When a child is being considered for special education, parents may hear words such as evaluation, assessment, testing, rating scale, observation, FBA, achievement test, cognitive test, adaptive behavior, or reevaluation. These terms can make the process sound like one giant exam. It is not.

Under IDEA, a special education evaluation is supposed to gather information from multiple sources so the team can understand the child’s academic, developmental, functional, behavioral, communication, and other educational needs. The school may use standardized tests, but it must also consider parent information, classroom data, observations, teacher input, records, and other appropriate sources. No single test may be used as the only basis for deciding whether a child has a disability or what educational program the child needs.¹

This article explains the assessments parents may encounter before an IEP is created, while an IEP is in place, and during later reevaluations. To understand where the results appear in the plan, see What Is Actually in an IEP? A Parent’s Guide to Every Major Section.

First: evaluation is broader than testing

A test is one tool. An evaluation is the larger process of gathering and interpreting information.

A full evaluation can include:

• Review of school records and previous evaluations
• Parent interviews and questionnaires
• Teacher interviews and questionnaires
• Student interviews or self-report forms
• Classroom observations
• Work samples and grades
• Attendance and discipline information
• Curriculum-based measures and progress-monitoring data
• Standardized academic testing
• Cognitive or processing assessments when appropriate
• Speech and language evaluation
• Occupational or physical therapy evaluation
• Social-emotional or behavioral rating scales
• Adaptive behavior scales
• Autism-specific measures when appropriate
• Functional behavioral assessment
• Hearing, vision, health, motor, sensory, or assistive-technology information when relevant

The exact combination depends on the concerns. A child referred because of reading difficulty may need a very different evaluation from a child referred because of communication, behavior, motor, or adaptive-functioning concerns.

Before the initial IEP: referral and consent

A parent or a public school agency may request an initial special education evaluation.² Before conducting the initial evaluation, the school must provide the required notice and obtain informed parental consent.³

Consent to evaluate is not the same as consent to begin special education services. If the child is later found eligible, the school must obtain informed parental consent before the initial provision of special education and related services.³

Federal IDEA rules generally require the initial evaluation to be completed within 60 days after parental consent unless the state has established its own evaluation timeline, in which case the state timeline applies. Certain exceptions can apply.²

Review of existing data

The team does not always begin from zero. IDEA requires consideration of existing information, including evaluations and information provided by parents, classroom and state or local assessment data, classroom observations, and observations from teachers and related-service providers.⁴

This review helps the team decide what additional information is actually needed. Sometimes a recent outside evaluation, prior school testing, progress-monitoring data, medical information, or therapy records can answer part of the question. Parents can provide relevant records to the team.

Academic achievement testing

Academic achievement assessments measure school skills such as:

• Basic reading and decoding
• Reading fluency
• Reading comprehension
• Written expression
• Spelling
• Math calculation
• Math problem solving
• Listening comprehension or oral expression in some batteries

Schools may use individually administered standardized achievement tests as well as classroom-based measures. Results are often reported as standard scores, percentile ranks, age or grade equivalents, or other metrics. Parents should ask the evaluator to explain what the scores mean and which types of scores are most appropriate for interpreting that particular test.

A grade-equivalent score does not necessarily mean the child should be placed in that grade or can do all work at that grade level. It is a statistical comparison and is frequently misunderstood.

Cognitive and processing assessments

Some evaluations include an individually administered cognitive assessment. These tools may examine areas such as verbal reasoning, visual-spatial reasoning, working memory, processing speed, fluid reasoning, or other cognitive processes.

A cognitive test is not required in every special education evaluation. The school should select assessments that are appropriate to the suspected disability and the questions the team needs to answer. IDEA requires assessment in all areas related to the suspected disability and prohibits using one measure as the sole criterion.¹

Parents should be cautious about treating a single IQ or index score as a complete description of a child. Score patterns, confidence intervals, language, attention, motor demands, culture, testing conditions, and the child’s functioning in real settings all matter.

