Initial Evaluation for Eligibility - Present Levels?

[AGR]

Hi guys,

Do any of you have an example of present levels for a second-grader in any or all of the areas below and how they were determined? We have an upcoming Initial Evaluation for Eligibility and I can't tell what the student's present levels are for any of the below. I'd also like to know if it's appropriate to ask the team for the present levels. If they don't know the present levels because she "doesn't qualify" then how did they know she didn't qualify?
 

• Spelling
• Reading Comprehension
• Written Expression
• Vocabulary
• Phonemic Awareness
• Basic Reading Skills
• Decoding
• Time Telling
• Math Problem Solving
• Emotional Self-Regulation
• Task Initiation
• Executive Functioning
• Fine Motor Skills
• Assistive Technology Needs
• Listening Comprehension
• Functional Communication

Thanks!

[Carolyn Rowlett]

I'm a little confused because you state you have an "upcoming" Initial Evaluation for Eligibility, yet you can't tell what the present levels are.  So has the evaluation been conducted already and the meeting to go over the results is what is "upcoming?"

But having said that, you absolutely can and MUST ask for the present levels.  That's the whole point of the evaluation and if you don't understand it, the school has a legal obligation to explain it to you.  You should also ask for the eligibility criteria in your state (or just go to your state department of education's website to get) for each potential disability.  It might be called something like "Standards and Indicators."  Because you are correct - they have to know the present levels in order to determine eligibility.  They have to compare them to the criteria for finding a student eligible under all applicable disability categories.

As far as examples of present levels, I'll give some based on my areas of "expertise" only (specific learning disabilities).  It very much depends on the assessment that is given.  Besides the below, all assessments will give a percentile and a score in order to compare with peers.

• Spelling - A Spelling Inventory Test could determines where a student is in terms of spelling by assessing knowledge of initial consonants, final consonants, digraphs, blends, short and long vowel sounds, etc., and even assign a grade level equivalent.  So for example, the present level would be the student knows his/her initial and final consonants, but if not proficient beyond that.
• Reading Comprehension - The present level would state the grade level passage that was used along with the correct number of answers given to comprehension questions, which might be 4 out of 5, 8 out of 10, etc. 
• Written Expression - The present levels would indicate if student is using appropriate capitalization, punctuation, grammar, etc.  It might state this in terms of percentages; i.e., received 1 out of 3 possible points for capitalization, etc., or it might be a composite score of everything.  It might also look at syntax to see if the student is creating well-formed sentences.
• Vocabulary - The present level could be what grade level  the student is with respect to vocabulary knowledge.
• Phonemic Awareness - The present levels would indicate the student's proficiency in multiple areas of phonemic awareness, such as rhyming, segmenting words and syllables.  A grade level might be assigned in addition to the percentile and scores based on how many answers they got correct in each area (ex:  4 out of 10 rhyming correct).
• Basic Reading Skills - The present level would be based on how many words on a word list the student was able to decode correctly, how many sight words they have mastered at a specific grade level, and word accuracy on sentences and passages.  The present level should be expressed with both the grade level of the words, sentences, and passages, as well as the accuracy percentage (70%, 80%, 95%, etc.)
• Decoding - The present level would be based on accuracy on decodable words on a certain grade level passage, sentence, or word list and stated as a percentage.

[JSD24]

Once you get the evaluation report, it should list the student's present levels.  If these are your areas of concern, request that these areas be assessed during the evaluation as they are your areas of suspected disability.

You need to give permission for a special ed eval.  Then the school can assess.  Once you get the results, that's when they say if a student qualifies or not - this is based on the data in the evaluation report.  Only the clairvoyant and omniscient can figure out if a student qualifies w/o doing an assessment.