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Independent Educational Evaluations in Texas

An IEE is a full evaluation done by someone the school does not employ. In Texas that person is usually a certified educational diagnostician or an LSSP in private practice. Parents use them when the district’s testing is late, thin, or just wrong.

What an IEE actually is

It is not a screening and it is not tutoring. A proper independent educational evaluation is a written report: cognitive and academic testing, processing, and a clear statement of whether your child meets criteria for services. The report should be something you can walk into an ARD meeting with.

You can pay for that privately at any time. You can also ask the school to pay for it. Those are different paths.

When the school pays

Under IDEA, if you disagree with the district’s evaluation, you can request an IEE at public expense. The district then has to either pay for one or file for a due-process hearing to defend its own testing. They cannot just ignore the request.

Put the request in writing. Name the evaluation you disagree with. Keep a copy. The district may give you their criteria (who is qualified, what the report must include). Independent diagnosticians and LSSPs who already do private work in Texas are used to those criteria.

Paying yourself is still common. Families do it to skip the wait, to get a second opinion the district never ordered, or to get SAT/ACT documentation the school will not produce. Parent-funded does not make the report unofficial — an ARD still has to consider it.

Who can do this in Texas

The people parents actually hire are:

• Educational diagnosticians in private practice — the core of the Texas independent-testing market.
• Licensed Specialists in School Psychology (LSSPs) working privately, often for IEEs and FBAs.

A clinic neuropsych can also write a useful report. It is usually more expensive and not always what an ARD wants. For a school-facing IEE, start with an Ed Diag or LSSP who says they do independent evaluations.

What it costs and how long it takes

Private comprehensive evaluations in Texas typically land around $800–$2,500. That is a market range, not a quote. Ask what is in the battery, whether the written report is included, and whether they will attend the ARD (some will, some bill extra, some will not).

Three to six weeks from first appointment to a finished report is a reasonable expectation if the evaluator is taking clients. School-only waitlists are often a semester or more. That gap is why people pay.

How to use the report

Send it to the campus diagnostician or special-education coordinator before the ARD. Bring a paper copy. You are asking the committee to consider specific findings — dyslexia, SLD, eligibility for a 504 or IEP — not to “look at some testing.” If you paid for an IEE after disagreeing with the school’s FIE, say that out loud. The committee has to consider it.

Dyslexia testing in Dallas if that is the actual question, SAT/ACT extra time in Texas if you need testing-company documentation, or all guides.