A student’s eligibility for special education and related services shall be determined by a case conference committee following a multidisciplinary team evaluation.
Eligibility for special education and related services means that a student’s case conference committee has determined, in accordance with state law, that a student’s disability or impairment adversely affects the student’s educational performance (i.e. disability has a consistent and significant negative impact on the student’s academic achievement or functional performance, or both) and, by reason thereof, the student needs special education and related services;
The determination for special education and appropriate special education services must be made considering all of the information contained in the educational evaluation report. It must not rely on any single measure or assessment as the sole criteria for determining eligibility or appropriate educational services.
A student shall not be determined eligible if the key factor in the determination is:
- Lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including the essential components of reading instruction, which means explicit and systematic instruction in:
- Phonemic awareness;
- Phonics;
- Vocabulary development;
- Reading fluency, including oral reading skills; and
- Reading comprehension strategies; or
- Lack of appropriate instruction in math; or
- Limited English proficiency; and
- The student does not otherwise meet the eligibility criteria
If a student only needs related services, but not special education, the case conference committee must not determine the student is eligible.
A student’s academic and/or behavioral difficulties, which are adversely affecting his/her education should first be reviewed and addressed through a school-based general education intervention process.
Required Assessment Components for Eligibility Areas