Speech and language evaluation

A speech-language pathologist may assess:

• Speech sound production
• Receptive language
• Expressive language
• Vocabulary
• Grammar and sentence formulation
• Pragmatic or social communication
• Fluency or stuttering
• Voice
• Augmentative or alternative communication needs

The evaluation may combine standardized measures, language samples, observation, parent and teacher information, and informal tasks.

Occupational therapy and physical therapy evaluations

An occupational therapy evaluation may look at fine-motor skills, handwriting, visual-motor integration, sensory processing as it affects school participation, self-care at school, access to classroom tools, or other functional skills.

A physical therapy evaluation may address mobility, balance, strength, positioning, access to the school environment, transfers, stairs, playground participation, or equipment needs.

School-based OT and PT focus on educational access and participation. A child may qualify for clinical therapy outside school and not require the same service in the IEP, or may require school-based services for reasons that are specific to the educational environment.

Social-emotional and behavior rating scales

This is where parents may receive a very long questionnaire. Schools sometimes use standardized behavior rating scales that ask adults to rate how often they observe certain behaviors. Different forms may be sent to a parent or caregiver, one or more teachers, and sometimes the student.

One common example is the BASC-3, Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition. Pearson reports that its Parent Rating Scales contain approximately 139–175 items depending on age form, while Teacher Rating Scales contain about 105–165 items.⁵ That may be the “150-question form” a parent remembers receiving.

The BASC-3 is only an example. Schools may use other instruments, including broad behavior scales, attention or ADHD rating scales, anxiety or depression measures, executive-function scales, or autism-related questionnaires.

These forms are useful because a child may function differently at home, in one classroom, during unstructured time, or with different adults. A difference between parent and teacher ratings does not automatically mean one person is wrong. It may show that the behavior depends on setting, demands, relationships, structure, time of day, medication effects, sensory load, or other factors.

What do behavior rating scales actually measure?

Depending on the instrument, rating scales may look at areas such as:

• Hyperactivity
• Attention problems
• Impulsivity
• Aggression
• Conduct problems
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Withdrawal
• Somatic complaints
• Social skills
• Adaptability
• Functional communication
• Leadership
• Activities of daily living
• Executive functioning

A rating scale does not automatically diagnose a child and should not be interpreted in isolation. Scores may identify areas that deserve closer attention and show whether concerns appear across multiple settings.

Adaptive behavior assessment

Adaptive behavior refers to how a person manages everyday demands. An adaptive-behavior assessment may examine:

• Communication
• Daily living or self-care
• Socialization
• Community skills
• Functional academics
• Self-direction
• Safety
• Independent functioning

These assessments frequently rely on interviews or questionnaires completed by people who know the child well. They can be especially important when the team is considering intellectual disability, developmental needs, significant support needs, or transition planning.

Autism-related assessment

When autism is suspected, the evaluation may include developmental history, direct observation, communication assessment, behavior or social rating scales, interviews, and autism-specific standardized tools. No single autism instrument should be treated as the entire special education evaluation.

Educational eligibility and a medical diagnosis are related but not identical questions. A medical professional may diagnose autism, ADHD, anxiety, or another condition, while the school team determines whether the student meets IDEA eligibility requirements and needs special education because of educational impact.

Attention and executive-function assessment

Attention and executive functioning can be assessed using rating scales, observations, interviews, work completion data, classroom performance, and sometimes performance-based measures. Executive-function areas may include planning, inhibition, shifting between tasks, emotional control, working memory, initiation, organization, and self-monitoring.

An ADHD diagnosis alone does not automatically create an IEP, and the absence of a diagnosis does not prevent a school from evaluating suspected educational needs.

Classroom observations

Observation can provide information that a standardized test cannot. An evaluator may watch the student during reading, math, transitions, lunch, recess, independent work, group work, or another setting connected to the concern.

Useful observation looks beyond “student was off task.” It can examine what was happening before the behavior, the task difficulty, adult prompts, peer interactions, how long the behavior lasted, what happened afterward, and what conditions were associated with better performance.

