Independent educational evaluations (IEEs) can be a valuable tool for parents and school staff when used to determine a child’s educational needs. An IEE is a kind of private evaluation that is not completed by a school district.
Parents may seek an IEE at public expense when they are in disagreement with an evaluation completed or obtained by the district. Sometimes a school district proposes the need for an IEE to be completed.
• When the school district does not have the personnel needed to complete the testing that your child needs.
• When the school district’s evaluation team thinks outside testing is needed.
Any parent who obtains a full explanation of the school’s evaluation findings and recommendations, and still disagrees with the school’s justification for their proposed IEP services and placement, may request an IEE. The federal regulations direct school districts to inform parents of their right to obtain an IEE, 34 C.F.R. §300.502(a), where they may obtain an IEE, and conditions for obtaining an IEE at public expense. 34 C.F.R §300.502(b). If a parent disagrees with a school district evaluation and requests an IEE at public expense, the school district must obtain the IEE and pay for it unless the school district requests a due process hearing and the hearing officer rules that the IEE is not needed. 34 C.F.R. §300.503. Nicknamed in the advocacy world “Fund or File”. The district must consent to the IEE at public expense, or request a due process hearing and prove to a hearing officer that the school evaluation was sufficient.
When a parent presents an independent evaluation the school district/IEP committee is required to consider the evaluation. This does not mean that the school district must accept the results or recommendations in the IEE. It does means that the IEP committee must review and discuss the evaluation at an IEP meeting. Review/consideration of parentally obtained evaluations by the IEP team is mandatory. 34 C.F.R. 300.503(c) “If the parent obtains an independent educational evaluation at private expense, the results of the evaluation (1) Must be considered by the public agency in any decision made with respect to the provision of a [free appropriate public education] to the child.”
An IEE gives parents a voice and added authority in an IEP meeting. In many instances an IEE gives parents extra support for their requests and recommendations. “[T]he failure to receive and consider parental information, including evaluations they may obtain, directly denies parents the pivotal role they should enjoy in the development of their child’s placement. This role includes not only providing evaluations or other information, but discussing such information. Consideration of such outside information also ensures that a program is individualized and provides a check on the judgments being made by school officials regarding the child.” Community Consolidated Sch. Dist. No. 180, 27 IDELR 1004, 1005-06. When a school district refuses to consider an IEE, it is limiting meaningful parent participation. This in turn denies equal and meaningful input from the parents and also prevents important information from the evaluation from being considered by the IEP team.
Remember IEEs are not only valuable to parents. School districts can find them a useful source of data and request IEEs when they lack the personnel or expertise to conduct a particular type of evaluation.