Independent Educational Evaluations in Louisiana

In Louisiana the school’s evaluation is a Bulletin 1508 pupil-appraisal battery. An IEE is the same kind of written report, done by someone the parish does not employ — usually a certified educational diagnostician in private practice in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, or the surrounding parishes.

We list independent Louisiana evaluators who do IEEs — educational diagnosticians and private practices across the state.

Browse Louisiana IEE evaluators

1508 is the school’s file, not the last word

Pupil appraisal is the parish team that tests under Bulletin 1508. That evaluation is what the IEP uses for eligibility. It is not a tutoring plan and it is not a one-page screen from the School Building Level Committee (SBLC).

If the 1508 is late, thin, or misses the disability you actually see at home, you can get a second battery from someone outside the system. Paying yourself is always allowed. Asking the LEA to pay is a separate letter.

Asking the parish to fund it

IDEA still applies. If you disagree with the pupil-appraisal evaluation, write the special-education director or pupil-appraisal coordinator. Name the 1508 you disagree with. Date it. Keep a copy. The parish then pays for an independent evaluation or files to defend its own testing. Silence is not a legal answer.

They may send criteria — who is qualified, which scores the report must include. Louisiana educational diagnosticians who already do private work know those lists. Do not wait for SBLC to “try one more intervention cycle” before you mail the request if you already disagree with completed testing.

Families still pay out of pocket when they want a faster calendar, a gifted-and-stuck look the parish never ordered, or documentation the 1508 will not produce. A parent-paid report is still something the IEP team has to consider.

Who parents book in Louisiana

The evaluator you want is usually a certified educational diagnostician in private practice. That is the credential this area uses. Some clinics staff psychologists who will write a school-facing report; ask whether the report is written for an IEP meeting, not only a medical chart.

A hospital neuropsych is a different wait and a different bill. Useful when you need medical differential. For a parish IEP, start with a diagnostician who says they do independent evaluations and will name eligibility language in writing.

Fees and the calendar

Private comprehensive evaluations in Louisiana typically land around $800–$2,200. That is a typical range, not a quote. Ask what is in the battery, whether the written report is included, and whether they will join the IEP (some call in, some bill extra, some will not).

A few weeks from first appointment to a finished document is realistic if they have an opening. Parish-only queues can run a semester. That gap is why people leave the 1508 waitlist.

What you carry into the IEP

Send the report to the pupil-appraisal coordinator or IEP chair before the meeting. Bring a paper copy. You are asking the team to consider specific findings — SLD, dyslexia under Bulletin 1903, 504 versus IEP — not to “glance at outside testing.” If this is an IEE after you disagreed with the 1508, say that in the room.

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