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What should an IEP contain?
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The IEP must contain several statements that describe the child's performance and outline the special education and related services the school district will provide.
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1. Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance |
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(PLAAF) The statement of the child's present level of education performance must include:
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- Academic achievement
- Functional performance, including how the child's disability affects the child's involvement and progress in the general education curriculum.
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All aspects of a child's performance are important areas of development, including areas such as social and behavioral.
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2. Measurable Annual Goals |
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A statement of measurable annual goals must be included in the IEP, including academic and functional goals, designed to meet the child's needs that result from the disability, to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum, and meet each of the child's other educational needs that result from the disability.
A major change in IDEA 2004 is the elimination of the requirement to include short-term objectives or benchmarks for each annual goal for all but a small group of students who take alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (less than 1%).
ALTERNATE ASSESSMENTS BASED ON ALTERNATE ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS: Students who take alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards have significant cognitive disabilities and are considered unable to attain grade-level achievement standards even with the very best instruction.
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3. Reporting on a Child's Progress |
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The IEP must include a description of how the child's progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured and when periodic reports will be provided on the progress toward meeting the annual goals (such as through the use of quarterly or other periodic reports, or concurrent with the issuance of report cards).
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4. Services Based on Peer-Reviewed Research |
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Administrators should know what scientifically-based research is being proposed, including evidence of effectiveness. This applies not only to instructional programs to address academic deficits, but also those selected to address behavioral or other deficits areas. Teachers should be able to offer a variety of instructional approaches—not simply one approach that is given to all students with a particular deficit or disability.
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The IEP must include a statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable, to be provided to the child, or on behalf of the child, and a statement of the program modifications or supports for school personnel.
IDEA 2004 adds an important new provision that the IEP team's choice of special education and related services be guided by peer-reviewed research whenever possible. In other words, instructional programs and other services should be supported by strong evidence of effectiveness. This is particularly important when determining instructional programs to address reading deficits, since there is a robust body of research showing the effectiveness of an array of reading programs.
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5. Consideration for Participation in General Education |
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An explanation of the extent, if any, to which the child will not participate with non-disabled children in the regular class and other activities, is required in the IEP. The basic underlying belief is that most children will benefit from instruction in the general education setting.
This provision is unchanged in IDEA 2004 and continues to require a justification for any decision to remove a child from the general education classroom. Students with disabilities must have access to the general education curriculum regardless of the instructional setting.
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6. Description of Services |
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The IEP must include the projected date for the beginning of the services and program modifications, and the anticipated frequency, location, and duration of those services and modifications. IDEA 2004 maintains this requirement, which is the school district's commitment of resources to the student.
There is sometimes a "disconnect" between the goals to be achieved through the special education and related services, and the frequency, location, and duration of the services the child is to be provided. Timely remediation of skill deficits, such as reading, is essential if students are expected to access the grade-level general education curriculum.
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7. Transition Services |
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Beginning not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the child is 14, and updated annually, the IEP should include appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age-appropriate transition assessments related to training, education, employment, and, where appropriate, independent living skills, and the transition services the child needs to reach those goals. |
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