Asking for an evaluation and reading the results
Asking for an evaluation in writing, what consent covers and when the clock starts, what an evaluation must include, how to read a report for the questions it raises, and the independent educational evaluation.
- Start here: the essentials
- 1. Who can ask, and why in writing
- 2. Writing the request
- 3. Consent, and when the clock starts
- 4. Reading an evaluation report for questions
- 5. Eligibility, the independent evaluation and reevaluation
- 6. Go deeper: federal guidance, behavior assessments, language and records
- 7. See it
- 8. Practice
- 9. Your situation
- 10. Check your work
- 11. Knowledge check and scenario
Start here Essentials
For a first pass, either read the evaluation report you already have for its questions, or, if there is no evaluation yet, send a dated written request. The score definitions are in the chapter for when a report uses them; the federal guidance, behavior assessments and records letters are Go deeper.
- Find the most recent evaluation report and note its date and the next reevaluation date. The reevaluation date is often on the IEP's first page (reevaluation).
- Read its summary and write one question for each section you do not follow. Use the report's own explanation of its scores before anything else (reading a report).
- Add the report to the evaluations sheet with the date you received it. Put your questions in the last column (reading a report).
- If you are asking for a first evaluation, write the request and record the date it went out. Keep a copy with the date on it (writing the request).
Minimum time: about 45 minutes. Done when: the evaluations sheet has the report's date, the reevaluation date and your questions, or the requests sheet shows the dated request.
1. Who can ask, and why in writing Understand
An evaluation is how the school finds out whether a child has a disability under the regulations and what the child needs. Either a parent or the school can ask for an initial evaluation (34 CFR 300.301, initial evaluations). You do not need a doctor's referral, a diagnosis, a failing grade or the teacher's agreement to ask. You need to say what you see and that you want the school to evaluate.
The school also has its own duty. The state's child find system must identify and evaluate children who may need special education, including children who are passing from grade to grade (How the process works). In practice, a teacher, a counselor or a specialist often raises the question first. When a parent raises it, a written request is the clearest way to start.
Why in writing
A spoken request in a hallway, at pickup or in a parent-teacher conference may be acted on, and it may not. If it is not, there is no date to point to and no record of what was asked. A written request fixes three things: the date, the words, and who received it. Rules and Record's records checklist puts it plainly: a request that was only spoken is hard to establish later, and what matters in the written version is the date on it (Rules and Record: the records). The request can be short and civil. It does not need legal language.
A written request also does something procedural. The regulations list a parent's request for evaluation as one of the times the school gives the procedural safeguards notice (34 CFR 300.504), and a request the school decides not to act on is a refusal to initiate an evaluation, which calls for prior written notice (section 3). Both of those are easier to ask for when your request is on paper.
If the school suggests trying something else first. Schools often offer interventions in general education, such as a reading group, before or instead of a referral. You can accept the help and still ask for an evaluation; one does not have to wait for the other. Ask the authority If you are told an evaluation must wait for an intervention to finish, ask for that answer in writing and read your state's notice; your parent center can explain how your state handles it.
2. Writing the request
A request for evaluation can be a short email or letter. These are the parts that make it useful later; they are this manual's convention, built from what the regulations require the school to do next. Convention
| Part | Why it is there | Example wording (adapt it) |
|---|---|---|
| Date, your name, your child's name, grade and school | So the request is attached to the right child and has a date | "September 14, 2026. Re: Tomi Okafor, grade 2, Room 12" |
| The request itself | So no one can read it as a general worry | "I am requesting a full evaluation for special education." |
| What you see | The evaluation must include information from the parent (section 4) | Two or three specific, dated observations (Observations and priorities) |
| All areas of concern | The evaluation must cover every area related to the suspected disability | "Please evaluate in all areas of suspected need." |
| What you are asking to receive | The consent form starts the next step; the notice explains your rights | "Please send me the consent form and a copy of the procedural safeguards notice." |
| How to reach you, and your language | So the answer comes in a form you can use | "I prefer email. I read Spanish more easily than English." |
Whom to send it to
Send it to the person who can act on it: often the principal, or the district's special education office, and copy your child's teacher. If the school has told you who handles referrals, send it to that person. Your state's notice or your district's website may name the office. Email gives you a dated record automatically; if you hand in a letter, keep a copy and ask the person who receives it to write the date on your copy.
