SLD
SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY
MN Rule 3525.1341
Eligibility Criteria



A pupil has a specific learning disability and is in need of special education and related services when the pupil meets the criteria in items A, B, and C. Information about each item must be sought from the parent and must be included as part of the evaluation data. The evaluation data must confirm that the disabling effects of the pupil’s disability occur in a variety of settings.

A. The pupil must demonstrate severe underachievement in response to usual classroom instruction. The performance measures used to verify this finding must be both representative of the pupil’s curriculum and useful for developing instructional goals and objectives. The following evaluation procedures are required at a minimum to verify this finding:

(1) evidence of low achievement from, for example, cumulative record reviews, classwork samples, anecdotal teacher records, formal and informal tests, curriculum based evaluation results, and results from instructional support programs such as Chapter 1 and Assurance of Mastery; and

(2) at least one team member other than the pupil’s regular teacher shall observe the pupil’s academic performance in the regular classroom setting. In the case of a child served through an Early Childhood Special Education program or who is out of school, a team member shall observe the child in an environment appropriate for a child of that age.

B. The pupil must demonstrate a severe discrepancy between general intellectual ability and achievement in one or more of the following 7 areas:

Seven Areas in Federal/State Rule
Basic Reading Skills
Reading Comprehension
Listening Comprehension
Math Calculation
Math Reasoning
Written Expression

The instruments used to assess the pupil’s general intellectual ability and achievement must be individually administered and interpreted by an appropriately licensed person using standardized procedures. For initial placement, the severe discrepancy must be equal to or greater than 1.75 standard deviations below the mean of the distribution of difference scores for the general population of individuals at the pupil’s chronological age level.

C. The team must agree that it has sufficient evaluation data that verify the following conclusions:

(1) the pupil has an information processing condition that is manifested by behaviors such as: inadequate or lack of expected acquisition of information, lack of organizational skills, for example, following written and oral directions; spatial arrangements; correct use of developmental order in relating events; transfer of information onto paper; visual and auditory memory; verbal and nonverbal expression; and motor control for written tasks such as pencil and paper assignments, drawing, and copying;

(2) the disabling effects of the pupil’s information processing condition occur in a variety of settings; and

(3) the pupil’s underachievement is not primarily the result of: visual, hearing, or motor impairment; developmental cognitive disabilities; emotional and behavioral disorders; environmental, cultural, or economic influences; or a history of inconsistent educational programming.

Tests of Cognitive Ability: For the Cognitive Tests of the WJIII, the following scores are
acceptable to use in computing a severe discrepancy.

Required area:
General Intellectual Ability

Woodcock Johnson III Cluster Scores:
General Intellectual Ability (Std.)
General Intellectual Ability (Ext.)

Using the WJIII Cognitive and Achievement Cluster Scores to compute a severe discrepancy:
It is not possible to score either the WJIII Tests of Achievement or the Tests of Cognitive Ability without a scoring disk. If both the WJIII Cognitive and Achievement Clusters are used to compute a severe discrepancy, it is necessary to change the discrepancy level to -1.75 on the scoring disk. This is accomplished by using the following procedure:

· Select Options Menu,
· Then select Program Options,
· Then select Report Options, and
· Then select Discrepancy Score and set the
discrepancy level at -1.75.

A team may use the -1.75 SD in the WJIII to make a determination of severe discrepancy
between the General Intellectual Ability Score and the Achievement Cluster Scores found in the
Achievement/Ability Chart on the test printout. This chart is found on page 4 of the WJIII
scoring printout. The test printout does not contain cut-off scores, so staff will have to be alerted
to use a severe discrepancy of -1.75 SD or larger (-1.82, -2.00, etc.). Subtests may NOT be
used to make this determination. Please see the attached example. WJIII examiner qualification
sheets are also enclosed for your information.
Additionally, it is the recommendation of the SLD Assessment Advisory Committee, that only the
scores required in determining and understanding eligibility be reported in the Evaluation Report.
In other words, the only scores necessary in eligibility determination are standard scores, but a
team might wish to report percentiles simply because parents are more likely to be familiar with
them. The WJIII test report from the disk is very detailed, contains seven different types of
scores, prints out all of the subtest scores, and has the potential to be quite confusing to parents
and teachers.


Caveats:

1. It is imperative that staff members are adequately trained and have adequate practice
before administering the WJIII for initial eligibility. There is an administration booklet included
with each test kit that defines a procedure for teacher's to develop adequate practice.

2. Any deviations whatsoever from the standard administration of the WJIII or any other
standardized test invalidate the resulting score, causing eligibility and placement
decisions to be suspect.

 SLD Criteria.doc   Printable Version
 WJIII Achievement Scores to Compute a Severe Discrepancy.pdf