Fort Bend ISD staff tackle overdue special education reevaluations

Fort Bend ISD’s special education department reported an improvement in the processing of assessments, an issue that put the district in non-compliance for special education services last year.

In a word

At the Oct. 21 FBISD Board meeting, department officials outlined steps they have taken to address this backlog of assessments and future plans to stay ahead of the curve during the new year and continue to improve services.

“I think one of the things we’re really trying to do is start to operationalize the multiple special education audits that we’ve done over the last five or six years and really put them into practice,” said Academic Director Adam Stephens. “We’re really excited because we’re going to move from a reactive special education service to now a proactive role.”

The overview

Deena Hill, executive director of student support services, said the department is facing various areas of concern, including:

• Delays in transport routes and delivery times
• Addressing initial assessments and reassessments
• Communicate with parents in a timely manner and provide customer service to collaborate with parents
• Fidelity of implementation due to new or inexperienced teachers and inconsistent case management
• Balance the number of students receiving special education services in classrooms

Additionally, the Texas Education Agency notified FBISD in August 2023 that the district was not in compliance with federal standards for the 2023-24 school year regarding initial assessments and eligibility determination meetings. Impact on the community reported. However, district staff addressed the assessments and were informed in August 2024 that the noncompliance had been corrected, officials with the FBISD Department of School Leadership said in an email.

Dig Deeper

The department has also made progress on reassessments, which are divided into two categories that require different types of testing: review of existing assessment data and general reassessment, school leadership officials said.

At the start of the 2024-25 school year, the department had 2,099 overdue reassessments, according to district data. Since then, overdue reassessments have fallen by more than 75%, to 507.

In August, FBISD contracted with additional vendors specializing in providing evaluators to help the department complete overdue reevaluations, school leadership officials said.

With this change, the department is on track to complete overdue reassessments by June 30, Hill said.

FBISD is required to submit data to the TEA in July regarding all completed initial assessments as well as the compliance status of each assessment, school administration officials said.

What’s next

Administrators said they are happy to see the department “moving in the right direction” and look forward to future updates.

Department staff said that in addition to tracking assessments, they plan to obtain feedback through conversations with parents, stakeholders, students and community members. The department also plans to form a special education task force.