Keeping it
Put a copy in your binder and a row on the requests sheet the same day: the date sent, what you asked for, to whom, and how. When an answer comes, add it with its date. This is the first entry in the chronology After the meeting builds.
What comes back
The school's answer is one of two documents. If it agrees to evaluate, it asks for your informed written consent, usually with a form that describes the evaluation it proposes, and gives you the safeguards notice. If it decides not to evaluate, that is a refusal to initiate an evaluation, and the school gives you prior written notice: a description of what it refuses, why, each evaluation, record or report it used to decide, the other options it considered and why it rejected them, and where to get help understanding your rights (34 CFR 300.503, prior notice). The federal model prior written notice form shows what those parts look like on paper. Your state may use its own form and name (Your state's rules).
If neither arrives, the next step is a short written follow-up that repeats the request and asks for one or the other. Log it. If you are unsure what your state expects of the school and when, your state's notice and the parent center on your state page can tell you.
3. Consent, and when the clock starts
What informed consent means
The regulations define consent narrowly (34 CFR 300.9, consent). You have been fully informed, in your native language or other mode of communication, of the activity you are being asked to agree to. You understand and agree in writing. The consent describes the activity and lists the records (if any) that will be released and to whom. And you understand that consent is voluntary and can be revoked at any time.
So before you sign, you are entitled to understand what the evaluation will look at. It is reasonable to ask: which areas will be evaluated, by whom (by role), using what kinds of tools, and when you will get the report. Write the answers on the consent form's copy or in your communication log. Convention
Three consents, not one
| Consent | When it is asked for | What it does not cover |
|---|---|---|
| Consent for initial evaluation | Before the first evaluation | Services. Consent to evaluate is not consent for the initial provision of special education (34 CFR 300.300) |
| Consent for initial services | After the first IEP is written, before services start | Every later change; the IEP is reviewed and revised through the team |
| Consent for reevaluation | Before each reevaluation | The rules for when a reevaluation can go ahead without a response differ; read your notice |
If a parent does not consent to an initial evaluation, the regulation allows the school to pursue the evaluation through the dispute procedures, though it does not have to (34 CFR 300.300(a)(3)). If a parent refuses consent for initial services, the school may not use those procedures to override the refusal, and services are not provided. Consent can be revoked in writing. Revoking it does not undo what already happened before the revocation (34 CFR 300.9(c)). Revoking consent for all special education services after they have started has its own rules and its own notice Ask the authority; talk to your parent center before you do it.
When the clock starts
This is the most commonly misread sentence in the process. The federal rule is that the initial evaluation is conducted "within 60 days of receiving parental consent for evaluation," or, if the state has set a timeframe, within that timeframe (34 CFR 300.301(c)). Two consequences:
- The federal clock starts when the school receives your consent, not when you send the request. A request on September 14 and consent returned on September 21 are two dates, and the second is the one the federal rule counts from.
- Your state may use its own timeframe, counted its own way (school days, for example). The regulation also lists exceptions, such as a child changing districts after the timeframe has begun. Ask the authority Your state's timeframe is in your state's notice, which Rules and Record links. Copy it with its page number onto your state sheet.
This manual does not count the days for you. What it asks is that you record the dates that any count would start from:
| Date to record | Where |
|---|---|
| Request sent | Requests sheet, "Date sent" |
| Consent form received | Requests sheet, "Response date" |
| Consent signed and returned (and how) | Communication log, and the chronology |
| Evaluation activities (dates you know of) | Communication log |
| Report received | Evaluations sheet, "Report received" |
| Eligibility meeting | Evaluations sheet, "Reviewed with the team" |
This manual explains what an evaluation must include and how to read one for questions. It does not interpret any child's scores, suggest a diagnosis or a disability category, or say whether an evaluation was adequate or a timeline was met. A disagreement with an evaluation is the independent educational evaluation route described in section 5; whether an outside evaluation must be paid for by the school is decided under 34 CFR 300.502 by the school or a hearing officer. Timelines that apply to your child are in your state's notice, and your state's offices and parent center answer questions about them.
4. Reading an evaluation report for questions
What the evaluation must include
The regulations describe the evaluation in terms of what it must gather, not which tests to give (34 CFR 300.304, evaluation procedures). The school uses a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather functional, developmental and academic information about the child, including information provided by the parent. It does not use any single measure as the sole basis for deciding eligibility or the program. Assessments are given in the child's native language or other mode of communication, by trained people, for the purposes they were designed for. And the child is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability.
