NC 1500-2.14 Evaluation

Plain English summary

This regulation defines evaluation procedures used to determine whether a child has a disability and the scope of special education services needed. It requires a full individualized evaluation before initial placement, mandates multiple data sources for eligibility determination, and defines 20 specific types of evaluations and screenings including psychological, educational, audiological, and speech-language evaluations. Each evaluation type specifies who may conduct it and what it must include.

Key requirements

• A full and individualized evaluation of a child's needs must be conducted before any action is taken with respect to the initial placement of a student with a disability in a special education program.
• Eligibility of children must be determined by using multiple sources of data and must not be dependent upon single test scores.
• When eligibility for specific learning disability is being determined, evaluation data must include progress monitoring data.
• Adaptive behavior information shall be obtained from two sources, one of which must be the child's parent, as defined by NC 1500-2.2427, unless attempts to gather parental input are not successful.
• Unsuccessful attempts to obtain adaptive behavior input from the parent must be documented.
• An adaptive behavior evaluation must be conducted by professional personnel who are trained in the assessment of adaptive behavior and in the interpretation of the assessment results.
• Observations cannot be limited to assessment observations and must include a third-party observation.
• Observations of school aged children shall assess academic skills and functional skills, which includes behavior.
• Observations of school aged children usually occur in the regular classroom and/or settings related to the area(s) of concern and must document areas of strength as well as areas of need.
• Psychological evaluations shall be performed by DPI- or Board-licensed psychologists.
• School psychologists employed by the public schools must be licensed by the State Department of Public Instruction.
• Psychologists contracting with schools on a private basis must be licensed as psychological associates or practicing psychologists by the North Carolina Psychology Board.
• When contracting with state agencies for psychological services, the local education agency's contract must be with the agency and not with the individual psychologist.
• Motor evaluations are performed by physical therapists or occupational therapists.
• Sensory evaluations are performed by occupational therapists.
• A speech-language evaluation is conducted by a speech-language pathologist licensed by the State Department of Public Instruction and/or licensed by the State of North Carolina.
• For a student to be considered for intervention, the student's speech, language, voice, or fluency must be determined to have an adverse effect on educational performance.
• An educational evaluation must be conducted by a licensed teacher or other appropriate professional, who has been trained on the administration of the assessment.
• A social history must include an assessment of family composition, support systems, stressors, and environment as they correlate with the child's need or special services.
• The social history also must include the family's or caregiver's perspective about the child and the need for special services.
• Oral-motor skills may be assessed by speech-language pathologists when appropriate.

Affected parties

• students with suspected disabilities
• students with disabilities
• parents and caregivers
• school psychologists
• licensed audiologists
• occupational therapists
• physical therapists
• speech-language pathologists
• licensed teachers
• social workers
• school nurses
• ophthalmologists and optometrists
• otologists
• local education agencies
• preschool children
• school-aged children

Official source

https://www.dpi.nc.gov/documents/publications/catalog/ec144-policies-governing-services/open#page=9