Free checklist

While you wait for the evaluation: a 10-step checklist

The weeks between "yes, we'll evaluate" and the first meeting can feel like nothing is happening. Here's what you can quietly do in that time, so you walk into the meeting with a clear record and fewer surprises.

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Keep a paper trail

1. Put the request in writing. If you only asked out loud or on the phone, send a short email that repeats it and gives the date you first asked. A dated email is the easiest record to point back to.
2. Write down the consent date. Most deadlines are counted from the day the school gets your signed consent. Ask for a copy of the signed form if you don't have one.
3. Put the deadline on your calendar. New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois · California will work it out with school breaks counted, and can add it to your phone calendar.
4. Keep one folder for everything. Emails, letters, report cards, notes home. One email label or one paper folder is enough.
5. Log every call and meeting. Date, who you spoke to, and what they said, in a line or two. There's a blank log at the bottom of this page.

Get ready for the meeting

6. Ask for your child's school records. You have the right to see them. The school has to provide them without unnecessary delay, before any IEP meeting, and no later than 45 days after you ask (34 CFR §300.613).
7. Collect outside reports. Letters or evaluations from doctors, therapists or tutors. If you share a private evaluation that meets the district's criteria, the school has to consider it (34 CFR §300.502(c)).
8. Write down examples while they're fresh. What homework looks like, what teachers have told you, what your child says about school. Short notes with dates are more useful than a long summary later.
9. Ask when you'll get the evaluation report. Reading it before the meeting, not at the table, makes a big difference.

If things stall

10. If a date passes, send one polite email. Name the date, ask when it will happen, and keep it short. Here's what to do when the school misses a deadline, and every state has a free Parent Center that can help.

Contact log

General information, not legal advice.