As part of an initial evaluation and any reevaluation, the group also reviews existing data: earlier evaluations and information the parents provide, current classroom-based assessments and observations, and observations by teachers and related service providers (34 CFR 300.305). Your observation log from Observations and priorities is information the parent provides. Sending it before the evaluation is underway gives it the best chance of being part of the picture.
How to read a report
Evaluation reports are written by psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, teachers and others, each in their own professional vocabulary. Few parents follow every page on a first read, and nobody expects them to. The goal of a first read is not to understand everything; it is to know what you do not understand, so you can ask. Read it in this order:
- The reason for referral. Does it say what you asked about? If your concern was reading and the report does not mention reading, that is your first question.
- Who did what. Each section usually names the evaluator's role and the tools or methods used. List them.
- The summary of each section. Most sections end with a paragraph in plainer language. Read those before the tables.
- The parent information. Find where your input appears. Is it there? Is it accurate?
- The recommendations. What does the evaluator suggest the team consider?
- Then the scores, with the report's own explanation beside you.
Write one question per section you do not follow. Good questions ask what something means or what it is based on, not whether the evaluator was right:
| Part of the report | Questions that ask |
|---|---|
| Reason for referral | "My request mentioned homework and reading aloud. Where in the report are those addressed?" |
| Tools and methods | "Which of these were observations in class, and which were tests?" |
| Scores | "What does this score mean compared with other children Tomi's age? What range does this test call average?" |
| Summary | "What does 'relative weakness' mean here? Relative to what?" |
| Parent input | "I described what happens at home. Where does the report use it?" |
| What is missing | "I see reading every night at home. Did the evaluation look at reading fluency?" |
| Recommendations | "Which of these recommendations will the team discuss at the meeting?" |
Scores, as the report explains them
Start with the report's own explanation. Most reports describe each test's scoring system: what the average is, what the ranges are called and what the numbers mean. That explanation is about the exact tests your child took, so it outranks any general guide, including this one. If the report does not explain its scores, ask the evaluator in writing for an explanation and for the standard scores and percentile ranks if only words like "average" are given. Test it
The terms below help you read the explanation. They come from one practitioner's guide for parents and from test publishers and a university clinic; the labels and ranges they use are conventions of how tests are built, and publishers differ.
| Term | What it means | A caution |
|---|---|---|
| Standard score | A score placed on a scale where the average is set at a fixed number. Many tests use an average (mean) of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, so scores from 85 to 115 cover about the middle two-thirds of children tested Convention | Not every test uses that scale: scaled scores (mean 10), T scores (mean 50) and others exist. The report should say which. |
| Descriptive label ("average," "low average," "below average") | The words a publisher attaches to a range of scores | Publishers label the same score differently: a standard score of 85, the 16th percentile, may be called average, low average or below average depending on the test Product-specific |
| Percentile rank | The percentage of children in the test's comparison group who scored at or below this score | It is not the percent of questions answered correctly. A percentile rank of 16 does not mean 16 percent right. |
| Confidence interval | A range around the score that the true score probably falls in. Most tests report ranges at 90 or 95 percent confidence Physical principle | A single score is an estimate. Read the range, not only the number. |
| Age or grade equivalent | The median raw score of children of a given age or grade on that test | Not equal units; one publisher says they should not be used for diagnostic or placement decisions, and the publisher notes they are not added, subtracted or averaged like ordinary numbers Product-specific |
Sources for this table: Wrightslaw's parent guide Making Sense of Your Child's Test Scores for standard scores, labels and percentile ranks; Pearson's note on age and grade equivalents; and the LEADERS Project at Teachers College, Columbia University, on confidence intervals.
Two points matter more than any definition. First, the Wrightslaw guide notes that a child whose scores fall in the "average range" may still have a disability and need specialized instruction. Scores are one kind of information; the regulations forbid any single measure from deciding eligibility. Second, a score describes performance on one day, on one test, compared with one group. It does not tell you what your child can become, and it is not a verdict on effort or intelligence. Read it as the evaluator's evidence, ask what it means, and keep it beside what you see at home.
