Advocacy “Nuts and Bolts”
Part I – Records and Evaluations
Advocacy “Nuts and Bolts”
Part I – Records and Evaluations
Mark S. Kamleiter, Esq.
Donna L. Kirk, Esq.
This is a practical, hands-on workshop on the process of collecting, reviewing, and understanding student records and evaluations. This presentation will lift the shroud of mystery from records and educational evaluations. Using valuable, but simple tools of analysis, participants will interact with typical records and evaluations, learning to use them for effective advocacy.
The materials will provide the participants with useful checklists and materials to aid them in reviewing educational records and evaluations. The presentation is intentionally designed to demystify the more complex records, particularly educational evaluations. The materials and the presentation are built around the concept that advocates do not need to be psychologists or to have advanced educational degrees in order to understand and effectively use educational records and evaluations in advocacy.
The workshop is being developed to be interactive and is built case study materials created to demonstrate the key principles being presented. The workshop written materials will focus on a clear presentation of the relevant factual information, so that participants may concentrate more on skill development.
Student Records
A. Collecting student records
Every student has a complete record of all decisions, evaluations and educational actions, which have been taken upon his/her behalf. These records are an essential part of the advocate’s case file, providing educational history and context, as well as a record of educational placements, interventions, and progress (or lack there of).
Right to “Inspect and Review” Records: Schools are required to allow parent access to a student’s records within a reasonable time (never longer than 45 days). FERPA[1] at 20 U.S.C. §1232g(a)(1) and Regulations §99.10)
Generally, schools will provide copies of the records upon request, but may charge a reasonable amount to cover the cost of copying. FERPA requires that copies be provided “if failure to do so would effectively prevent the parent or student from exercising the right to inspect and review the records.”
Due to more recent amendments, this right to inspect and review educational records has been extended to records kept by the state educational agency. The right was implemented in 34 CFR §99.10, which added language giving access to any educational records of any “state educational agency and its components.”
Sample Records Request Letter: The sample letter above is just a simple letter an advocate/parent might use to request student records. Remember it is permissible for school districts to charge a reasonable fee to copy records @ 15 – 25 cents. In most cases schools will respond without charging. Where schools do demand a charge, I will acknowledge their right to do so, but often ask if they really want to put our working relationship on that kind of footing. In most cases they relent.
SAMPLE LETTER
December 10, 2005
Dr. Helen Hardcase,
Director of Student Services
Some County School Board,
140 Central Avenue,
Someton, FL 33731
Re: Johnny Doe, Jr. / Someton Elementary School
Dear Dr. Hardcase:
Mr. and Mrs. Doe have requested that I assist them in advocating for their son, Johnny Doe, Jr.. For this purpose, the Does have executed a consent and authorization which will allow school district personnel to communicate with me and provide me with the documents or information I may request on the parent’s behalf.
I am in the process of helping Mr. and Mrs. Doe organize their child’s educational records and it would be of great assistance if the school district would provide us with a complete copy of Johnny Doe, Jr.’s educational records. This request includes, but is not limited to all documents in the child’s cumulative record, grades and report cards, progress reports, discipline reports, notes, data or referrals, formal and informal assessments or reports, parent communications, all documents, reports or communications from or to outside agencies, all notes, communications, email, etc. related to Johnny Doe.
Please respond to this request by indicating when the parents can pick up their copies. I appreciate your …………
Sincerely,
Ima M Adparent, STAND Advocate
101 Advocacy Circle
Anywhere, FL 33701
STAND, Inc. advocates are trained to assist parents, in a non-attorney capacity, in advocating for their children with disabilities. They are not attorneys and they neither offer legal advice nor do they act as attorneys.
