INDEPENDENT EDUCATIONAL EVALUATIONS (IEE)

Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

Open Path provides comprehensive Independent Educational Evaluations for Functional Behavior Assessment for Massachusetts children with complex behavioral, emotional, developmental, and educational needs.

INDEPENDENT FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR ASSESSMENT

How an FBA Understands Behavior

Identifying Function

An FBA looks at what happens before and after behavior to identify patterns and determine what the behavior may be helping the child access, avoid, communicate, or regulate.

Understanding function helps guide prevention, replacement skills, adult responses, reinforcement, and behavior support planning.

Open Path’s Approach

Function is important, but it may not explain the whole picture.

Open Path also considers communication, regulation, developmental and learning needs, learning history, stress and trauma, relationships, environmental demands, adult responses, current supports, and what has or has not worked over time.

The goal is to understand not only what the behavior accomplishes, but what may be contributing to the pattern and what may need to change.

WHEN AN INDEPENDENT FBA MAY BE CONSIDERED

The Evaluation Feels Incomplete

The school’s FBA may not fully explain the child’s behavior, support needs, or patterns across the school day.

Patterns Differ Across Settings

The child may present differently at home, school, treatment, or other settings, making it difficult to understand the full pattern.

Important Factors May Be Missing

Communication, regulation, trauma and stress, developmental needs, environmental demands, relationships, or adult responses may require closer consideration.

Repeated crises, school removals, emergency evaluations, hospitalizations, or higher levels of care may be occurring without sustained progress.

Needs Have Become More Intensive

An IEP, behavior plan, or other supports may be in place, but the child continues to experience barriers to learning, participation, regulation, or safety.

Current Supports Are Not Leading to Progress

The Team Needs Greater Clarity

Providers or team members may have different explanations or recommendations, leaving uncertainty about what the child needs next.

WHAT THE EVALUATION INCLUDES

A Comprehensive Independent FBA Process

Each evaluation is individualized to the referral questions, the child’s needs, and the information already available. Depending on the scope of the evaluation, the process may include the following.

  • Clarification of the concerns leading to the referral, the questions the evaluation is intended to address, the student’s educational history, current programming, and any steps already taken by the family or school district.

  • Review of relevant educational, behavioral, clinical, and treatment records. These may include the IEP, neuropsychological and other prior evaluations, school or in-home FBAs and behavior plans, outpatient or in-home treatment plans, progress and incident data, hospital or program discharge summaries, and other documentation related to the referral questions.

  • With consent, Interviews with caregivers, educators, providers, and other involved team members to understand the student’s strengths, needs, behavioral patterns, responses to support, and presentation across settings.

    Collateral consultation may be included when additional information from treatment providers, advocates, program staff, or other professionals is needed to understand the broader picture.

  • Observation of the student during relevant educational activities, routines, transitions, and interactions.

    Observation and data collection consider the behaviors of concern, what occurs before and after them, communication and precursor behaviors, task demands, environmental conditions, adult responses, available supports, and the circumstances in which the student is more or less successful.

  • Information from records, interviews, observations, and available data is considered together to identify behavioral patterns and develop hypotheses about function.

    The analysis also examines the broader conditions shaping the pattern, including the student’s skills, communication, regulation, learning history, experiences, relationships, environment, and current supports.

  • A written report summarizes the referral questions, evaluation procedures, information gathered, behavioral data, functional hypotheses, conclusions, and individualized recommendations.

    Recommendations may address behavior-support planning, replacement skills, goals and accommodations, instructional or environmental changes, staff responses, training, progress monitoring, and coordination with other professionals. When relevant, the report may also describe the characteristics of an educational setting capable of meeting the student’s needs.

    A detailed feedback meeting is provided to review the findings, answer questions, and ensure the recommendations are clearly understood before the report is finalized. The completed evaluation can then support the parent and school Team in considering appropriate services, accommodations, behavioral supports, and educational programming.

PARENT RIGHTS & FUNDING

Understanding the IEE Process in Massachusetts

Parents have the right to seek an Independent Educational Evaluation when they disagree with a school district evaluation. Massachusetts families may have different funding options, and specific requirements and timelines apply once an IEE is requested.

After receiving the district’s evaluation, a parent may request an IEE if they disagree with the results. When behavior is a concern, that request may include an independent FBA if the parent believes it was not fully assessed or understood.

Requesting an IEE

Funding Options

Families may privately fund an evaluation or request public funding. Massachusetts also offers a voluntary sliding-scale option based on family income.

Districts Response

When public funding is requested outside the voluntary sliding-scale process, the district must either agree to fund the evaluation or file with BSEA to defend its own evaluation.

Whenever possible, the evaluation and written report should be completed within 30 days. After the district receives the report, the IEP Team reconvenes to consider the findings.

