Educational Diagnostic Services

student writing

Sarah Fowler, Supervisor
Jennifer Laible, Lead Educational Diagnostician

Who are Educational Diagnosticians?

Educational diagnosticians are specialists who are knowledgeable about academic assessment and prescriptive teaching approaches. They collaborate with teachers, parents, and other professionals to help diagnose student learning problems, identify their educational needs, and develop instructional interventions to remediate skill weaknesses and evaluate student progress.

What services do Educational Diagnosticians provide?

Educational Evaluations: Educational Diagnosticians administer educational diagnostic evaluations to comprehensively assess the academic functioning and educational needs of students suspected of having educational disabilities, write comprehensive educational reports, and hold parent conferences to explain and interpret results and findings.

Academic Consultation: Educational Diagnosticians collaborate with school administration, instructional staff, and parents to enhance the academic achievement of students, providing academic consultation support to school staff and intervention teams.    

Referral Review Team: Educational Diagnosticians serve as a member of school teams to review records and other performance evidence to assist in determining whether a student is suspected of having an educational disability and in need of an evaluation.   

Eligibility Team: Educational Diagnosticians present educational evaluation findings and assist the eligibility team in determining whether a child qualifies for special education or Section 504 services.

What are some facts about Educational Diagnosticians in LCPS?

Every school in the division has an assigned educational diagnostician.  Each diagnostician typically serves three to four schools within a geographical cluster.

Educational diagnosticians are experienced special education teachers typically with master's degrees in special education or a related field emphasizing instruction, assessment, and learning theory.

Educational diagnosticians are licensed as teachers by the Virginia Department of Education.  Some LCPS educational diagnosticians are also credentialed as Nationally Certified Educational Diagnosticians (NCED).