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

An FBA is a process used to understand the function or purpose of a specific behavior that interferes with learning and the factors that contribute to when the behavior does or does not occur. U.S. Department of Education guidance describes FBAs as a way to identify the reasons behind behavior so teams can develop effective positive interventions and supports.⁶

An FBA is not simply a checklist that labels a child “defiant.” A useful FBA may include:

• A clear, observable definition of the target behavior
• Interviews with the student, parent, teachers, and staff
• Review of records, discipline data, schedules, attendance, and previous interventions
• Direct observation in settings where the behavior occurs and does not occur
• Antecedent-behavior-consequence data, sometimes called ABC data
• Information about frequency, duration, intensity, or latency
• Analysis of environmental, academic, social, sensory, communication, or emotional factors
• A hypothesis about the function of the behavior
• Recommendations for positive supports and prevention

Possible functions might involve escaping a difficult task, obtaining attention, accessing an item or activity, meeting a sensory or regulation need, communicating distress, or other purposes. Human behavior is complex, and a good FBA should not force every behavior into an oversimplified explanation.

When a student’s behavior impedes learning, the IEP team must consider positive behavioral interventions and supports.⁷ IDEA also specifically requires an FBA and BIP in certain disciplinary manifestation situations, unless an FBA had already been completed.⁶

Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)

A BIP is not the assessment itself. It is the intervention plan that may be developed from FBA findings and other data. A strong BIP can describe:

• The behavior being addressed
• Prevention strategies
• Skills the student will be taught as replacements
• Positive reinforcement and supports
• How adults should respond when the behavior occurs
• Safety or crisis procedures when necessary
• Who is responsible for each part
• How data will be collected
• When the plan will be reviewed

If a plan consists mainly of consequences for misbehavior but does not teach or support an alternative skill, parents should ask how it addresses the function identified by the FBA.

Curriculum-based measurement and intervention data

Schools often collect repeated brief measures to see how a student responds to instruction. Examples include reading-fluency probes, decoding checks, math computation measures, writing samples, or progress-monitoring graphs.

Response-to-intervention or multi-tiered support data can be extremely useful because they show what instruction was tried, how consistently it was delivered, and whether the child improved. However, intervention systems should not be used to avoid evaluating a child when a disability is suspected.

Hearing, vision, medical, and health information

A school may screen or review hearing and vision because difficulties in these areas can affect learning and the interpretation of other tests. Health information may also be relevant for conditions involving attention, seizures, diabetes, fatigue, medication effects, mobility, chronic illness, or other educational needs.

Schools do not need to perform every medical test themselves. They may consider information from qualified outside providers when relevant.

Assistive technology assessment

If a student may need technology to access instruction or communicate, the team may evaluate assistive-technology needs. This can involve trials of devices or software, observation across settings, input from the student and staff, and data comparing performance with and without supports.

Examples include augmentative communication, alternative keyboards, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, word prediction, screen readers, magnification, switches, or organizational supports.

Transition assessment for older students

Transition assessment helps identify the student’s strengths, preferences, interests, and needs related to life after high school. It may involve interest inventories, interviews, vocational assessments, independent-living checklists, work experiences, aptitude measures, and information from the student and family.

These results help the IEP team create measurable postsecondary goals and transition services.

How tests should be selected and administered

IDEA requires assessments to be selected and administered so they are not racially or culturally discriminatory, to be provided in the child’s native language or other mode of communication when feasible and appropriate, to be valid and reliable for their intended purpose, and to be administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel according to test instructions.¹

The evaluation should also be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all special education and related-service needs, even if those needs are not commonly linked to the disability category eventually chosen.¹

What happens after all the testing is completed?

After the assessments and other evaluation measures are completed, qualified professionals and the parent determine whether the child meets IDEA eligibility requirements and identify the child’s educational needs. The school must provide the parent a copy of the evaluation report and documentation of the eligibility determination at no cost.⁸

The team must consider information from a variety of sources, including aptitude and achievement information, parent input, teacher recommendations, physical condition, social or cultural background, and adaptive behavior.⁸

If the child is eligible and needs special education, the IEP is then developed.

