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It explains how districts manage the 60-calendar-day assessment and IEP review timeline when parents sign assessment plans, and how to conduct valid, reliable assessments virtually while preserving test conditions. It clarifies when new assessments must be initiated or temporarily halted, and highlights rights related to disability evaluations influenced by the pandemic.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":51,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/special-education-in-the-time-of-covid-19-questions-answers/280156/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/special-education-in-the-time-of-covid-19-questions-answers/280156.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Levi","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-22","2026-09-16",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":73},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"If a student was mid-assessment before school closed, must the district complete the assessment within the legal timeline?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"Yes. If a parent or education rights holder signed and returned an assessment plan agreeing to the district’s proposed assessments, the district must complete the assessment and review results at an IEP team meeting within the 60-calendar-day timeline.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"How can assessments be conducted virtually while ensuring validity and reliability?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"Assessments must remain valid and reliable. Tools, protocols, and methods should prevent the virtual setting from changing what is measured or producing different results than normal clinical or classroom settings, including using appropriate environments and remote communication options when feasible.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Are districts required to initiate new assessments during school closures?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"It depends on the assessment type. A temporary halt may apply to the 15-calendar-day response timeline (including starting the assessment) when a new assessment is requested during physical closure, though districts may still choose to respond within that period.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},280156,1790036636,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":73,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":140,"read_time":76},7971461740909,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Advocating for Special Education Needs: Best Practices to Support Children in a Time of Crisis  \nQuestions & Answers  \nAssessments  \nQ1: What is a school district’s responsibility to complete the assessment if a student was mid-assessment process pre-COVID-19 school closure?  \nA: A 60-calendar day timeline for the district to complete the assessments and review the results at an IEP meeting was triggered if a parent or education rights holder signed an assessment plan agreeing to the district’s proposed assessments and returned it to the school. This right is guaranteed under federal and state law and has not been waived. A district still has a duty to complete the assessment and review the results at an IEP team meeting within the 60-day timeline.  \nQ2: How can assessments be conducted using evidence-based techniques virtually if assessments are required to be completed within the legal timeline?  \nA: Assessments must be both valid and reliable. Validity is the ability of the test to measure what intends to be tested. Reliability means the test will yield consistent results. Both of these can be compromised unless your assessor knows how testing in a virtual setting affects validity and reliability. Assessment tools, protocols, and methods must be employed to guarantee that the virtual setting itself does not change what is being tested (validity) or yield different results than would be achieved in a normal clinical setting or classroom environment (reliability). Assessment protocols lay out the circumstances in which assessments must be administered, such as in a quiet environment without distractions.  \nAn assessor (working with a caregiver) must be able to create these circumstances in a virtual testing environment in order for the results to be valid. Some tools allow for an assessor to ask questions and a child to answer them verbally. These types of tests might be appropriately given in a virtual testing situation. Other tests or interview protocols already allow for telephonic or other remote communications. Some types of tests may require in-person observations (e.g., behavioral needs of a student in a classroom setting), hands on manipulation (e.g., physical therapy assessment methods), or paper and pencil testing which cannot reasonably be recreated with an assessor working with an adult and a child in a remote location; these types of tools may not be valid or reliable in a virtual setting.  \nAssessors must use their professional judgement and training to complete comprehensive assessments reliably and validly, to the extent possible during physical school closures, and review those results within the 60 calendar day timeline with an IEP team. If components of the assessment (e.g., certain tests) cannot be reliably and validly completed, the IEP team should discuss which components of the assessment have not yet been completed and create a plan for their completion once conditions change. This does not mean that a single test can be split over multiple testing days as this is not allowed for in many test protocols but that some components of an entire assessment (e.g., parent interview) may be completed while other components (e.g., cognitive testing) may have to wait until a complete test can be administered in-person at a later time.  \nQ3: Are districts required to initiate new assessments during school closures?  \nA: The answer depends on the type of assessment. Under normal circumstances, when a parent/education rights holder requests an assessment for their child, they have a right to receive a written response to that request within 15 calendar days, with the district either: (1) agreeing to the assessment and providing an assessment plan for the parent/education rights holder to sign, or (2) refusing to do the assessment in writing, including what information and records the district relied upon to find that the  \nrequested area(s) of assessment is not an area of suspected disability. California Senate Bill","cbCaiif7GNOdwNBh","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiif7GNOdwNBh","pdf",224522,7,"English","# Questions & Answers\n## Assessments\n## Assessment responsibilities\n## Virtual assessment methods\n## Requirements for initiating assessments\n## Rights to COVID-19-related disability assessments","[{\"question\":\"If a student was mid-assessment before school closed, must the district complete the assessment within the legal timeline?\",\"answer\":\"Yes. If a parent or education rights holder signed and returned an assessment plan agreeing to the district’s proposed assessments, the district must complete the assessment and review results at an IEP team meeting within the 60-calendar-day timeline.\"},{\"question\":\"How can assessments be conducted virtually while ensuring validity and reliability?\",\"answer\":\"Assessments must remain valid and reliable. Tools, protocols, and methods should prevent the virtual setting from changing what is measured or producing different results than normal clinical or classroom settings, including using appropriate environments and remote communication options when feasible.\"},{\"question\":\"Are districts required to initiate new assessments during school closures?\",\"answer\":\"It depends on the assessment type. A temporary halt may apply to the 15-calendar-day response timeline (including starting the assessment) when a new assessment is requested during physical closure, though districts may still choose to respond within that period.\"}]","Special Education in the Time of COVID-19 - Questions & Answers | PDF",1789534461]