Can my child receive a school assessment over the summer?

If you want to request an IEP assessment for your child and it's nearing the end of the school year, you may wonder if an assessment can be conducted over the summer. You can ask, but it is unlikely. In California, the school has 15 days to send you an assessment plan. Once you sign it, the school has 60 days to do the assessment and hold the IEP meeting. School breaks of more than 5 days pause the timeline, so the school is not required to conduct any assessments during summer break. It is not unheard of, but it's not common.

If your child is transitioning to a new school, the timeline doesn’t change, but the current school might run out the clock and have your child's new school do the assessments in the fall. Note that if you request an assessment at the end of the school year, there is the risk that the school will start it now and then finish it next school year, which sometimes means two different assessors.

Note that most assessments require both interviews and observations. Unless the teachers are leaving the school, they can still be interviewed at the beginning of next school year. The assessment would not likely be completed over the summer because the observation is needed.