3. End of Chapter Questions

Discussion Questions

1. The team selected the following areas of evaluation for Amari: educational, psychological, sociocultural, speech and language, hearing, and vision. What evidence or indicators do you believe led to each assessment decision? Are there other areas of evaluation that may have been helpful in this eligibility?
2. In what ways did Amari’s parent/ guardian contribute to the eligibility process? What specific assessments or conversations did her parent/ guardian complete?
3. What were the names and purposes of each assessment used in Amari’s eligibility? Who administered each assessment? Who completed each assessment?
4. Reviewing the assessments completed, can it be determined that a qualified individual interpreted each assessments’ results? Provide evidence for your determinations.
5. What are some consistent features across all assessments?
6. What indicators show that the assessments were or were not valid and a true assessment of Amari’s overall abilities?
7. Prior to this evaluation, Amari was found eligible under three different disability categories during her school career. How did the knowledge about this history impact the interpretation of the current assessments?
8. When reviewing the Referral Request document, what information would you highlight as important for the eligibility meeting?
9. When reviewing the Team Review of Referral and Existing Data Summary document, what information would you highlight as important for the eligibility meeting?
10. When reviewing the Prior Written Notice document, what information would you highlight as important for the eligibility meeting?
11. When reviewing the Educational Evaluation Report (Sociocultural) document, what information would you highlight as important for the eligibility meeting?
12. When reviewing the Educational Evaluation Report (Academic Achievement) document, what information would you highlight as important for the eligibility meeting?
13. When reviewing the Educational Evaluation Report (Speech-Language) document, what information would you highlight as important for the eligibility meeting?
14. When reviewing the Teacher Educational Report document, what information would you highlight as important for the eligibility meeting?
15. As you review Amari’s eligibility information, what additional information would you want to have to make an eligibility determination? Be specific in your response.
16. Given what IDEIA (2004) outlines, are there any procedural issues with Amari’s eligibility assessments? Be specific about what is correct or incorrect.

Family and Guardian Communication

1. Draft the Prior Written Notice that you would provide to Amari’s mother following the eligibility meeting in which the reports from the multidisciplinary evaluation were discussed. You can find a template for Prior Written Notice on page 122 of the Virginia Department of Education’s (2021) Supplemental Guidance for Evaluation and Eligibility document found at https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/902/638151811227000000
2. Choose one of the reports and explain it in jargon-free language as though you were talking to Amari’s mother about the results.

Collaboration

1. Participate in an eligibility meeting simulation in which classmates take on the roles of the various stakeholders who would have participated in Amari’s eligibility determination meeting. Use the Operational Criteria Worksheets from Supplemental Guidance for Evaluation and Eligibility (Virginia Department of Education, 2021) to make a decision about whether Amari continues to qualify for special education, and if so, under what category or categories.
2. Work with classmates to write the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance for one academic skill based on the information contained in these reports.