B. Organizing student records
Types of Records: Schools tend to collect the following types of records:
1. Grades and progress reports
2. Evaluations, including psychological, achievement, and various disability testing
3. Biographical and social information and reports
4. Procedural safeguard records, including meeting notices, consents for evaluation, consents for placement,
5. IEP Documents,
6. Meeting conference notes
7. Behavioral records
8. Sometimes economic, racial, ethnic, nationality information (usually for monitoring and compliance needs)
9. Health records, including immunization records, allergies, medications, disabilities, and school health needs.
10. Sometimes student work samples
11. Notes, memos, emails, etc.
Note: Extent of the parents’ right to student records: Congress intended parents to have very broad and complete access to student records.
[P]arents and students should have access to everything in institutional records maintained for each student in the normal course of business and used by the institution in making decisions that affect the life of the student. 120 Cong. Rec. at 39858-39859
Note: Exception to student records access: Personal or private notes or records of educational personnel, which are kept only in the possession of such personnel and are not revealed to or used by any other person (except a substitute for that person).
“[R]ecords of instructional, supervisory, and administrative personnel and educational personnel ancillary thereto which are in the sole possession of the maker thereof and which are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a substitute.” 20 U.S.C. §1232g(a)(4)(B)(i)
Physical Organization of the Records:
Every advocate and parent will have their own preferred way of organizing student records. Whatever system one uses it is important that the advocate have a system, which permits the easy and rapid location of pertinent records. I will share the system of organization, which works best for me.
1. Topical Organization: I prefer to organize the student records by type of record. For example, I would generally organize the records as follows:
a. IEPs, Conference Notes, including procedural safeguard documents (Notices, etc.)
b. Evaluations
i. Psych-Ed evaluations, including processing and diagnostic evaluations
ii. Academic Assessments
iii. Functional Assessments
iv. Related Service and other evaluations: (Speech/Language, O.T., P.T.,
etc.)
c. Behavioral Records, including behavior assessments (FBA), Behavior Intervention Plans, data collection sheets, data summaries (graphs), etc.
d. Student work samples
e. School/Parent communications, including advocate/school communications
2. Chronological Organization: I prefer to organize documents, within a category in chronological order from the most recent to the oldest. This means that the most recent relevant document will be first and most accessible in any category.
3. Notebook/Folders: Student records can be voluminous so it is essential that they be arranged in such a way as to be easily accessable. Because my law office can have over a hundred cases going at any one time, it is easiest for us to arrange the student records in file folders, grouped into client pocket folders. This allows us to maintain the files in file cabinets.
As a particular matter moves toward potential litigation, however, we reorganize the records into wide notebooks. In reality, this is a much more functional system. Notebooks can be tabbed and index to make document retrieval rapid.
C. Reviewing student records
The sheer bulk of most student records can be intimidating and sorting through them can be daunting. Student records are, however, at the core of the advocates work. They provide a map to all that has been done to educate and accommodate the student. To the extent the records are complete, they should provide a present picture of the child socially, emotionally, behaviorally, and academically.
Page 1
Record Checklist
Document type Date
______
Individual Education Plans
Most Recent IEP ______
Disabilities (listed on IEP)
______
IEP Review Date ______
Delivery Model (center school, self-contained, resource pull-out, mainstream, etc)
______
Time in ESE ______Time in regular education ______
Related Services:
Yes/No
_____ Speech/Language Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
_____ O.T. Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
_____ P.T. Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
_____ Other Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
Comments: ______
______
______
______
______
Prior IEP ______
Delivery Model (center school, self-contained, resource pull-out, mainstream, etc)
______
Time in ESE ______Time in regular education ______
Related Services:
Yes/No
_____ Speech/Language Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
_____ O.T. Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
_____ P.T. Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
_____ Other Duration _____ X _____ per week/month
Comments: ______
______
______
______
Record Checklist
Page 2
Document type Date
______Evaluations
Psych-Ed evaluation ______
I.Q. Full _____ Verbal _____ Performance _____
Achievement: Notes:
Broad Reading ______
Broad Math ______
Broad Writing ______
Processing ______
Diagnostic evaluations ______
Academic Assessments ______
______
Functional Assessments ______
Related Service and other evaluations: ______
Speech/Language: ______
O.T., ______
P.T. ______
______
Behavior Records
Behavioral Assessments (FBA) ______
______
Behavior Intervention Plan ______
______
______
______
Academic Record (Report Cards, Progress Reports)
Notes: ______
Notes: ______
Notes: ______
Notes: ______
Notes: ______
______
School/Parent Communications
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
1. Records provide a documentary history: Some parents will have a very precise and accurate recollection of their child’s educational history. In my experience, however, most do not. Parents will often confuse when various events took place and will very often have faulty memories about the actions of the various parties. Only these documents will provide a generally reliable educational history for the child. In reviewing the student’s records look for evidence of:
(a) What disabilities have been considered and what determinations have been made, relative to eligibilities or ineligibilities for services, programs.
