Md. Code Regs. 13A.05.01.05

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 9, May 3, 2024

Section 13A.05.01.05 - Assessment

A. Nondiscrimination. A public agency shall ensure that testing and assessment materials and procedures used to assess a student's need for special education and related services are selected and administered in a manner which is not racially or culturally discriminatory.

B. Assessment Procedures.

(1) A student shall be assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, consistent with 34 CFR § 300.304(c)(4).

(2) A variety of assessment tools and strategies shall be used to gather sufficient relevant functional, cognitive, developmental, behavioral, academic, and physical information, and information provided by the parent to enable the IEP team to determine:

(a) If the student is a student with a disability;

(b) The student's educational needs;

(c) The content of a student's IEP, including information related to enabling the student to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum, or, for preschool students, to participate in appropriate activities; and

(d) Each special education and related service needed by a student, regardless of whether the need is commonly linked to the student's disability.

(3) A single procedure may not be used as the sole criterion for determining:

(a) If a student is a student with a disability; and

(b) An appropriate educational program for a student.

(4) Initial assessments for students with disabilities who transfer from one public agency to another in the same school year shall be expeditiously coordinated with the student's prior and subsequent public agency to ensure prompt completion of an initial evaluation as specified in 34 CFR § 300.301 and Regulation .06 of this chapter.

(5) Observation for the Determination of an SLD.

(a) If a student is suspected of being a student with an SLD, or is a student with an SLD, at least one member of the IEP team, other than the student's regular education teacher, shall observe the student in the student's learning environment, including the regular classroom setting, to document academic performance and behavior in the areas of difficulty, in accordance with 34 CFR § 300.310.

(b) In determining whether the student has an SLD, the IEP team shall:

(i) Use information from an observation in routine classroom instruction and monitoring of the student's performance that occurred before the child was referred for an evaluation; or

(ii) Have at least one member of the IEP team conduct an observation of the student's academic performance in the regular classroom after the student has been referred for an evaluation and parental consent is obtained consistent with 34 CFR § 300.300(a).

(c) If a student is younger than school age or not in school, an IEP team member shall observe the student in an environment appropriate for a student of that age.

C. Assessment Materials.

(1) A public agency shall ensure that testing and assessment materials and procedures used to assess a student's need for special education and related services are:

(a) Technically sound; and

(b) Provided and administered in the student's native language or other mode of communication, in the form most likely to yield accurate information on what the student knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is clearly not feasible to provide or administer.

(2) A standardized test administered to a student shall be:

(a) Valid for the specific purpose for which it is used; and

(b) Administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel in conformance with the instructions provided by the producer of the test.

(3) Tests and other assessment materials are not limited to procedures designed to provide a single general intelligence quotient and include procedures tailored to assess:

(a) Specific areas of educational need; and

(b) The extent to which a student with limited English is a student with a disability, rather than measuring a student's English language skills.

(4) The results of assessment procedures selected for use with a student with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills shall accurately reflect the student's aptitude or achievement level, and the other factors procedures purport to measure, rather than the student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, except when those skills are the factors that procedures purport to measure.

D. Report of Assessments.

(1) A report of assessment procedures administered to a student in each area of suspected disability, as determined in accordance with Regulation .04 of this chapter, shall be available to the parents, consistent with Education Article, § 8-405, Annotated Code of Maryland, and to the IEP team at the time of the evaluation.

(2) Each report of assessment procedures shall be written, dated, and signed by the individual who conducted the assessment.

(3) Each report of assessment procedures shall include:

(a) A description of the student's performance in each area of suspected disability;

(b) Relevant information in accordance with §B(2) of this regulation;

(c) Instructional implications for the student's participation in the general curriculum or, for a preschool student, participation in appropriate activities; and

(d) A description of the extent to which assessment procedures were not conducted under standard conditions, consistent with 34 CFR § 300.304(c).

Md. Code Regs. 13A.05.01.05

Regulation .05 amended effective January 21, 2002 (29:1 Md. R. 24); May 7, 2007 (34:9 Md R. 826); amended effective 43:26 Md. R. 1447, eff. 1/2/2017