Independent Educational Evaluation in Delaware: What Parents Need to Know

The district evaluated your child, found them ineligible, or produced results that don't match what you see at home. Delaware parents have a federally protected right to a second opinion — at the district's expense — called an Independent Educational Evaluation. Most districts don't mention it unless you ask.

What an IEE Is

An Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) is a comprehensive assessment of your child conducted by a qualified evaluator who is not employed by your school district. Under IDEA and 34 CFR § 300.502, you have the right to request an IEE at public expense whenever you disagree with the district's evaluation. You do not need to explain why you disagree. The right is triggered simply by stating that you disagree with the district's evaluation.

Delaware's governing regulations at Title 14 of the Delaware Administrative Code incorporate IDEA's IEE protections. The right applies regardless of which Delaware district your child attends — including charter schools, which are their own LEAs and bear the same IEE obligations as traditional districts.

How to Request an IEE in Delaware

Submit a written request. Email is sufficient and creates a timestamp. Address it to the district's Director of Special Education or Special Services Coordinator. Your request should be simple:

• State that you disagree with the district's evaluation conducted on [date]
• State that you are requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation at public expense pursuant to 34 CFR § 300.502

That is enough. Do not over-explain. Do not justify your disagreement in detail. The right is automatic and does not depend on your reasons.

After receiving your request, the district must do one of two things:

1. Fund the IEE — provide you with a list of qualified evaluators or criteria for selecting one, and agree to pay
2. File for due process to defend the validity of its own evaluation

If the district does neither within a reasonable time — typically interpreted as two to four weeks — it has waived its right to contest your IEE request. Delaware districts rarely file due process to defend their own evaluations because the cost and time commitment make it impractical. Most either fund the IEE or negotiate a consent-based re-evaluation.

Delaware-Specific IEE Rules on Cost Caps

Delaware districts can establish criteria for IEE evaluators — required credentials, geographic limits, applicable cost ranges. However, the Delaware Department of Education has made clear that districts cannot impose absolute cost caps that effectively make IEEs inaccessible. A district that sets a cost limit so low that no qualified evaluator in the region will accept it has not met its obligation.

If the district's cost criteria exclude qualified evaluators you identify, challenge those criteria in writing. Ask the district to explain how its cost limits reflect the actual market rate for qualified evaluators in Delaware. If you cannot find a qualified evaluator willing to conduct the assessment at the district's stated rate, document that in writing and request that the district adjust its criteria or identify an evaluator who meets them at that rate.

You choose the evaluator from among those who meet the district's published criteria. The district cannot require you to use a specific evaluator, and it cannot restrict you to evaluators who are affiliated with or typically work for the district.

What Delaware's Evaluation Timeline Looks Like

For an initial evaluation (not an IEE), Delaware requires the district to complete the assessment within 45 school days or 90 calendar days of receiving parental consent — whichever is less. This is stricter than many states. The clock does not pause for holidays or school breaks. Keep the date you signed your consent form; if the district misses the deadline, that is a procedural violation you can raise in a state complaint.

The initial evaluation team for special education eligibility must include a certified school psychologist. If the district conducted an initial evaluation without a certified school psychologist, that is a procedural defect that may affect the validity of the evaluation.

For an IEE, there is no set federal timeline for how long you have after the district's evaluation to request it. However, the right to request an IEE expires once the evaluation is no longer the "district's evaluation" that you are disagreeing with — meaning if the district conducts a new evaluation, you can request an IEE based on the new evaluation too.

Delaware District Dynamics

Christina School District and Red Clay Consolidated School District are the two Delaware districts most frequently cited in parent complaints and OCR inquiries. Christina has faced recurring concerns about administrative instability and evaluation quality. Red Clay has faced placement and evaluation disputes. If your child attends either district and you have concerns about evaluation completeness, an IEE is often the clearest path to getting objective data on the table.

Military families at Dover AFB in the Caesar Rodney and Capital school districts may face evaluation timing issues when transferring from out-of-state. The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children provides some protections for IEP continuity, but evaluation requests in Delaware still proceed under Delaware's timelines.

How to Use IEE Results

Once you have the IEE report, the district must consider it at any subsequent IEP meeting or eligibility determination. "Consider" is a meaningful legal requirement — the team must review the report, discuss its findings, and document why it accepts or rejects each recommendation. A team that simply ignores the IEE report at an IEP meeting has violated its obligation.

If the IEE finds different eligibility, different placement recommendations, or significantly different service needs than the district's evaluation, that divergence is your leverage. Bring the evaluator's recommendations to the meeting in writing, ask the team to address each recommendation on the record, and follow up by email confirming what was and was not agreed to.

The Delaware IEP & 504 Blueprint includes an IEE request letter template, a log for tracking evaluation timelines, and guidance on using independent evaluation findings in Delaware IEP meetings.

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