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Guidance on Admission, Review, and Dismissal Guide Production and Required Dissemination

The Parent's Guide to the Admission, Review, and Dismissal Process (Parent's Guide) implements Texas Education Code (TEC) Section 26.0081 requiring the TEA to create a comprehensive, easily understood document which explains the individualized education program (IEP) process for a student in a special education program. Additionally, the Parent's Guide incorporates a parents’ rights and responsibilities concerning the ARD process.

The Parent's Guide contains information that parents need to effectively participate in an ARD committee meeting for their child. The Parent's Guide is intended to be a companion document to, not a replacement for, the Procedural Safeguards, which identifies parents’ rights and responsibilities in federal law. The purpose of the Parent's Guide is to create a common understanding for parents, school personnel, and communities of the IEP process for a student with disabilities.

The Parent's Guide is a living document and is reviewed on a regular basis to reflect timely and accurate information. The Parent's Guide contains a production date on the cover and in the footer of the document.

Dissemination

LEAs must provide the most current version of the Parent's Guide to parents of students with disabilities before the first ARD committee meeting or when a parent requests it. LEAs are responsible for the initial dissemination of the Parent's Guide; however, LEAs may provide updated versions to the parent when requested.

Documentation

TEA encourages schools to maintain a record of dissemination in the child’s eligibility folder in case of a compliance review through the State’s monitoring system.

Language Requirements

Currently, the Parent's Guide is available in English and Spanish only.

Production

Education service centers (ESCs) assist the State in the production of the Parent's Guide. However, if an ESC cannot provide copies to a local education agency (LEA), the LEA (school district or charter school) is responsible to produce and disseminate the current version of the Parent's Guide to parents available on the Region 18 Education Service Center's Legal Framework IDEA 2004 web site.

Technical Assistance

LEAs may contact their regional ESC for the most current copies of the Parent's Guide or produce their own copies for dissemination. Parents should contact their school district or charter school for a copy of updates to the Parent's Guide. Parents can contact the following Parent Resources to help with understanding the special education process or call the Texas Education Agency's toll free Parent Information Line.

Parent Resources

Below are some additional parent resources: 

  • The Texas Project FIRST (Families Information Resources Support and Training) is a project of TEA and with a commitment to provide accurate and consistent information to parents & families of students with disabilities. 
  • The Partners Resource Network (PRN) is a non-profit agency that operates the statewide network of federally funded Parent Training and Information Centers (PTI's) in Texas. The programs and services of PRN are based on the concept of parents helping parents. The mission of PRN is to empower parents of children and youth with disabilities in their roles as parents, decision makers, and advocates for their children and to promote partnerships among parents and professionals.  
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