Kaylie: Learning the Importance of Reevaluations

All special education teachers know about the three-year reevaluation. Every three years, we are required to take a look at our students’ progress, behavior, medical and family information and any changes that may have occurred in their lives during this time. As teachers, we complete assessments, complete observation forms and fill in the data collected three years ago so it can easily be compared to new data. General education teachers and parents also complete observation forms and share any other relevant information.

What’s the point of all this? We are determining whether or not the student continues to need special education services and if the current services are meeting his or her needs. 

As a self-contained teacher, my reevaluations are usually pretty straight forward. We document behavioral progress and progress with academic and life skills, but there is usually no question whether or not the student will continue to receive special education services in my classroom. However, the last reevaluation I completed was a different story. 

I got my first inclination that something was up when I began looking for past alternate assessment scores; I could only find one year’s score in his file. This child is in 6th grade and should’ve taken the assessment in grades 3-5. Then, I began completing my assessment packet on this student. I already knew he had significantly higher adaptive behavior skills and academic skills than my other students, but actually seeing the discrepancy on paper was shocking. For example, the computer-based math program I use in the classroom which advances students through curriculum based on their mastery of skills gives progress reports on the number of standards passed and grade levels advanced—my student had advanced more than two grade levels since September! 

The day of the meeting, my student’s guardian attended. She informed me that my student’s previous living situation had been unstable, causing him to change schools frequently and explaining the missing assessment scores. I expressed my concerns about the student not being in the least restrictive environment and the need for further testing to determine the most appropriate placement for him. She was in full agreement, and I scheduled an assessment with our school psychologist.

Three years ago my student had an IQ that qualified him for alternate assessment and a self-contained classroom for academic instruction. When he was retested, his IQ had jumped 20 points! This was definitely the last piece of information needed for some changes to be considered.

I contacted the assistant supervisor of special education, and we assembled a team for the meeting to discuss what was best for my student: an assistant principal, the 6th grade counselor, a 6th grade science teacher, a resource teacher, my student’s guardian, the assistant supervisor of special education and myself. The meeting went exceptionally well!

The following day, my student went to general education classes for science and social studies and a resource special education class for math and reading. He continues to attend related arts and is now going to lunch with the 6th graders from the pod he was assigned to. 

This transition occurred a week ago. I expected there to be some challenges, and there have been. My student became upset in social studies when told he could not use the restroom during class. There has also been concern about his participation in the general education courses due to his reading ability. The team is coming together again this week to further collaborate on what will help this student be successful in his new environment. 

As much as I’ll miss seeing my student, I could not be happier that he is now getting the special education services he needs. One of my assistants saw him in the hall last week and reported that he was “grinning from ear to ear.”

This situation has definitely taught me the value of the three-year reevaluation and the importance of taking the time to really look at a student’s situation when determining if he or she is receiving the educational services he or she needs. 

Have any of you experienced similar eye-openers? Any advice on how I can best support my student’s new teachers?

Comments

[yolanda]

My Clinical Teacher has continued to stress the importance of assessments, evaluation and IEP's. She has done a dynamic job in placing our students in the proper environments based on re-evaluation. Collaborative efforts have been a success with some of the general education teachers. They have welcomed our students with open arms. But, there have also been some challenges as well. But together as a team both general and special education teams have worked together in making sure student success is achieved.

[Stephanie Nagel]

This is really fantastic! I am currently working in a self contained behavior room. My students do not all have academic IEP goals but their behavior is what is keeping them from accessing the general education room. I have seen two of my students get the opportunity to leave my self contained setting and enter the general education classroom. This is a great triumph as a teacher but it is also necessary to support the teachers that have my new students. I met with each of the teachers to see if they needed any support from me. I made it clear that if any behaviors or issues may come up with my student to not hesitate to contact me. I send my IA to check on my students from time to time to check in and see if the student feels they need any support. It is important for all parties to feel they are being supported by you and can access you if anything comes up.

[Mary Beth Diehl]

WOW--i will never [well, hardly ever] complain about too mcuh paper ever again. Many alarms go off if you miss a 3 yr re-eval in our district/state, and I teach early childhood sped! When I did Head Start inclusion, I had to do at least 1-2 3 yr re-evals per year, and many times the students 'tested' out of special ed. :) It is a long and arduous process, as it should be--that's why it's only done tri-annually. CONGRATS to you & yr student :)

[HollieMason]

I have had a similar situation with a student. We just had her re-evaluation meeting and, upon reviewing her assessment scores, realized that the scores were all over the place! She had been in some study skills classes (at her own request!) for a while and had just placed out of a reading intervention class. She has been doing an amazing job of staying on task and keeping up with her peers. The test scores that she received from three years ago just did not reflect the child we saw everyday. During our meeting, her foster mother informed us that her adoption had just been finalized. She then filled us in on some of the horrific things that had happened in the student's past. It made total sense that our sweet student was probably going through all sorts of craziness at home and then being asked to go through all of these tests at the same time... maybe her mind was somehwere else during testing! Her newly adopted mother was in total agreement that, now that life had settled and she was totally happy, testing should be re-administered. I, for one, am excited to see what comes from the testing. Granted, this student does have some definite problems in school. It will be nice to have some assessment results that will more clearly help us help her.

[Katie]

Leigh-

what great work you have done with this student! Sometimes finding the LRE and getting everyone on board can be challenging! Supporting the regular education teacher by just being open and collaborating is a great way to start. Being there for each other, and sharing ideas is so helpful.

[Kaylie]

@Leigh-Sounds like you did an awesome job meeting the needs of your student. The right placement is so important. Thanks for posting!

[Leigh]

This reminds me of a situation I'm helping deal with in my student teaching. I'm in a Resource classroom, and this student came to us about three weeks ago. His file was lost somewhere when he moved among the three different districts he's been in during the past year. We were able to contact one of his former teachers, and this student was in a self-contained academic classroom with a classification of ID. He's an incredibly sweet kid, but it was obvious from the beginning that his best placement is not in a Resource setting; a thought that was backed up when his tested IQ came back as 47.

Now, I really like this kid, and I'm doing my best to serve him. But when I have a 5th/6th math group (he's in 5th grade) and I'm trying to teach everyone else about area and perimeter, while he's still struggling with addition and subtraction--how best can I serve this kid? I was tempted to just let him float through until his retesting is all done and he's once again where he should be, but I realized that that would NOT be doing my job! And regardless of where this student "should" be placed, the fact is that he's in my classroom, he's been there three weeks, and I still need to be teaching him. No matter how difficult for me. It just requires a greater level of differentiation, and while I'm still learning my way around how to best do that, once I reminded myself that he could not lose this instructional time, it became that much easier to at least brainstorm and implement ideas to help him, as much as possible.