Getting the reading intervention scores your child’s goal never showed
A reading intervention leaves a data trail, and this letter asks for the baseline, the strategies, and every score recorded since. Send it whether reading sits in the IEP as a named goal or is happening as help nobody wrote down; no diagnosis needs to come first. You can send it today: paste it into an email, replace what sits in brackets, and write down the day the school received it; the table below says which day starts each clock.
What the rule says
“Data-based documentation of repeated assessments of achievement at reasonable intervals, reflecting formal assessment of student progress during instruction, which was provided to the child’s parents.”
34 CFR 300.309(b)(2)
This data is supposed to already exist, gathered while the intervention ran rather than built after you ask.
When to send it
- Report cards call reading ‘improving’ with no probe score or work sample behind the word.
- The intervention runs outside the IEP with no page describing what it targets or how it is scored.
- This year’s reading goal is copied from last year’s IEP, word for word, with no new data cited.
What happens after you send it
| What is being counted | By when | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|
| If this becomes a referral | 60 days | Should this pattern turn into an evaluation request, IDEA’s own count runs from your signed consent.34 CFR 300.301(c)(1) |
| The scores reach you | 45 days | Probe sheets and scores are education records, and IDEA’s outer edge for them runs from your request.34 CFR 300.613(a) |
| An answer on this data | Set by your state | A state records law often runs shorter than the federal edge, and the shorter count applies.34 CFR 300.613(a) |
What the letter has to contain
The skill actually targeted
A generic ask for reading data gets a generic paragraph back; naming decoding, fluency, or comprehension turns the answer into numbers.
The record must show appropriate instruction was already given in that specific skill. 34 CFR 300.309(b)(1)
The strategies used in sessions
A program name on a service log is not proof of what happened in the room; the strategy and the data are.
Strategies used and the data collected must be documented for an RTI response. 34 CFR 300.311(a)(7)(i)
Notice of the plan, up front
A verbal mention at drop-off is easy to forget; the state’s own data policy belongs to you in writing.
You are told the state’s data policy and the plan to raise the learning rate. 34 CFR 300.311(a)(7)(ii)
Something to point back to
A spoken reassurance at pickup leaves nothing to point back to if the same promise repeats next term.
Declining to change the goal or the service comes with a written reason under IDEA. 34 CFR 300.503(a)(2)
The letter
Replace everything in brackets. The rest sends as it stands.
- To
- The intervention teacher, plus the case manager
- Subject
- Please share the intervention data collected on [Child’s first name]
Dear [Reading Specialist], I am asking for the data behind [Child’s first name]’s reading [goal or intervention]: the baseline, the strategies used, and every progress-monitoring score recorded since [date]. Please include: • the specific skill being targeted [decoding, fluency, comprehension, or another named skill] • the session schedule — how often and for how long each one runs • every score recorded since [date], not only the most recent one I am asking because [what you have seen — for example, no change in report card wording, or a skill that seems stalled]. If the record shows the plan is not moving things, please treat this as a request to revisit the goal, the service minutes, or an evaluation. With respect, [Your name] [Cell phone] · [Email] [Today’s date]
If no answer comes back
The specialist’s receipt date opens your state’s records window, and IDEA’s forty-fifth day is the far edge.
- Call the front office to confirm the message actually reached the reading specialist.
- Ask for the probe sheets themselves if a summary is all that came back.
- Bring up the reading goal by name at whatever meeting comes next, with this request attached.
A no owes you prior written notice: the decision, the reason for it, and the records behind it (34 CFR 300.503).
This is a template, not legal advice: it does not replace your state’s procedures, or advice from someone qualified to read your file.
Have the pages you are writing about read back to you, free.
The review reads every page you upload, names the wording that is vague or missing, and gives you its page number.
Review my IEP — freeFree, no card. It reads your pages and contacts no one.
Where this comes from
- Data documentation for a learning disability (34 CFR 300.309)The documentation this page rests on.
- Response to intervention data (34 CFR 300.311)What gets documented and shared.
- Center for Parent Information and Resources: RTIHow RTI decisions get made.
- Prior written notice (34 CFR 300.503)What a no owes you.
Response deadlines are set state by state, and the state pages carry each number with its rule.