Under state law, your school district must give you an assessment plan within 15 days of receiving your written referral for special education services. If a referral for assessment is made 10 days or less prior to the end of the regular year, the assessment plan must be developed within 10 days after school commences the following school year.^[1] The assessment plan shall:

1. Be in language easily understood by the general public;
2. Be provided in the primary language of the parent/guardian/other education rights holder or other mode of communication used by the parent/guardian/other education rights holder, unless to do so is clearly not feasible;
3. Explain the types of assessments to be conducted;
4. State that no individualized education program will result from the assessment without the consent of the parent/guardian/other education rights holder;
5. Include a copy of the notice of parental rights, which includes an explanation of all procedural safeguards under state and federal special education law;
6. Include a description of any optional dispute resolution mechanisms available under state law; 
7. A description of any recent assessments conducted (including independent assessments and assessment information the parent/guardian/other education rights holder requests to be considered); and
8. Information stating the student’s primary language and proficiency in that language.^[2]

You have at least 15 days to respond to or approve the assessment plan.^[3] When the district has received the signed assessment plan, it has 60 days (excluding days of school vacation of more than five (5) days and days that school is not in session like winter break or summer break) to complete the assessment, and convene an Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting to determine if the child is eligible for special education, and develop their IEP if they are found eligible.^[4] Once the child is found eligible, they may not be exited from special education without an evaluation showing they are no longer eligible.^[5]

If a child is referred to special education 30 or less days before the end of a school year, the district must hold a meeting to develop an IEP within 30 days after the beginning of the next school year.^[6]

1. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56321(a).[↩]
2. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56321(a), (b); 5 C.C.R. Sec. 3022.[↩]
3. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56321(c)(4).[↩]
4. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56344(a).[↩]
5. 20 United States Code (U.S.C.) Sec. 1414(c)(5); 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.305(e)(1).[↩]
6. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56344(a).[↩]