Senoir Year must for college

Thank you for the heads up. My son is now a junior in a private school. We took him out of public school after middle school and his last IEP was in 8th grade. I now plan to contact our district of residence’s search and serve department to see about testing next year after January, per your note. We moved far from the old district, so the new one will have to pick up the job. The private school may do testing, but I think it is an additional fee. I’d appreciate any more suggestions you can give me. Thanks, Angela

In our state, full evaluations must be done every 3 yrs. Our dtr. is a Sr. & just had her last 3 yr. eval done recently. Will we have to pay to have another done next yr?

However, is the school district required to perform an additional eval. during senior year? Let us assume that the district performed, as mine does, a good reeval. in 10th or 11th grade. The triennial would still be in effect. Since the district is not required to do any further psychoeducational evals. for three years, would they have to comply with a parental request? I know that school districts can refuse parental requests with prior written notice, esp. when the dictrict has documentation. There is nothing that mandates a district to complete an eval. during a senior year, unless the triennial is due at that time. Why couldn’t the district simply say, “No, we have current data that is completely within the requirements of the law. This is not something we are required to do.”

Our H.S. psychologist is so very overloaded, he really couldn’t do another 25 or so evals. for seniors who have current evals., just for the college.

Anitya, that is the situation we are in. Eval. was done in 10th grade, so school does not have to do another one. They tell me that if accomodations are needed, the college will go by the IEP that was in place at the end of the senior year. Luckily, we think my daughter can make it in college without services for students with disabilities— she will have access to the math and writing labs that are set up for all students. I have no reason to think that the High school staff is lying to me, but they may not be aware of college policies. They graduate a very few sped. students each year, and I imagine most do not pursue a college degree.

And whether or not it pleases you, public schools do have to engage in responsible spending. They are not a private service for families. If they provide the IDEA required assessments and services and the child can graduate from H.S., I personally don’t think it is the high school’s responsibility to go above and beyond to satisfy hoops that a college may have created for LD youngsters.

Some parents on another board were trying to insist that this is necessary under transition services. I really don’t interpret transition to the extent that the public schools must do things for the college. The high school must provide FAPE to the student, if the college wants a different test, then let them do it, if the receive state or federal funds. If they are an entirely private institution (not really are), then this is not the obligation of the public school in any way to make them happy.

Actually, most colleges will accept evaluations done within the last three years- as will ETS for SATs and ACTs. The guidelines that most of us follow are established by AHEAD-Association of Higher Education and Disabilities- and there is a reasonable amount of flexibility. They are guidleines after all :wink: And colleges are no more consistant than K-12 in their interpretations.

The important issues are really whether the evaluation is current, provides the necessary information- which the college should tell you right up front- and has been done by someone who was qualified to do make the determination. An IEP is not an evaluation- nor is a 504 plan.

And I agree with Anitya- as I have many times over the past years :roll: that it is not the obligation of the school to evaluate as a part of the transition process. It is the family’s- unless the team decides differently of course. Would you expect schools to pay the eval costs for a back injury- also eligible for accommodations uner ADA- or any other condition? Or hearing imparment? Or vision imparments? All of which can have substantial limitations on the ability to learn? The documentation is- once one is out of the K-12 system- the responsibility of the individual. LD’s are no different from any other disability in that regard. I know it seems unfair- but it truly is not when you put it in the larger perspective.

Sometimes the college will know ways to get the eval done at reasonable rates or free, though it can be a real nuisance. (It’s also important to understand just how differently disabilities are handled in college… I had an adult student asking me if getting the accommodations would mean she would have to be in different college classes — a la special ed classes in college! And whether ADD meant she was retarded :-( )