Do not try to work out eligibility from scores. Eligibility depends on both parts of the definition in How the process works, on everything the group reviews, and on state rules about how some categories are identified. Bring your questions about scores to the evaluator and the team; bring questions about what they mean for eligibility to the eligibility meeting.
5. Eligibility, the independent evaluation and reevaluation
The eligibility meeting
After the evaluation, a group of qualified professionals and the parent decides whether the child is a child with a disability and what the child's educational needs are, and the parent gets a copy of the evaluation report and the eligibility documentation at no cost (34 CFR 300.306). The same regulation says a child is not found eligible if the determining factor is a lack of appropriate instruction in reading or math, or limited English proficiency. That is why the group looks at the instruction the child has had, not only the test results.
Ask for the report before the meeting, so you can read it with the questions above. Federal rules do not set a date for that; ask the school, and check what your state's page and notice say. Ask the authority You have the right to inspect your child's education records "without unnecessary delay and before any meeting regarding an IEP," and in no case more than 45 days after the request (34 CFR 300.613, access rights); FERPA sets the same 45-day outer limit (34 CFR 99.10).
The independent educational evaluation
If you disagree with an evaluation the school did, you have the right to ask for an independent educational evaluation (IEE) at public expense: an evaluation by a qualified examiner who does not work for the school (34 CFR 300.502, independent educational evaluation). The regulation sets out what happens next:
| Step | What 34 CFR 300.502 says |
|---|---|
| The request | The parent disagrees with an evaluation obtained by the school and asks for an IEE at public expense. The school may ask why, but may not require an explanation or delay because of it. |
| The school's two choices | Without unnecessary delay, either file a due process complaint to show its own evaluation is appropriate, or make sure an IEE is provided at public expense. |
| If a hearing officer finds the school's evaluation appropriate | The parent still has the right to an IEE, but not at public expense. |
| How many | One IEE at public expense each time the school conducts an evaluation the parent disagrees with. |
| Criteria | The school can set criteria (such as location and examiner qualifications) that match its own, and on request must tell you where an IEE may be obtained and what its criteria are. |
| An evaluation you pay for | If it meets the school's criteria, the school must consider it in any decision about FAPE. |
So an IEE is not automatically free: it is at public expense unless the school shows at a hearing that its own evaluation was appropriate. Asking for one is a step with consequences. Read your state's notice on it (you marked the page in Your state's rules) and call the parent center on your state page before you ask. When you disagree places the IEE among the other options when you disagree.
Reevaluation
A reevaluation happens if the school decides the child's needs warrant one, or the parent or teacher asks; not more than once a year unless the parent and school agree; and at least once every three years unless they agree it is unnecessary (34 CFR 300.303). A reevaluation can use existing data where the group decides that is enough, and the parent can ask for assessments anyway. Write the next reevaluation date on your evaluations sheet and on the IEP at a glance sheet; Your IEP binder puts it on the yearly calendar.
6. Federal guidance, behavior assessments, language and records Go deeper
The 2010 federal questions and answers
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services published Questions and Answers on IEPs, Evaluations, and Reevaluations in June 2010. It answers questions such as how reevaluations relate to consent and timelines. It states that it does not create or confer any rights, and it was not in the Department's current policy guidance listing when this manual checked on October 23, 2026, so read it as dated background, and check your state's notice for the rule that applies.
A functional behavioral assessment
When behavior is the concern, an evaluation may include a functional behavioral assessment, which looks at what happens before and after a behavior and what purpose it may serve. CPIR's Behavior at School pages describe it and the behavior supports that can follow. Ask the school whether one is part of the proposed evaluation, and say so in your request if behavior is part of your concern.
Language and mode of communication
Assessments are given in the child's native language or other mode of communication, in the form most likely to give accurate information on what the child knows and can do, unless that is clearly not feasible (34 CFR 300.304). For a child who is learning English, or who is deaf or hard of hearing, ask how the evaluation accounts for language and communication, and who will do it.
Records and the amendment route
Before the eligibility meeting you can ask in writing to inspect your child's education records, and ask the school what records it holds. If you think something in a record is inaccurate or misleading, you can ask the school to amend it, and if it refuses, ask for a hearing on the record (34 CFR 300.618). FERPA complaints go to the Student Privacy Policy Office, which describes its process and time limits on its complaint page.
7. See it See it
Ada Okafor and Tomi, Pennsylvania. On September 14 Ada emails the principal, copying Tomi's teacher and the school psychologist:
September 14, 2026. Re: Tomi Okafor, grade 2.