(b) What types of evaluations have been done and when? You may be surprised how often evaluations have not been kept current or issues raised by events or even other evaluations have never been assessed.
(c) What types of interventions have been tried? Review the level of educational supports, which have been provided. What strategies have been tried? Was any data kept?
(d) What effort has been made to educate the child in an environment as close to the mainstream as possible? Note the delivery model. Center School, self-contained, resource pull-out, mainstreaming, etc.
(e) What kind of efforts has the school district been making to resolve issues? Is there an ally apparent among the district staff? Does there appear to be an individual (or several) working against the student’s interest?
(f) Have the procedural safeguards been respected.
2. Current Situation: By reviewing the latest actions (or lack of action) the advocate can develop a snapshot understanding of the student’s present educational situation. When was the last evaluation? What evaluations were done? What services is the child presently receiving and in what frequency and duration? What difficulties are evidenced in the records (discipline referrals or comments on records, grades, progress reports, standardized test results)? What strengths are evident from the record?
A Records Checklist similar to the one provided above will help in the review of the records and will create a kind of instant review sheet and index to the records.
3. Establishing Parental Record File: At least part of what an advocate does is to teach the parents to better advocate for their own child. The advocate needs to insist that the parents establish a parallel set of records for their child and to maintain them as a foundation for their advocacy.
D. Understanding student records:
Student records are not much use to parents and advocates unless they understand their significance and meaning. The school has a positive obligation, however, to provide a parent with interpretative explanations of the records upon a reasonable request. (FERPA Regulations §99.10)
Standard operating procedure for schools is usually to have the appropriate evaluator, teacher, or staffing person explain evaluations, progress reports, and official documents at the IEP table. Such a procedure places the parent or advocate at a distinct disadvantage. It is impossible for parents to adequately review and understand such documents, when they are presented for the first time in the IEP meeting.
You can be sure that the school would not accept being placed in the reverse situation.
Parent evaluations presented for the first time at the IEP table, they will be set aside and ignored on the grounds that they school must have them reviewed by their experts. It is equally unacceptable for schools to present evaluations, which the parents have not received well in advance of the IEP meeting.
Parents should request a private presentation and explanation of any evaluations by the evaluator. This way the parent can ask any necessary questions outside of the time restraints of the IEP meeting. This assures the parent has a full understanding of the evaluation prior to attending the IEP.
Where it is necessary the parent might consider having district evaluations reviewed by their own experts. The private expert may give valuable insight into the evaluation, as well as providing additional educational recommendations. The private expert might reveal weaknesses or deficits in the evaluation and may recommend additional testing.
E. Obtaining further records
Once a request for records has been made and an initial set of documents received, the advocate should review the documents to determine if it appears that all relevant documents have been received. If it appears that there are documents missing the advocate should renew the demand for records, specifically indicating the apparent missing documents, as well as renewing the general request for documents.
Note: Remind the school that you want records other than those in the cum folder. Parents assume that schools maintain all student documents in one place. As noted above this is not necessarily true. For example, student discipline records might be kept by the principal rather than in the cum file. Almost always discipline records are also kept in some kind of computer format. When I was a behavior specialist I kept files on the students I worked with. These files contained my data collection, graphic summaries and anecdotal notes not found anywhere else. Unless someone asked specifically for my document files, I was not likely to know that a document request had been made and they would almost certainly not have had access.