Making the most of the last re-eval (Ohio specific but can likely generalize)

When I moved to Ohio, it meant moving back to the high school level which I had not done for several years. One of the first things that perplexed me was how to approach a "last reeval" for a student with an IEP who would graduate in a year or two. The first question was about what assessments are needed to confirm eligibility for special education and the next was about what information was needed to update the student's present level of performance. However, discussions with other school psychs had me wondering if I needed to administer IQ, achievement, and behavioral measures for every student who would graduate during the three years after the reevaluation.

For students who had been accepted to colleges or universities, I then wondered if the disability services offices at these colleges had specific requirements for assessments to access accommodations in college? Granted, I was aware that my job was to focus on eligibility for special education in the public school setting but why send a student off if I could combine eligibility at K-12 and provide information that would be useful at the post-secondary setting?

During my first year, I haphazardly contacted the disability services offices at various colleges and universities to discuss what assessments they required. After a few calls, I began to learn that almost all the disability services offices appeared to take on a fairly pragmatic approach and used student input and available special education or 504 documents to determine whether to provide accommodations or not. Plus, disability services professionals were almost always happy to share information and discuss how to best meet student needs. Almost every time I reached out, I was able to speak to someone or I received a call back within a day.

I then listed most of the public colleges/universities in Ohio with several private colleges with the disability services websites. I reviewed the sites for requirements and tried to summarize what assessments were preferred and how secondary school psychologists could make the most of the last reeval to establish eligibility and provide useful information for the post-secondary setting.

Here are some of the takeaways, although the disclaimer is that a one-size approach is not possible in all situations and each student has unique needs. Based on my review, here are some general suggestions. But, please work with individual students and families and reach out to university disability services offices for specific information. This is not meant to be an authoritative guide but is provided to guide decision-making and share how I worked through reeval planning and completion. Follow your school and district guidelines and requirements at all times. Plus, be sure to complete special education compliant reevals at all times.

• Contact the Disability Services Office when in doubt, the earlier the better

• Look up the website to review the Disability Services Office requirements

• IQ testing appeared to be rarely required, if you update IQ, use an adult-normed measure

• A good record review can be useful to the disability services office to help aid in decision-making about providing accommodations to students

• Students should bring their most recent IEP or 504 plan along with the reevaluation (RETR) to the disability services office

• If you test, consider updating Academic Achievement. If time is an issue, update in the area of disability. (e.g. if the student is identified as having an SLD in reading, only administer reading subtests)

• For 504s and IEPs addressing ADHD and mental health, use widely known rating scales for updated present level (e.g. BASC, Conners, BRIEF, CEFI, to name a few, and this is not an exhaustive list),

The spreadsheet of the colleges I reviewed is available at this link. Again, this is my working draft and I am happy to incorporate feedback, answer questions, or make changes to this document. Please reach out with feedback or suggestions!

Spreadsheet link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12te10WZzggCId9GpTCqyAcJ57ZvtnYa50_TcqHYmmOs/edit?usp=sharing

The last couple of years has been some of the most challenging for those of us in schools. I assume this was not an easy time for higher education either. The suggestions are listed only for consideration and individuals are urged to do their own investigations when planning reevals. However, I was able to use the information to reduce some of the assessments I completed which allowed me to focus more on critical tasks and reduce the amount of direct testing students had to complete. Compromises were made but my hope was to provide high-quality reevaluations useful for answering eligibility questions and providing high-quality information for the disability services offices.