Independent Educational Evaluations

Independent
Educational Evaluations

We can help ensure any decision or evaluation made by the school about your child is independently evaluated by an expert. This way your child receives the fair treatment they deserve.

Your Child has the Right to Fair Treatment

If your school has done an individual evaluation of your child and you disagree with the results of that evaluation, you can ask your school district to pay for an independent educational evaluation (IEE). An IEE is an evaluation done by a person who does not work for the school system.

You can rest assured that Dr. Cristi is a well-qualified expert to perform your IEE as she has performed thousands of diagnostic evaluations with children. Dr. Cristi prepares comprehensive reports that have successfully established and expanded students’ Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). She has helped schools and families work together to make decisions about students’ classroom placement, classroom accommodations, academic interventions/instruction, therapies and behavioral plans. She has provided expert witness testimony during court hearings with families and the school district.

If you believe the school’s evaluation of your child is:

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may ask for an IEE.

What to know before you get started.

An IEE may cost a lot of money. It is very important that you know who will pay for the IEE before it is actually done. If you and the school district cannot agree on who will pay for the IEE, mediation or a due process hearing may be needed. The school district will pay for the IEE if the district agrees to do so or if an administrative law judge orders the district to pay as the result of a due process hearing. The school district staff will let you know if they refuse to pay for the IEE. If they refuse, they must request a due process hearing to prove that their evaluation is appropriate.

You may pay for the IEE if you choose to or if an administrative law judge decides, as the result of a due process hearing, that the school district’s evaluation is complete, correct, and fair. It is also important to note that if you pay for the IEE and give the report to the school, it will become part of your child’s record.

Checklist to Complete Before Asking for an IEE

Be able to explain why you think the school’s evaluation is not correct, not complete, or not fair
Ask people at the school to talk with you about their evaluation (they may be able to clear up your concerns)
Ask the school to do another evaluation or to add to the evaluation that has already been done
Talk with the ESE administrator in your local school district office

If You Decide to Ask the District to Pay for an IEE, You Should do the Following:

Your Child Deserves the Best

As a parent, you have complete control over a private evaluation, which may be critical to your child’s learning and development. You can choose which type of testing to have done and choose the person who does the testing. The evaluation can be comprehensive or just focused on a single issue.

You can have a private evaluation done at any time. The school doesn’t have to agree that it’s necessary, and the testing doesn’t automatically become part of your child’s school record. You don’t even have to tell the school should you choose not to. However after your IEE you will have a fact based evaluation specific to your child’s unique condition by a team of leading experts in the field.