10/07/2026
A child can pass the screener and still need a full evaluation.
Let’s talk about it.
A screener is designed to identify students who may be at risk. It is not designed to tell us that a student is definitely fine.
And if we’re using a screener to help inform whether further evaluation is warranted, we should be asking:
What is this screener actually measuring?
A norm-referenced screening measure gives us information about how a student performs compared to a representative sample.
A district-created checklist or locally developed screener? That may be useful for instructional decision-making, but it shouldn’t automatically be treated as equivalent to a standardized, norm-referenced measure.
Passing a screener does not erase the rest of the data.
If classroom performance, progress monitoring, teacher concerns, work samples, or other assessment data suggest a student is struggling, a “pass” should not be the end of the conversation.
Sometimes the right question isn’t “Did they pass?”
It’s “Does the total body of evidence warrant looking closer?”
SLPs, special educators, and evaluators: Have you ever seen a student “pass” a screener when the rest of the data told a very different story? Drop your thoughts below.
