Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 28 - EDUCATION › Part CI - Bulletin 1508-Pupil Appraisal Handbook › Chapter 1 - LEA Responsibilities › Section CI-107 - Qualified Examiners

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. The
				Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Louisiana Revised
				Statutes 17:1941 et seq., require that a student suspected of being exceptional
				receive a comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation conducted by qualified
				examiners. Qualified examiners include pupil appraisal professionals certified
				by the state Department of Education and professionals from other agencies or
				in private practice, as described in this Section.
1. Professional members of a pupil appraisal
				system include certified Assessment Teachers/Educational
				Consultants/Educational Diagnosticians, Certified School Psychologists,
				Qualified School Social Workers; Speech/Language Pathologists, Adapted Physical
				Education Teachers; Audiologists; Certified School Nurses, Occupational
				Therapists, Physical Therapists, Speech and Hearing Therapists, and
				Speech/Hearing/Language Specialists.
2. LEAs shall regularly employ certified
				pupil appraisal personnel to conduct individual evaluations, but may also
				employ others as listed below:
a. qualified
				examiners available from the Department of Health and Hospitals, the Department
				of Public Safety and Corrections, the State Board Special Schools, or other
				public agencies;
b. private
				qualified examiners contracted to provide specialized assessments;
c. the student's teacher(s) as member(s) of
				the evaluation team;
d. a
				combination of the personnel listed above.
3. LEA-selected evaluators in music, theatre,
				or visual arts must not be employed by the LEA conducting the evaluation and
				must be on the state Department of Education approved evaluator list.
4. Regardless of the approach used for
				conducting individual evaluations, LEAs retain full responsibility for the
				individual evaluation. Any failure by an employee or contractor to meet the
				requirements of this Handbook constitutes a failure by the LEA to comply with
Bulletin 1706:
Regulations for the Implementation of
				the Children with Exceptionalities Act;
				R.S.
				17:1941, et seq.
5. Professionals in private practice who
				provide evaluations for educational use must meet the standards of and comply
				with the rules and regulations set by their respective statutory professional
				boards. Certification by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
				is not required for these persons; however, Educational Assessment
				Teachers/Diagnosticians or Educational Consultants are required to be certified
				by the Department of Education, since licensing for independent practice does
				not exist.
a. Professionals employed by
				another state agency must meet the professional standards of that agency and be
				qualified through training to conduct evaluations.
b. The results of an evaluation conducted by
				these professionals may be used by an LEA in determining a student's
				eligibility for special educational services. It remains the LEA's
				responsibility to ensure that the student is evaluated and that his or her
				eligibility determination has been in accordance with the requirements of this
				handbook.