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Digging Deeper Application #1: IRIS Module on the Individualized Education Program (IEP)

Dayana M. Gonzalez

Department of Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

ESP 701: Introduction to Special Education and Legal Issues

Dr. Monica Brown

17 June 2022
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Digging Deeper Application #1: IRIS Module on the Individualized Education Program (IEP)

What is an IEP? What purpose does it serve?

According to the textbook Introduction to Contemporary Special Education New

Horizons (Smith, Tyler & Skow, 2018), an IEP is an individualized education program

that is created for school-age students who have a disability. An IEP is made for students

who are within the age range of 3-21 years. Individualized education programs serve the

purpose of providing parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, service providers, and school

administrators with a list of services, accommodations, and accountability measures for

the students who have these specialized programs.

Upon taking a look at an IEP, various information should be found. An IEP

includes a student’s current performance that indicates how the student is achieving

academically at the time, along with how their classroom participation and progress is

going. Along with the current performance of a student, an IEP should also include other

information such as the students goals, the services that are being provided to that

particular student, testing information, when and how long services are being provided,

whether or not the student is ready for transitioning, their rights, and the tools being used

to monitor and measure the student’s progress. This information provided on the

Individualized Education Program allows for all parties involved including teachers,

service providers, administration, and families to be informed of a student’s progress

throughout the year or years.

Explain the difference between procedural requirements and substantive requirements for

developing IEPs. How did the Endrew case clarify the substantive standard for IEPs?

When we take a look at both the procedural and substantive requirements for

developing an IEP, it is clear that both are quite different. Although they both focus and

aim to create the most sufficient Individualized Education Program for students with

disabilities, the requirements for each have very different focuses. The procedural

requirements focus strictly on the process of starting the IEP and seeing it through all the

services provided. It includes getting the parents involved, conducting and evaluation,

sticking to the timelines, ensuring that meetings are happening as they are supposed to

with all members there, having all components of an IEP listed, and implementing the

IEP itself with all the services that were deemed necessary. The substantial requirements

for developing an IEP focus strictly on the who, what, when, where, and how components

of an IEP (Vanderbilt University, 2022). These components help us understand exactly

what the student’s IEP consists of. It informs us of things such as who will monitor and

collect data for the student, how data will be collected on the student, where and when

data collection will take place, and what the student needs from the school in order to

reach their goals.

The Endrew vs. Douglas County School District court case, helped instructors see

the need for the substantive standards to be clarified to help ensure that all students’

needs were being met. When we take a look at the substantive requirements, it is clear

that they define what is required to be done in order to see the student’s IEP through;

however, as it was seen in the Endrew court case, it was not always made clear that all

students should be given goals to help them progress and meet challenges that are
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reasonable to them. Along with these goals, students with IEPs should also receive all the

services necessary from the school in order to help them reach their goals. In Endrew’s

case, the student was not given all the services required to help him succeed, and it was

not until they attended private school; where progress was seen due to the fact that all

services they needed were being provided to that student. This court case helped us see

the need for schools to meet all substantial requirements in IEPs. All schools and districts

should “...do all they can, within their means, to promote greater academic achievement.”

(Brown & Shin, n.d.).

Bella is a 7th-grader with a learning disability. Her IEP includes the following PLAAFP

statement for reading:

Bella reads at the 4th-grade level at approximately 100 wpm (orally). Her oral reading rate

includes many incorrect words. When asked comprehension questions about fictional text, she

is able to identify broad concepts such as main characters and events. However, she has

difficulty identifying main ideas and supporting details in content area texts (e.g., science,

social studies). She struggles with abstract concepts, inferences, deductions, and connecting

what she has read to real-world examples.

This is not an example of a high-quality PLAAFP statement. Identify the elements that are

missing or incomplete. For those that are incomplete, discuss information that should be

included.

The PLAAFP statement that is provided above is missing various components. A

high-quality PLAAFP statement should include all the following: the student’s needs, the effect
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of the student's disability on their academic progress in general education, where a student

currently is (baseline), and a connection to goals and services that determine whether or not there

is enough information to determine what special services the student may need to help them

succeed (Vanderbilt University, 2022). The PLAAFP statement above for Bella provides only a

few of those components. The statement is missing the information on the effect her disability

has on her academic progress in general education, and a collection of her needs that include

strengths, parents concerns, instructional preferences, results from testing. In addition to these

two things, the PLAAFP statement is also missing a connection to Bella’s goals and services.

When focusing on what exactly should be included in those components that are

incomplete, the PLAAFP statement lacks providing the student’s specific strengths, the parent’s

concerns, whether or not any progress monitoring has been done and if data has been collected,

how their academic progress is being affected by her disability, and whether or not enough

information is being provided in order to develop services for Bella. The components that are

missing from the first three sections: students' needs, effects of progress in general education,

and baseline information; help determine a connection statement; however, if the information is

not provided then an accurate statement cannot be made either.

Based on the PLAAFP statement, Bella’s IEP team developed the following annual goal:

When given a textbook passage at the 4.2 grade level, Bella will read the passage aloud at a

rate of 100 wpm by the end of the school year.

