- Lauren Stradley
What is an eligiblity meeting?
An eligibility meeting and educational planning meeting will occur when your child, student or client completes an evaluation with the School Board or submitted a private evaluation to the School Board for formal review. At this meeting the team will review the results of the evaluation, determine eligibility/eligibilities/ineligibility for an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), 504 Plan or necessary changes to the current plan.
At an educational planning/eligibility meeting under both Section 504 and IDEA, the team should review a variety of both formal and informal assessments and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data. In order to properly prescribe plans in the school, professionals must look at both the students strengths and their deficits alongside the state eligibility criteria.
The first step in the eligibility meeting is reviewing all the data that was collected in the evaluation window (minimum requirement set forth by IDEA: completion in 60days from when consent was given). Most U.S. districts use a template form to help guide them through important considerations such as, child’s family history, all psychoeducational testing that was completed, parent input, teacher input, intervention/remediation data, state testing, weekly skills tests, behavioral data, etc. We review all of this in order to have as clear and unbiased view of the students abilities and needs when it’s time to write a plan of action.
Following the evaluation review, the team will determine eligibility, additional eligibility, reaffirm current eligibility or ineligibility. Under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504, there are specific eligibility criteria that needs to be met for a child to receive special education services and reasonable accommodations in the educational environment. It’s important to read your state’s eligibility criteria in preparation for any eligibility discussion. Oftentimes, school based teams will reference their district’s eligibility criteria cheat sheet or checklist versus state law. It is important in your advocacy that you demand the team share the state’s criteria because there are time when districts forms/checklists erroneously stray from the states. Remember, districts must follow state rule. They aren’t free to invent their own eligibility criteria but may add specifications that are in alignment with the criteria.
To learn more, please be sure to check out My Online IEP Advocate, where two of our experts, Dr. Valeria Fontanals and Dr. Brandi Tanner, discuss the evaluation process and next steps post evaluation. To access to these videos, as well as all the perks of our growing community, go to…
If you are in need of immediate help or have additional questions about the evaluation process or any area of IEP/504 Advocacy, be sure to schedule a Free Fifteen Minute Consultation with a veteran advocate at…
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We hope this article was helpful,
Team My Educational Solutions