SRBI Cannot Delay Your Child's Special Education Evaluation in Connecticut

You've asked the school to evaluate your child for special education. Instead of scheduling the evaluation, they tell you the child needs to go through "SRBI" first — that they want to try more interventions before moving to a formal assessment. It sounds reasonable on the surface. It isn't.

This is one of the most common stalling tactics used by Connecticut school districts, and it's one that parents frequently accept without realizing they have the right to push back. Understanding what SRBI is, what it's for, and what it legally cannot do is essential knowledge for any Connecticut parent pursuing an evaluation.

What SRBI Is

SRBI stands for Scientific Research-Based Interventions. It is Connecticut's version of the multi-tiered support framework known nationally as Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). Connecticut uses the SRBI label specifically.

The basic idea is that students who are struggling should receive targeted, evidence-based instructional support in tiers of increasing intensity:

• Tier 1: High-quality core instruction for all students
• Tier 2: Small-group targeted interventions for students who need more support
• Tier 3: Intensive, individualized interventions for students who don't respond to Tier 2

SRBI is a legitimate educational approach. Done well, it can help struggling students without labeling them unnecessarily. It can also generate useful data about how a student responds to different kinds of instruction — data that can inform a special education evaluation when one is needed.

The problem is not SRBI itself. The problem is when districts use SRBI as a gate that students must pass through before an evaluation can happen.

What SRBI Cannot Do

SRBI cannot legally be used to delay a special education evaluation in Connecticut when a parent has submitted a written referral.

This is not ambiguous. Federal law under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is explicit that a local educational agency cannot use a Response to Intervention process to delay or deny an evaluation for special education eligibility. Connecticut's regulations (RCSA §10-76d-13) set a strict 45-school-day timeline from the date of a written referral to full IEP implementation — and that clock runs regardless of what intervention programs the child is currently in.

If a parent submits a written referral asking for a special education evaluation, the district must begin the evaluation process. Full stop. The district cannot tell you: "We need to finish SRBI Tier 2 first." That is a procedural violation.

How This Plays Out in Practice

The typical scenario looks like this:

A child is struggling in reading. The school starts SRBI interventions in Tier 1, then moves to Tier 2 small-group support. After several months of limited progress, you ask for a special education evaluation in writing. The school responds by saying they want to continue SRBI and see if Tier 2 works before referring for evaluation.

What the school is doing may feel collaborative. In reality, they are extending the intervention period — which benefits the district by delaying potentially costly special education services — while your child continues to fall further behind without an evaluation that could lead to legally binding supports.

The SRBI data can be useful. But collecting it does not require holding your evaluation request hostage.

Recognizing the Stall

Warning signs that SRBI is being used to delay an evaluation rather than support your child:

• The school acknowledges your written evaluation request but says they need to "finish the SRBI process" first
• You're told there's a wait for an evaluation slot because the student is still in intervention
• Progress monitoring data from SRBI has been collected for many months but no evaluation has been proposed
• The school keeps extending the intervention period at each progress check
• You're discouraged from formalizing your request in writing ("let's see how the next few weeks go")

This last point is particularly important. If you've only made verbal requests for evaluation, the 45-school-day clock has not started. Districts sometimes encourage informal conversations specifically to avoid triggering the written referral timeline.

What to Do

Submit a written referral immediately. If you believe your child may have a disability that is affecting their education, put your request for a special education evaluation in writing today. Email it to both the school principal and the district's director of special education. Keep a copy. This starts the 45-school-day clock under RCSA §10-76d-13.

Do not agree to "try SRBI first." You can allow SRBI to continue in parallel while the evaluation proceeds — there is nothing stopping the district from doing both. But do not agree to delay the evaluation itself.

Reference the law when you push back. If the school tells you they want to wait until SRBI is complete, you can say directly: "I understand SRBI is ongoing, and I'm not asking you to stop it. But under RCSA §10-76d-13 and IDEA, I have the right to request a special education evaluation independently of the SRBI process, and that 45-school-day clock begins with my written referral. I'm not withdrawing my referral."

Document everything. Keep all emails, meeting notes, and any written responses to your referral. If the district misses the 45-school-day deadline because they improperly insisted on completing SRBI first, this documentation supports a complaint to the Connecticut State Department of Education.

If the District Has Already Been Stalling

If your child has been in SRBI interventions for months and you've been told to wait, you haven't necessarily lost your right to an evaluation — you simply haven't triggered the timeline yet if no written referral was submitted.

Submit the written referral now. You can also request that the district share all SRBI progress monitoring data collected on your child, since it may be useful to the evaluators and supports your case that concerns about your child's progress are well-documented.

If the district continues to resist after your written referral, that resistance is itself a procedural violation you can report to the CSDE. For details on the Connecticut complaint process, see the post on Connecticut CSDE special education complaints.

SRBI Data Can Help — After the Evaluation Begins

To be clear: SRBI data is not the enemy. When a child has been in intervention for months, that data — response rates, specific areas of difficulty, what has and hasn't worked — can be genuinely useful to evaluators trying to understand the child's profile.

The problem is sequencing. Collecting SRBI data for six months before agreeing to evaluate is a delay. Evaluating the child while SRBI continues, and incorporating that data into the assessment, is not.

Connecticut has 94,174 students with disabilities — nearly 19% of total enrollment. Districts are under real financial pressure from special education costs. Understanding that SRBI can serve as a cost-control mechanism, not just an educational one, helps parents understand why this particular stalling tactic is so common.

Your child's right to a timely evaluation does not depend on exhausting every tier of intervention first. When you submit a written referral, that right is triggered immediately.

If you want letter templates, timelines, and a step-by-step guide for navigating Connecticut's evaluation process — including what to say when the district pushes back — get the complete Connecticut IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook.

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