IEP Assessments 101

To qualify for an IEP, a student must receive an initial full assessment. A full assessment is a multidisciplinary set of assessments conducted by a school psychologist, special education teacher, and any additional service providers that are relevant to the student’s disability (these can include speech, occupational, behavioral, vision, and physical therapists). A parent can request an assessment of their child at any time. (Here's a sample letter parents can use to request an assessment for an IEP.)

If a student qualifies for special education services, a full re-assessment must be conducted every three years (called a triennial assessment) to ensure that they still qualify for special education services.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that the initial full assessment include a variety of assessment tools and strategies to determine information about a child’s level of developmental and academic function. No one measure or assessment can be used alone to determine eligibility. Assessments must also be administered in the child’s first language or mode of communication so that the assessments accurately reflect their achievement level. The assessment includes assessments to measure health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, intelligence, academic performance, communication, and motor abilities.

Dr. Sarah Pelangka, special education advocate and owner of KnowIEPs, reminds us that California is a dual consent state, which means that districts aren’t allowed to assess students without consent from a parent or guardian. For example, if the district wants to do IQ testing and parents disagree, she tells us that “parents can request assessment in processing areas in lieu of IQ tests to see how their child processes and learns best.”

Under the IDEA, once the parent consents to the assessment, it must be conducted within 60 days.

How to look for areas of need

When you review an assessment, you should take note of any areas of relative weakness. Often, tests are broken down into subtest scores, which are averaged together for an overall score. Sometimes, a child will have a low score in one subtest, but will test in the average range in other subtests, so the low score can get lost in the overall average. Even if the overall score may be acceptable, you can request a goal specifically to work on the area(s) of weakness.

How to think about areas of strength

Although we tend to focus on areas of weakness, obtaining accurate areas of strength from assessments is possibly even more important. Areas of strength can show a child’s potential and help the parent argue for more ambitious goals.

Sometimes, districts will dismiss relative areas of strength as “splinter skills,” or abilities in a specific area that do not generalize into other areas. In this instance, even if the child cannot generalize their skill to other areas, they can still have an area of strength to help build self-confidence, make connections with others who also have that skill, and be recognized and celebrated for that skill.

Tips from Dr. Sarah Pelangka

Dr. Pelangka recommends that you use at least two different colored highlighters as you go through the assessments: use one color for strengths and one color for areas of need. Learn more here: