaluation and reevaluation is described in the ROP MOE Special Education Procedural Manual. This includes the additional requirement of the review of existing evaluation data and evaluations before change in eligibility.
Determination of Eligibility
It is the policy of the ROP MOE that upon completion of the administration of assessments and other evaluation measures a group of qualified professionals and the parent of the child determines whether the child is a child with a disability and the educational needs of the child; and The ROP shall provide a copy of the evaluation report and the documentation of determination of eligibility at no cost to the parent. The procedures for determining eligibility is fully described in the ROP MOE Special Education Procedural manual to include the requirements for determining the existence of a specific learning disability.