RtI Eligibility

Exclusionary Factors

Why Consider Exclusionary Factors?When We Think About Entitlement…It:• Is a high stakes, high consequence, decision• Has potentially lifelong consequences• Needs to be based on established standards• Requires qualification by virtue of following the established

process as defined• Should not be done “just to help” kids• Should not be done for the money

(modified from Tilly, Heartland AEA11, 2009)

Definition

Exclusionary Factors

•Rule out important factors other than SLDExclusionary

Factors

Keyword =

“primarily”

Exclusionary Criteria…

Exclusionary Factors

Screen first…Further assessment only

if needed

Vision, Hearing, Motor

Cognitive Disability

Emotional Disability

Cultural Factors

Environment, Economic

• Use available screening level data• Gather additional assessment data only if necessary

• No legal requirement to do an in-depth eval. of any of these areas

Vision, Hearing or Motor Disability

• Review of health records• Results of past routine vision,

hearing, and motor (e.g. from P.E.) screenings

• Observations and reports• Parent reports

Areas to Consider:

Cognitive Disability

• Performance in other academic areas (average/ expected performance in any academic area may indicate that student does not have a cognitive disability)

• Review of adaptive behavior history/ adaptive behavior screener (age-appropriate adaptive behavior indicates that the student does not have a cognitive disability)

• Classroom observations and/or reports• Parent reports

Areas to Consider:

Cognitive Disability

Additional Considerations:• Nothing in the law requires any IQ type assessment for

disability determination• “Slow learner” term no longer relevant (IL FAQ doc. #41)

• If low on adaptive behavior screener…– How low is “low”?– Consider possibly further directly assessing specific areas

• If low performance across all academic areas…– Again consider how low is “low”?– Consider any additional academic/ achievement data

Emotional Disability

• Any existing behavioral screening data (e.g attendance records, discipline referrals, etc.)… or any other district specific screeners

• Behavior checklists• Behavior rating scales• Observations• Interviews (teacher, parent, student,

etc.)

Areas to Consider:

Emotional Disability

Additional Considerations:• If there are behavioral concerns:– Consider if student’s learning problems are an

antecedent of the behavior?... – Or, if emotional problems are impacting the

student’s ability to acquire academic skills?

Cultural Factors

• Compare results of academic/ achievement data with overall performance outcomes of the subgroup (e.g. race/ ethnicity, gender) in the district

• Consider student’s acculturation in comparison to similar peers

• Interviews (parents, students, staff)

Areas to Consider:

Cultural Factors

Additional Considerations:• If data is low for subgroup…– Are we providing “appropriate instruction” to this whole

group? Can we even consider eligibility for this student?– Compare student’s performance in intervention to other

students with a similar culture also receiving those supports… are similar peers benefiting from this?

– Possibly consider the magnitude of the discrepancy and use supporting data to evidence this

Environmental or Economic Disadvantage

• Free/ Reduced Lunch status• Review and compare results of academic/

achievement data with overall performance outcomes of students of similar socioeconomic status in the district

• Also consider chronic medical conditions, frequent absences, sleep disruptions, etc.

• Interviews with the family• Developmental histories

Areas to Consider:

Examples…

Documentation on Eligibility

Forms