On January 21, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (“OSEP”) issued a memorandum to all state directors of special education reiterating that school districts may not use the Response to Intervention (“RTI”) process to delay or deny timely initial evaluations for children suspected of having a disability. In its memorandum, OSEP noted that the IDEA requires districts to have policies and procedures in place to ensure that schools identify, locate and evaluate children with disabilities. While a district may also be implementing RTI strategies to provide supports and services to struggling students, districts were cautioned that they may not use the RTI process to avoid their obligations to obtain parent consent and evaluate a student suspected of having a disability. In other words, districts may not categorically deny or delay evaluations for a student simply because the student had not yet completed the RTI process. As stated by OSEP, “[i]t would be inconsistent with the evaluation provisions . . . for [a school district] to reject a referral and delay the provision of an initial evaluation on the basis that a child has not participated in the RTI framework.” Memorandum to State Directors of Special Education, 56 IDELR 50 (OSEP January 21, 2011).