After the Evaluation

Additional IEE Details

  • When a parent requests public funding for an IEE and does not use Massachusetts’ voluntary sliding-scale process, the district must either agree to fund the evaluation or initiate a BSEA hearing to defend its own evaluation within five school days of the request.

  • Massachusetts also offers a separate, voluntary funding option based on family income. Providing financial information is entirely optional and must be handled confidentially by the district.

    Under the sliding scale, the district pays:

    100% when family income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty guidelines
    75% when income is between 400% and 500%
    50% when income is between 500% and 600%

    Families above 600% do not qualify for required cost-sharing through this option. Families who choose not to provide financial information may still request public funding under the federal IDEA process.

    The right to use the Massachusetts sliding-scale option continues for 16 months from the date of the district evaluation with which the parent disagrees

  • An IEE must be completed by a qualified professional who meets applicable credential, assessment, and rate requirements. The district may provide information about its evaluator criteria and available evaluators, but the family may select another qualified evaluator who meets those requirements.

    The evaluator must be independent from the school district. A higher individual assessment rate may be permitted when the child’s unique circumstances justify it.

  • Massachusetts guidance states that, whenever possible, an Independent Educational Evaluation and written report should be completed within 30 days of the parent’s request. After the district receives the IEE report, the IEP Team must reconvene within 10 school days to consider the evaluation and whether a new or amended IEP is appropriate. Timeline questions can depend on the specific request, funding pathway, and district response.

  • After the written report is completed, Open Path will review the findings with the parent and, when included, attend the IEP Team meeting to explain the evaluation, answer questions, and clarify recommendations. Open Path does not make final school programming decisions and does not provide legal representation, but the evaluation can give the family and Team independent information to consider.

View Official Massachusetts IEE Guidance

This information is provided for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Families with questions about their legal rights or disputes with a district may wish to consult a special education advocate or attorney.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • That difference can provide important information. A child may struggle significantly in one setting and show far fewer concerns in another.

    The evaluation looks at what may be different across settings — including demands, expectations, routines, supports, relationships, and how adults respond. If one setting is providing supports or conditions that the other cannot realistically replicate, that matters too.

    The goal is not to make home and school look identical. It is to identify what may be contributing to the difference and develop recommendations that are realistic for each setting while addressing the same underlying needs.

  • Yes. Advocates, attorneys, school professionals, and current providers are welcome to contact Open Path in a general capacity to learn more about Independent FBAs, the evaluation process, or whether Open Path may be a good fit for a family they are supporting.

    Once the conversation involves information specific to an individual student, written parent or guardian authorization is required before child-specific information can be discussed or exchanged.

  • No. Open Path’s role is to remain an independent evaluator.

    Open Path can explain evaluation findings, answer questions about the report, participate in the IEP Team process when applicable, and explain the reasoning behind recommendations. Open Path does not provide legal advice or serve as the family’s special education advocate or attorney.

  • Open Path can evaluate behavioral and environmental factors, develop hypotheses about why behavior may be occurring, identify skills or supports that may be needed, and make recommendations related to prevention, skill-building, behavior support, adult responses, data collection, and behavior plan development or revision.

    When the information points to needs outside the evaluator’s professional scope, those factors can still be recognized as important and further input from the appropriate professional may be recommended.

  • Yes. You can contact Open Path first to ask questions, learn more about the evaluation process, and determine whether Open Path may be a good fit before making a formal request to the district.

  • That does not prevent the behavior from being evaluated. An FBA is not based only on what happens during a scheduled observation.

    Current observations are considered alongside previous FBAs and evaluations, behavioral data, school records, interviews, IEP information, neuropsychological findings, and other relevant documentation. Together, that information can help clarify why a behavior may be occurring.

    For example, if behavior is happening most often during math, the evaluation may look at whether the student’s learning profile, documented needs, instructional demands, or current supports help explain why that part of the day is especially difficult. The goal is to connect the available information and develop a well-supported hypothesis, even when the behavior itself is not observed directly.

  • Open Path evaluates the behavioral and environmental factors affecting the child’s access to education and may make recommendations related to the supports, staffing, structure, environmental conditions, and program characteristics needed for the child to be successful.

    If the evaluation suggests that the student requires supports or program characteristics beyond what is currently available, those needs can be identified and described. The focus is on defining what the student needs from an educational setting, rather than selecting a specific school or classroom.

  • The district’s IEP Team is required must consider the findings of an Independent Educational Evaluation when making decisions about the student’s IEP and special education services.

    The Team is not automatically required to implement every recommendation, but the evaluation becomes part of the information used in its decision-making.

    Open Path participates in the IEP Team meeting to review the evaluation findings, explain the recommendations and the reasoning behind them, and answer questions from the Team.

LETS CONNECT

Whether you are considering requesting an Independent FBA, have already submitted a request, or have been referred to Open Path, you are welcome to reach out with questions about the process and whether Open Path may be a good fit.

Contact Open Path