CSE Referral and RTI
CSE Referral and RTI
PLEASE READ THIS PRIOR TO COMPLETING A CSE REFERRAL
A referral is one of the final steps in the process for providing a student in need of academic support. Initiating a referral to the Committee on Special Education means there is strong reason to believe that student may have an educational disability that cannot be addressed outside of special education.
It is important that you work with your building principals, school counselors, and student support teams to determine which programs and services can benefit the student while remaining in the regular education program. New York State Regulations require that you show what attempts to resolve have been made prior to special education referral and classification.
According to Part 200 prior to IDEIA – a student could be classified as Learning Disabled if there was a:
- Significant discrepancy between IQ and achievement
200.1(zz)(6)..A student who exhibits a discrepancy of 50 percent or more between expected achievement and actual achievement determined on an individual basis shall be deemed to have a learning disability.
IDEIA 2004-05 Federal (US Department of Education) Regulations now states:
- 300.307 Specific learning disabilities. (a) general. A state must adopt criteria for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability… the criteria adopted by the State.
- (2) May not require the use of a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability as defined in 300.8;
- (3)Must permit the use of a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research based intervention.
- A child may be identified as learning disabled when scientific, research-based interventions have been tried and failed to improve the child’s performance level relative to same grade peers.
- If the student fails to respond to a series of several well-implemented interventions, consider a referral to Special Education.
In the RTI Model, the student would be referred for a special education evaluation if:
- A series of research based interventions have been attempted
- There is documentation that the interventions were carried out as designed (treatment/intervention integrity)
- Progress monitoring data shows that the student failed to meet the goal set for his or her improvement (that is, the student shows a ‘discrepancy in rate of learning relative to grade peers).
- RTI is NOT simply a method to identify students with learning disabilities – it is about improving results for students – the fact that it can help systematically identify students with LD is incidental
- RTI is a prevention-oriented approach
- RTI integrates and amplifies “best practices,” it does not add to them
No referral should be submitted until parental contact has been made. This means the parents are aware of your referral, the reasons for the referral, and what a referral to the Committee on Special Education means. The Committee on Special Education should never be the first person to contact a parent concerning the referral of their child.
If you have any questions about the procedures that must be followed to refer a student to the Committee on Special Education, please call our office at 563-6262.