The school psychologist tested your child in March. You have a two-line summary and a meeting date. The report itself, the scores, the observation notes — you have been told they are "internal." In California they are yours, and there is a clock on handing them over.
The short answer: a parent of a current or former pupil has "an absolute right to access to any and all pupil records related to their children that are maintained by school districts or private schools," and "the requested access shall be granted no later than five business days following the date of the request."¹ A "pupil record" is "any item of information directly related to an identifiable pupil, other than directory information, that is maintained by a school district or required to be maintained by an employee" in the course of their duties; the one exception is "informal notes related to a pupil compiled by a school officer or employee that remain in the sole possession of the maker and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a substitute."² For a child in or being assessed for special education, a separate section adds the right to copies: the district must comply "in no case more than five business days after the request is made orally or in writing," may charge no more than "the actual cost of reproducing the records," and must copy them at no cost where the fee "effectively prevents the parent from exercising the right."³ A request is not a favour you are asking. It is a deadline you are starting.
What is a pupil record
Nearly everything with your child's name on it that the school keeps: the cumulative file, attendance, discipline, health records, the psychoeducational evaluation and its protocols, 504 and IEP documents, counselling referral forms, emails between staff about your child that are filed or retained.² The definition turns on whether the item is "maintained" by the district or "required to be maintained" by an employee — not on which office holds it or what it is called.
What is not: "directory information" (name, address, the things a yearbook has), and the personal-notes exception — "informal notes ... that remain in the sole possession of the maker and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a substitute."² A counsellor's private jottings that nobody else has seen are outside the definition. The moment they are shared with a colleague, filed, or used at a meeting, they are inside it.
The two clocks
Any pupil, any record. Education Code §49069.7: "the requested access shall be granted no later than five business days following the date of the request."¹ The district must also have adopted procedures that tell parents where records are kept and make qualified staff available to explain them.¹
Special education. Education Code §56504 restates the five business days, adds that the request may be made "orally or in writing," and requires compliance "before any meeting regarding an individualized education program" or any hearing.³ You are entitled to examine records and to receive copies; the district "may charge no more than the actual cost of reproducing the records," and where that cost would stop you, "the copy or copies shall be reproduced at no cost."³ You may also ask for "reasonable requests for explanations and interpretations of the records."³
Five business days is short on purpose. An IEP meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with the assessment report withheld until the meeting is a request away from being rescheduled.
How to ask
In writing, to the principal and to the district's records office at the same time, dated, with the five-business-day rule cited by section. Ask for all pupil records, and then name the ones you most need — "including the psychoeducational assessment report of [date], the test protocols and scoring, all 504 and IEP documents, and all records held by the counselling office." For an oral request in a special-education case, follow it with the same email the same day so the clock is documented.
Ask for copies, not just access; you cannot annotate a file you looked at in an office.
When parents are separated
"Parent" means "a natural parent, an adopted parent, or legal guardian," and where parents are divorced or legally separated, the rights to challenge a record, to file a written response, and to consent to a release belong to the parent with legal custody — except that either parent may give consent if both have notified the school in writing that they have agreed to that.² Access is broader than control: the Family Code says access to a child's records, "including, but not limited to, medical, dental, and school records, shall not be denied to a parent because that parent is not the child's custodial parent."⁴ A non-custodial parent can look; the custodial parent holds the pen on challenges and releases.
What to do with the evaluation
A school psychoeducational assessment is a document written for eligibility, not for treatment; it can still be the most useful thing a private clinician sees. Request a school assessment → · When anxiety or depression is wrecking school: 504 plan, IEP, or both → · ADHD documentation in California → If the report was late, or the assessment itself is overdue, the timelines are on their own page. If the school counsellor is the one holding back, their confidentiality statute runs to the pupil, not the parent, and is a different question. Can a school counselor tell my parents? →
Q&A
Q: The school says the psychologist's report is a "draft." A: A document maintained by the district about an identifiable pupil is a pupil record whatever its label;² the personal-notes exception covers only notes in the sole possession of the maker that nobody else has seen.
Q: Can they charge me for copies? A: In a special-education case, no more than the actual cost of reproduction, and nothing at all if the fee would prevent you from getting them.³
Q: I asked two weeks ago. A: The statutory period is five business days.¹ ³ Put the request in writing again with the date of the first one, and copy the district superintendent's office; for a special-education record, a complaint to the state is available if the district still does not comply.
Q: My child is 18. Can I still get the records? A: At 18 the records are the adult pupil's to request; ask your child to make the request, or to authorise you in writing.
Our therapist directory: See its current status →
Getting the file before a discipline meeting is the point of the five-day clock. My child with an IEP was suspended: the manifestation determination →
Sources
Cal. Education Code §49069.7 — "an absolute right to access to any and all pupil records related to their children that are maintained by school districts or private schools"; "the requested access shall be granted no later than five business days following the date of the request"; district procedures on where records are kept and staff to explain them — california.public.law.
Cal. Education Code §49061 — "pupil record" as "any item of information directly related to an identifiable pupil, other than directory information, that is maintained by a school district or required to be maintained by an employee"; the exception for "informal notes ... that remain in the sole possession of the maker"; the definition of "parent" and the rule for divorced or separated parents — california.public.law.
Cal. Education Code §56504 — the special-education right to examine and receive copies of school records "in no case more than five business days after the request is made orally or in writing," before any IEP meeting or hearing; explanations and interpretations on request; copies at "no more than the actual cost" and "at no cost" where the fee would prevent the parent from exercising the right — california.public.law.
Cal. Family Code §3025 — access to records "including, but not limited to, medical, dental, and school records, shall not be denied to a parent because that parent is not the child's custodial parent" — california.public.law.
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