During the IEP: assessment does not stop

Once an IEP exists, data collection should continue. Teachers and service providers monitor progress toward annual goals, review classroom performance, and collect information needed to determine whether services are effective.

A parent does not have to wait for the three-year reevaluation to raise a new concern. If a student develops new academic, communication, behavioral, emotional, motor, or functional needs, the parent can ask the IEP team to consider whether additional evaluation is needed.

Reevaluation: commonly at least every three years

IDEA requires reevaluation when the school determines that the child’s educational or related-service needs warrant it or when the parent or teacher requests it, subject to federal frequency rules. Reevaluation generally may not occur more than once a year unless the parent and school agree otherwise, and it must occur at least once every three years unless the parent and school agree that it is unnecessary.

As part of reevaluation, the team reviews existing data and determines what additional data, if any, are needed.⁴ A reevaluation does not automatically mean repeating every test from the initial evaluation.

If the team concludes that no additional testing is needed, the school must notify the parent of that determination and the reasons. The parent still has the right to request an assessment to determine whether the child continues to have a disability and to determine educational needs.⁴

Evaluation before ending special education eligibility

With limited exceptions, the school must evaluate a student before determining that the student is no longer a child with a disability under IDEA. An evaluation is not required solely because eligibility ends due to graduation with a regular diploma or because the student exceeds the age of eligibility under state law; in those situations IDEA requires a summary of academic achievement and functional performance with recommendations to assist in meeting postsecondary goals.⁴

What if I disagree with the school’s evaluation?

Parents have a right to obtain an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE). If a parent disagrees with an evaluation obtained by the public agency, the parent may request an IEE at public expense. Under IDEA, the school must, without unnecessary delay, either provide the IEE at public expense or file for due process to show that its evaluation was appropriate, subject to the federal rules and agency criteria.⁹

A parent can also obtain a private evaluation at personal expense. If the parent shares an independent evaluation that meets applicable agency criteria, the public agency must consider the results in decisions about providing FAPE, although the team is not automatically required to accept every recommendation.⁹

Questions parents can ask before giving consent

• What areas are you evaluating?
• What specific assessments or rating scales are you proposing?
• Who will administer each assessment?
• Who will receive questionnaires?
• Will my child complete a self-report form?
• Will there be classroom observations?
• Are speech, motor, adaptive, social-emotional, attention, or behavior concerns being evaluated if those are suspected areas?
• If behavior is a major concern, are you proposing an FBA or another behavior assessment?
• How will language, culture, disability, communication method, or motor needs be considered during testing?
• When should I expect the evaluation report?

Questions to ask when you receive the evaluation report

• What are my child’s strongest areas?
• Which scores are significantly below or above expected ranges?
• Are there meaningful differences between parent, teacher, and student ratings?
• Could attention, language, anxiety, motor demands, fatigue, or behavior have affected testing?
• What did classroom observation show?
• How do the test results match everyday school performance?
• What educational needs does the evaluation identify?
• Which IEP goals, services, accommodations, or supports are being recommended because of these findings?
• Is there any area of suspected disability that was not evaluated?

Do not focus only on whether a score is “low enough”

Special education decisions should not become a search for one magic cutoff score. IDEA requires a variety of tools and sources and says that no single measure can be the sole criterion.¹ A student can have serious educational needs even when some standardized scores fall in an average range, and a low score alone does not automatically establish IDEA eligibility.

The key questions are: What does the full body of data show? Does the student meet an IDEA disability category? Does the disability adversely affect educational performance as defined under applicable law? Does the student need specially designed instruction?

The bottom line for parents

IEP evaluation is a process, not one test. Expect the school to combine multiple kinds of information and evaluate all areas connected to suspected disability. Long questionnaires such as behavior rating scales can be a legitimate part of that process, but they should be interpreted together with observations, interviews, academic data, and other evidence.

If you do not understand why a test is being given, what a score means, or how a result connects to the proposed IEP, ask the evaluator to explain it in plain language. Parents are members of the decision-making team, not simply people who receive the final report.