Academic Services

Classroom teachers continually assess:

• Gross motor and fine motor skills
• Academic skills
• Social emotional skills

The district routinely conducts screening of:

• Children's hearing acuity (Grades K, 1, 2, 3 and 7)
• Visual acuity (All grade levels)
• Speech and language skills (Kindergarten and teacher referral)

If additional support is needed, the child's teacher(s) will make modifications to accommodate the child's learning style, behavior, physical limitations or speech problem. Parents/guardians will be notified their child is receiving interventions addressing their specific needs. If a child does not make progress with intervention, parents will be asked to give written permission for a Multidisciplinary Evaluation (MDE). The evaluation will be coordinated by the district's school psychologist who will also participate in the evaluation process.

An evaluation report will be completed with parent involvement after all assessments and data are collected. This record includes specific recommendations on how to help the child as well as whether the child is eligible for any special education program.

Parents/guardians are then invited to participate in a meeting where the results of this multidisciplinary evaluation will be reviewed and an Individual Educational Program (IEP) will be developed for those students who are eligible for special education services.

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a written plan for the provision of services for the education of students who are disabled or gifted. A child’s IEP is developed, reviewed and revised as needed and includes:

• The child’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance
• How the disability affects the child’s involvement and progress in the general education curriculum
• A description of benchmarks or short-term objectives for children who take alternative assessments
• A statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals designed to meet the child’s needs that result for the child’s disability to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum
• A statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to be provided to the child or on behalf of the child.
• An explanation of the extent, if any, to which the child will not participate with children who are non-disabled in the regular class

The IEP team is a group of individuals composed of parents/guardians of the child with a disability, one or more regular education teacher(s), one or more special education teacher(s), an LEA representative, any related service providers, and when appropriate, the child with the disability.

The IEP team can review a child's IEP periodically, but not less than annually.

At the conclusion of an IEP meeting, the child's educational placement is determined and a notice of recommended educational placement (NOREP) is issued.

All parents/guardians are presented with a Notice of Recommended Educational Placement (NOREP) which formally specifies the school district's recommendations for the student’s educational program. Parents/guardians may agree or disagree with the recommended program or may wish to suggest other alternatives.

The IEP team determines the appropriate level of intervention required to meet the student's need and ability. The appropriate level of intervention is the level at which the students perform successfully. Students are assigned to one of the following levels of intervention:

Itinerant Special Education Support

• Regular classroom instruction for the entire day of school
• Instructional support from special education personnel, if appropriate
• Modifications to regular instructional program, if appropriate

Supplemental Intervention Resource Classroom

• Regular classroom instruction for most of the school day
• Special education services and programs provided by special education personnel in a resource classroom for part of the school day, if appropriate

Full-time Special Education Class in Regular School

• Special education services and programs outside of the regular classroom but in a regular school for the entire day
• Opportunities for participation in a regular non-academic or extracurricular activities to the maximum extent appropriate

Full-time Special Education Class outside of Regular School

• Special education services and programs outside of the regular school for the entire day
• Opportunities for participation in regular non-academic or extracurricular activities to the maximum extent appropriate

For all students with disabilities, Extended School Year (ESY) eligibility must be considered at each student's IEP meeting.

This determination must be made even if the child's parents have not specifically requested that their child be evaluated for ESY programming.

This consideration also applies to students who are attending Approved Private Schools (APS) and those schools share necessary information with the school district so that a timely decision can be made by the IEP team.

The ultimate responsibility for IEP review and revisions rests with the North Hills School District.

North Hills provides a free, appropriate public education to exceptional students according to state and federal mandates. To be eligible, the child must be of school age, need specially designed instruction and meet eligibility criteria for mentally gifted and/or one or more of the following:

• Intellectual disability
• Hearing impairment
• Speech or language impairment
• Visual impairment(including blindness)
• Emotional disturbance
• Orthopedic impairment
• Autism
• Traumatic brain injury
• Other health impairment
• Specific learning disability
• Deafness
• Deaf-blindness
• Multiple disabilities

Services designed to meet the needs of eligible students include the annual development of an individualized education program (IEP), periodic multidisciplinary re-evaluation, supportive intervention in the regular class or in a special education resource program, placement in a itinerant or supplemental special education class in a regular school or placement in a full-time special education class outside of the regular school. The extent of special education services and the location for the delivery of such services are determined by the parents and staff at the IEP team meeting and is based on the student's identified needs and abilities, chronological age and the level of intensity of the specified intervention.

The school district also provides related services, such as transportation, speech and language therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy that are necessary to enable the student to derive educational benefits.

In compliance with state and federal law, the North Hills School District will provide to each protected handicapped student without discrimination or cost to the student or family, those related aids, services, or accommodations which are needed to provide equal opportunity to participate in and obtain the benefits of the school program and extracurricular activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the student's abilities. In order to qualify as a protected handicapped student, the child must be of school age with a physical or mental disability which substantially limits or prohibits participation in, or access to, any aspect of the school program.

These services and protections for "protected handicapped students" are distinct from those applicable to all eligible or exceptional students enrolled (or seeking enrollment) in special education programs.

To qualify for services as a "Protected Handicapped Student" the referred person must be of an age to which public education is offered in his/her school district.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, ensures that all children with disabilities ages 3 through 21 years old residing in Pennsylvania have the right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), including children with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school. FAPE is available to a child with a disability eligible under IDEA until the student turns 22.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

Pennsylvania Department of Education IDEA Policies

In compliance with state and federal law, notice is hereby given by the North Hills School District that it conducts ongoing identification activities as a part of its school program for the purpose of identifying students who may be in need of special education and related services (eligible students). If your child is identified by the District as possibly in need of such services, you will be notified of applicable procedures.

