Testing/Assessments

Hi There,

I am a special education instructor, working for the private school system and I have a couple of questions that I was wondering if someone could answer.

It seems that, any time that I felt a student of mine needed to be tested based on evidence, collected assessments from teachers, grades throughout the school year, and even through the first inital child study meeting, I can't understand what determines the NEED for testing through our county. First, are all county's in the U.S. different on their determinants on what constitutes the need for INITIAL testing? For example, one school told me that a child had to be a grade and half level behind in their subject area to receive initial testing. Is it based on state regulations or federal regulations? I feel that my particular county schools are changing what their critera is for inital testing for my private school stuents. If