You asked if the State Department of Education (SDE) has a formal evaluation process for special education hearing officers.

SDE hires hearing officers to adjudicate disputes between school districts and parents of students with disabilities regarding special education services. The hearing officers are independent contractors and are paid on a per-diem basis. They must be impartial. State law prohibits a hearing officer from being employed by SDE, any local or regional school board, unified school district, or other public agency involved in caring for or educating the child who is the subject of the hearing (CGS § 10-76h (c)(1)).

SDE currently has no formal evaluation process for special education hearing officers, according to Katherine Nicoletti, the department's legislative liaison. Two SDE staff members monitor the hearing officers' activities regularly to ensure they are complying with their contractual obligations for meeting deadlines, issuing readable decisions, and following the prescribed decision format, among other things.  The department does not evaluate the substance of decisions. Although SDE does not solicit feedback from parties to disputes, department staff receive unsolicited phone calls and letters from parties. 

SDE is developing a new data system to allow hearing officers' activities to be more closely monitored.  The department is also planning to implement a formal annual evaluation process in the next 12 months.  It has developed a preliminary draft of an evaluation form and expects to use a final version of this form in the new evaluation process. 

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