I am requesting a full evaluation for special education for my son Tomi, in all areas of suspected need. At home, a ten-line reading log page takes him over 20 minutes, and he skips words and guesses from the pictures (September 8). He solves math word problems once they are read aloud to him (September 10). His teacher has mentioned his reading to me twice this term.
Please send me the consent form and a copy of the procedural safeguards notice. Email is best for me. Thank you.
The highlighted line is an observation from her log (Observations and priorities): a date, a setting, what happened.
She adds a row to the requests sheet the same evening. On September 18 the consent form and the safeguards notice come home. Ada reads the form, asks the psychologist by email which areas will be assessed and when she will get the report, and returns the signed form on September 21. She logs each date separately.
Known: the request date (September 14), the consent form's arrival (September 18), the consent returned (September 21), what she asked. Assumed in the example: the district uses Pennsylvania's forms. Open: the evaluation timeline that applies, which Ada copies from the Pennsylvania notice onto her state sheet and does not calculate from a website; if it is unclear, ConsultLine or the PEAL Center, both listed on Pennsylvania's Rules and Record page, can explain it. Whether Tomi is eligible is open too, and the eligibility group, which includes Ada, settles it after the evaluation.
- Evaluating Children for Disability (CPIR): the evaluation process from referral through reevaluation, from the national parent center network.
- Making Sense of Your Child's Test Scores (Wrightslaw): a longer parent guide to the score terms above, with a conversion table.
- Understanding the standard error of measure (LEADERS Project, Columbia): a worked example of a score and its range, written for clinicians.
- Model prior written notice form (OSEP): what a refusal to evaluate must contain.
8. Practice Practice
Minimum: one row on the evaluations sheet with the report's date, the reevaluation date and your questions; or one dated request on the requests sheet. Time: about 45 minutes for a request; 60 to 90 minutes for a report. Materials: the most recent evaluation report (or your observation notes, for a request), the requests and evaluations sheets, and your state sheet from Your state's rules.
- Decide which path you are on. No evaluation yet: write a request. A report exists: read it.
- For a request: write it with the parts in section 2, using two observations from your log. Send it, keep a copy, and add the row with today's date.
- For a report: read it in the order in section 4. On a separate page, write the report's date, each evaluator's role and one question per section.
- Read the score explanation. Find where the report explains its scores. Copy the test's average and range, and the label it uses, into your questions column, so you know what each word means on that test.
- Record the dates. Report date, date received, next reevaluation date. Put the reevaluation date on the IEP at a glance sheet too.
- Compare the report with your log. (Go deeper; optional.) Mark anything you see at home that the report does not mention, and turn each into a question.
- Find the IEE page in your notice. (Go deeper; optional.) Read it once, so you know what it says before you ever need it.
9. Your situation Your situation
10. Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does your request say "evaluation," cover all areas of concern, describe what you see, and ask for the consent form and the notice?
- Have you recorded the request date and the consent date separately?
- For a report: do you have one question for each section you do not follow, and does each question ask rather than conclude?
- Did you read the report's own explanation of its scores before any general guide?
- Is the next reevaluation date written down?
Worked example
Ada's request passes: it asks for an evaluation in all areas of suspected need, gives two dated observations, and asks for the consent form and notice. Her sheet has three dates, not one, because the request, the form's arrival and her consent are different events. Before September 21 she copied the evaluation timeline from the Pennsylvania notice onto her state sheet with its page number, so the field is quoted, not estimated.
Common mistakes
- A request that does not say "evaluation." "I'm worried about his reading" can be read as a conversation. Say what you are asking for.
- Counting from the request date. The federal rule counts from consent, and your state may count differently. Record both dates and copy your state's rule.
- Reading percentiles as percent correct. A percentile rank compares your child with a group; it is not a test grade.
- Taking a label at face value. "Average" means what that publisher's scale says. Find the test's range in the report.
- Asking for an IEE as a routine step. It is a response to disagreeing with the school's evaluation, with a defined process. Read your notice and call the parent center first.
What is still unresolved
This chapter gets the request on paper and the report read for questions. It does not answer the questions; the evaluators and the team do, at or before the eligibility meeting. It does not decide eligibility, and it does not say whether an evaluation was enough. If you disagree with an evaluation, the IEE route and the other options are in When you disagree.