Individualized services and programs are available for children who are determined to need specially designed instruction due to the following conditions:

• Autism/pervasive development disorder
• Blindness or visual impairment
• Deafness or hearing impairment
• Developmental delay
• Intellectual Disability
• Multi-handicapped
• Neurological impairment
• Other health impairments
• Physical disability
• Serious emotional disturbance
• Specific learning disability
• Speech or language impairment

If you believe that your school-aged child may be in need of special education services and related programs, or young child (age 3 to school-age) may be in need of early intervention, screening and evaluation processes designed to assess the needs of the child and his/her eligibility are available to you at no cost, upon written request. You may request screening and evaluation at any time, whether or not your child is enrolled in the District’s public school program. Requests for evaluation and screening are to be made in writing to the building principal.

In compliance with state and federal law, the North Hills School District will provide to each protected handicapped student without discrimination or cost to the student or family, those related aids, services or accommodations, which are needed to provide equal opportunity to participate in and obtain the benefits of the school program and extracurricular activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the student’s abilities. In order to qualify as a protected handicapped student the child must be school age with a physical or mental disability, which substantially limits or prohibits participation in or access to an aspect of the school program. These services and protections for “protected handicapped students” are distinct from those applicable to all eligible or exceptional students enrolled (or seeking enrollment) in special education programs.

For further information on the rights of parents and children, provision of services, evaluation and screening (including purpose, time and location), and rights to due process procedures, you may contact in writing any building principal.

The North Hills School District uses the following procedures for locating, identifying and evaluating specific needs of school-aged students who may require special programs or services. These procedures, required by law, are:

The district, as prescribed by Section 1402 of the School Code, routinely conducts screening of a child’s hearing and visual acuities at certain grades or as needed. Gross motor and fine motor skills, academic skills and social and emotional skills are assessed by classroom teachers on an on-going basis.

Specific needs from all of these screening sources are noted in the child’s official file. School records are always open and available to parents, and only to school officials who have a legitimate reason for “need to know” information about the child.

Information from the records is released to other persons or agencies only with appropriate authorization which involves written permission by parents. Parents with concerns regarding their student may contact building principals at any time to request a screening or evaluation of their child. Communication with parents through an interpreter including sign language is available if needed.

Screening information will be used by the Support Services Teams at the elementary and secondary schools to evaluate the child’s specific needs or to document the need for additional assessments. If it is determined that a student needs additional evaluation, parents will be asked to sign a form that permits one of the district’s school psychologists to conduct an evaluation.

Following the completion of the multidisciplinary team evaluation, an Evaluation Report is compiled with parent involvement and includes specific recommendations for the types of intervention necessary to meet the child’s individual needs. Parents are invited to participate in a meeting where the results of the multidisciplinary evaluation will be discussed. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) will be developed for eligible students.

Parents are presented with a Notice of Recommended Educational Placement (NOREP) which outlines the programs, services and location of services. If parents disagree with the program being recommended, the issue may be addressed at a pre-hearing conference, a mediation, or at an impartial due process hearing.

Information about early intervention services and programs, parental rights, mediation or due process procedures, specific special education services, district programs, and the district’s educational records policy are available upon request from the building principal.

Parents with children between the ages of 3 and 5 have a right to an evaluation to determine eligibility for early intervention services. Early Intervention services are available to all eligible young children beginning at age 3 through a program offered by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. Parents who believe their child needs to be evaluated for eligibility may contact Discovery Assessment Referral Tracking (DART) at 412-394-5736, or the Director of Pupil Services at 412-318-1008. 

In compliance with state and federal law, the North Hills School District will provide to each protected handicapped student the aids, services and/or accommodations which are needed to provide equal opportunity to participate in and obtain the benefits of the school program and extracurricular activities.

In order to qualify as a “protected handicapped student,” the child must be of school age with a physical or mental disability which substantially limits or prohibits participation in, or access to, any aspect of the school program.

These services and protections for “protected handicapped students” are distinct from those applicable to eligible or exceptional students enrolled, or seeking enrollment, in special education programs.

For more information on evaluation procedures and provisions of services for protected handicapped students, contact the Director of Pupil Services at 412-318-1008. 

Referral for a Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation shall be made when a student is suspected by teachers and/or parents of being gifted and in need of specially designed instruction. The parent must sign a Permission to Evaluate form in order for the process to begin. The school psychologist conducts a formal evaluation and this evaluation along with: information from the parents, demonstrated achievement, performance/expertise in one or more academic areas, high level thinking skills, communication skills, academic creativity and measured rate of acquisition/retention of new academic content or skills that reflect gifted ability is used to develop a Gifted Written Report (GWR).

The Gifted Multidisciplinary Team shall prepare a written report that brings together the information and findings from the evaluation. The report shall make recommendations as to whether the student is gifted and in need of specially designed instruction.

The Gifted Individualized Education Program team reviews the recommendations of the Gifted Multidisciplinary Team and determines whether the student needs specially designed instruction including enrichment and/or acceleration. If the student is determined to be gifted and in need of specially designed instruction, a Gifted Individualized Education Program (GIEP) will be developed and implemented.

A gifted student is defined as “a student who is exceptional” under section 1371 of the School Code because the student meets the definition of mentally gifted in this section, and needs specially designed instruction beyond that required in Chapter 4 relating to academic standards and assessment. This term applies only to students who are of school-age. Provisions for gifted students are contained in Chapter 16, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Rules and Regulations, Title 22: Education. For additional information or clarification, please contact the Director of Pupil Services at 412-318-1008.