Does this annual goal contain all of the required elements? If not, identify any missing

element(s).
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According to the IRIS Center, a goal that has all required elements contains all of the

following: condition, target behavior, performance criterion, and timeframe (Vanderbilt

University, 2022). When looking at the annual goal that was developed by the IEP team for

Bella, this goal does contain all required elements. The condition of the goal made is “When

given a textbook passage at the 4.2 grade level…”. The target behavior is “...Bella will read the

passage aloud…”. The performance criterion is “...at a rate of 100 wpm”. And the timeframe of

the goal is “...by the end of the school year.”

Does this annual goal meet the SMART criteria? Explain your answer.

The SMART criteria that is found in the IRIS Center states that a well-written,

measurable goal should be specific, measurable, actively phrased, realistic, and time-limited.

When looking at the goal set for Bella by her IEP team, “When given a textbook passage at the

4.2 grade level, Bella will read the passage aloud at a rate of 100 wpm by the end of the school

year” , it can be said that the goal does meet most of the SMART criteria (Vanderbilt University,

2022). Bella’s goal is very specific in the sense that it is focused on when she is being given a

textbook passage at the 4.2 grade level. It is also measurable in the sense that the goal asks for

Bella to meet a set number of words per minute, 100. It is also actively phrased when it states

“read the passage aloud” because it is telling us what she will be doing. The goal is also

time-limited to the end of the school year. Where Bella’s goal is lacking is in the realistic

category for the SMART criteria. Bella’s PLAAFP statement states that Bella is currently reading

approximately 100 words per minute. If her IEP team wanted to give her a realistic goal, they

would challenge her to continue to grow her words per minute, rather than keep it at a constant.

Is this annual goal sufficient to meet all of Bella’s needs in reading? Justify your answer.
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The annual goal that has been given to Bella, is insufficient to meet all her needs.We

know that she is a 7th grade student who is reading at a 4.2 grade level with a word count of 100

words per minute. Her goal continues to keep her at this level rather than challenge her to keep

improving. Bella needs to be supported in the sense that although she may continue to be given

textbook passages at her reading level, however, the expectation should be that she can improve

her word count over a prolonged period of time instead of keeping it at a constant.

Bella’s IEP team is ready to develop the statement of the individualized services and

supports for her IEP. List and briefly describe the six elements that should be included in

this statement.

While Bella’s IEP team is developing the statement of the individualized services and

supports for her IEP, they should consider the following elements within the statement: type of

service, frequency, duration, person responsible, environment, and the service start and end

dates. Within the type of service element, her IEP team should address the annual goals, the type

of service that she will be receiving, and any support that Bella may be needing. For the

frequency and duration elements, her IEP team should include how often the services will be

provided to Bella, and how much time will be set aside for each service as well. When

identifying the person responsible for the service or support, the IEP team should include the

name of the person who will be providing all the services and supports ensuring that the person

is of best expertise to deliver the service. When including the environment element, the IEP team

should include where the services will be provided for Bella ensuring that the environment of the

setting will be suiting for Bella’s needs. Lastly, for the service start and end dates, the IEP team

should specify exactly when the services will begin and when the services will end for Bella.
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Explain the importance of monitoring a student’s progress toward meeting his or her IEP

goals and reporting that progress to parents.

When a student’s progress monitoring plan is made, it is developed by answering the

following questions: how will the student’s progress be measured?, how often will the student’s

progress be measured?, who will be collecting the data?, where will the data be collected, when

will the data collection occur, and how well will the student need to perform in order to reach

their goals that have been set in the IEP plan?(Vanderbilt University, 2022). When progress

monitoring a student it is very important to constantly collect data on the progress that the

student is making. The data helps inform the IEP team on how well the student is doing, along

with determining whether or not the student’s IEP is appropriate for the student or if there are

some changes that need to be made. If progress monitoring does not take place, then the IEP

team does not have data to assist them in making these decisions. If these decisions cannot be

made, then the student cannot receive all the necessary support and services that they may need.

As we know, the IEP team consists of various members including the parents of the

student. It is extremely important for the parents to receive the data on the student’s progress

monitoring to help ensure that the parents are informed on whether or not their student is on

track for meeting the goals that the IEP had set for them (insert citation here). Reporting this

information allows the parents to be up-to-date with how their child is doing, aligned with the

changes that the school is making if their child is not progressing in the direction that was

predicted for them.

References

Brown, D., & Shin, A. (n.d.). Endrew F. V. Douglas County School District. Legal

Information Institute. Retrieved June 17, 2022, from

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/15-827

Smith, D. D., Tyler, N.C., & Skow, K.G. (2018). Introduction to Contemporary

Special Education New Horizons (2nd edition). New York, NY: Pearson

Publishers. ISBN-13: 979-0-13-489508-6

Vanderbilt University. (2022). What is included in the IEP document? IRIS Center.

Retrieved June 17, 2022, from

https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/iep01/cresource/q3/p08/#content