Eligibility
The TEAM Evaluation
When a student is referred for a Special Education Evaluation the process begins by identifying a clear referral question. This is crucial to the effectiveness of the evaluation and will assist in the TEAM being able to more accurately assess the areas of suspected disability. State and federal law require evaluation in the areas of suspected disability and the evaluations conducted by the Norwell Public Schools are comprehensive and child-driven.
The Director of Student Services approves the components of all TEAM evaluations. The Norwell Public Schools utilizes a variety of assessment methods to guarantee that the Special Education Eligibility Determination Team will have an understanding of the student's suspected disability and its effect on the child's ability to make effective progress in school. Evaluation may include both formal and informal assessments.
The intent of a Team approach in evaluation is to ensure that a comprehensive picture of student functioning within a school environment will emerge. No individual assessment or assessor may determine eligibility for special education and/or related services.
The Norwell Public Schools ensures that assessment measures, not only those designed to provide a single general intelligence quotient, when administered to a student with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills, accurately reflect the student's aptitude or achievement level or any other factors the test purports to measure. All assessment measures used have been found to evidence appropriate technical soundness, reliability, and validity.
The Norwell Public Schools, when interpreting evaluation data and making decisions, uses information from a variety of sources to gather relevant functional and developmental information, including information provided by the parent. We ensure that information obtained from these sources and subsequently used to make eligibility and placement determinations conforms with placement in the least restrictive environment, and that information related to enabling the student to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum.