A Discussion of Peabody College’s IRIS Module Assessment Questions on IEPs
Quinn Kendall
ESP 701
Dr. Linc Johnson
July 21, 2024
A Discussion of Peabody College’s IRIS Module Assessment Questions on IEPs
This paper will answer the assessment questions found at the end of the IRIS module provided by the instructor of ESP 701 at UNLV. It addresses the basics of IEPs and uses a case study to analyze the qualities required for an IEP to be satisfactory. It also makes sure to discuss the importance of monitoring student progress and keeping parents informed.
What IEPs Are and Their Purpose
An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a personalized plan developed for students with disabilities who qualify for special education services in public schools. It is created through collaboration between school personnel and the student’s parents or guardians. The purpose of an IEP is to outline the student’s current educational status, set annual educational goals, specify the special education services, accommodations, modifications, and related supports they will receive. It also includes methods for monitoring and reporting the student’s progress.
The IEP ensures that students with disabilities receive tailored educational interventions that address their unique learning needs. While many of these students spend time in general education classrooms, the IEP ensures they receive appropriate support from both special education and general education teachers. It serves as a legal document that guides the provision of educational services and supports throughout the school year, aiming to maximize the student’s potential for success in the classroom (Allen, 2024). Thus, an IEP is fundamentally about providing specialized instruction and support to meet the individualized needs of each student with a disability.
Procedural and Substantive Requirements: The Endrew Case
The IEP (Individualized Education Program) process includes procedural, substantive, and implementation requirements to ensure appropriate educational services for students with disabilities (Allen, 2024). Procedural requirements oversee the IEP’s development process, ensuring adherence to IDEA guidelines such as evaluation timelines, parental involvement, and required IEP elements to maintain legal compliance. Substantive requirements, clarified by the Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District case, dictate that the IEP must offer educational benefits that are “reasonably calculated” for each student’s circumstances, raising the standard beyond minimal progress. Implementation requirements guarantee that specified services and supports are delivered as planned, monitoring progress and adjusting the IEP as needed to ensure effective educational delivery.
The Endrew case clarified the substantive standard for IEPs by rejecting the previous minimal standard and emphasizing that the educational program provided through the IEP must be designed to allow the student to make meaningful progress (Allen, 2024). This decision shifted the focus from merely complying with procedural requirements to ensuring that the content and implementation of the IEP result in measurable educational benefits for students with disabilities. It highlighted the importance of individualized planning and continuous monitoring to ensure that each student’s unique needs are met effectively, aligning with the overarching goal of improving educational outcomes for students receiving special education services under IDEA.
Case Study: Bella
Bella’s PLAAFP statement
Bella, a 7th-grader with a learning disability, qualifies for an IEP at her school. The IRIS module (2024) provides Bella’s PLAAFP statement:
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.
Bella’s PLAAFP statement lacks several elements that would contribute to making it a high-quality statement, as outlined in the guidelines for developing PLAAFP statements. Specifically, it fails to address her needs, does not address the effect of progress in general education, lacks baseline information, and does not connect to goals and/or services.
Student Needs: Bella’s statement provides some information about her current academic abilities and challenges. It mentions her reading level (4th-grade), reading rate (100 words per minute), and her difficulties with comprehension of content area texts, abstract concepts, inferences, deductions, and real-world connections. However, it lacks specifics on her strengths, instructional preferences, and detailed results from evaluations such as standardized tests or progress monitoring data. Including these would provide a more comprehensive understanding of Bella’s needs.
The document briefly acknowledges Bella’s challenges with comprehension in content area texts and abstract concepts but fails to fully detail how these difficulties hinder her participation and advancement within the general education curriculum relative to district or state standards. Bella’s statement lacks specific baseline data that could establish her starting point and enable ongoing progress monitoring. Objective measurements of her performance in comprehension tasks and the nature of errors in oral reading would provide a clearer understanding of her current abilities. While Bella’s comprehension and abstract concept challenges are noted, the statement does not clearly connect these to the development of goals or necessary services. It should explicitly outline the supports and interventions required to facilitate Bella’s academic and functional skill development effectively.
Bella’s Annual Goal
The module then posed a hypothetical 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” (Allen, 2024). Annual goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound as per the SMART criteria evaluation. This goal specifies what Bella is expected to achieve – reading a textbook passage at the 4.2 grade level aloud at a rate of 100 words per minute. The goal is measurable because it includes a clear target (100 wpm) that can be objectively assessed and specifies that Bella will achieve this by the end of the school year, providing a clear timeframe for achievement.
The annual goal lacks growth potential for Bella because it does not challenge her beyond her current abilities; she already reads at a 4th grade level and 100 words per minute. It fails to address her documented difficulties with comprehension of content area texts, abstract concepts, and inference-making skills highlighted in the PLAAFP statement. While it aims to improve reading rate, it neglects to include goals that would enhance her comprehension abilities. Bella’s comprehensive needs in reading call for goals that integrate both fluency and comprehension, such as improving strategies for understanding texts, identifying key concepts, and applying reading skills to real-world scenarios. Effective supports could include explicit instruction in comprehension strategies, use of graphic organizers, and opportunities to practice abstract thinking and inference-making.
Bella’s Statement of Individualized Services and Supports
Once Bella’s IEP team is ready to develop the statement of the individualized services and supports for her IEP, it should include the following six elements: special education and related services, supplementary aids and services, program modifications or supports for school personnel, extent of nonparticipation in general education settings, accommodations in state and district-wide assessments, and transition services. Each of these elements is crucial in ensuring that Bella’s IEP is comprehensive, addresses her individual needs, and provides the necessary supports and services to facilitate her educational progress and success.
The statement should specify the types of special education services and related services that Bella will receive. Special education services may include specialized instruction in reading, comprehension strategies, and other academic areas. Related services could include speech therapy, occupational therapy, or any other services necessary to support Bella’s educational goals. It also needs to describe any supplementary aids and services that will be provided to support Bella in accessing the general education curriculum and achieving her annual goals. These may include assistive technology devices, visual aids, peer support, or modifications to classroom assignments and assessments. The statement should detail any modifications or supports that will be provided to school personnel (teachers, aides, etc.) to facilitate Bella’s participation in the general education environment. This could involve professional development, consultation with special education staff, or specialized training to implement Bella’s IEP effectively.
It is also important to specify the extent, if any, to which Bella will not participate in the general education environment and the reasons for such nonparticipation. This ensures clarity on the balance between inclusive practices and specialized supports. Any accommodations that will be provided to Bella during state or district-wide assessments to ensure she can demonstrate her knowledge and skills should be outlined. These accommodations should be aligned with Bella’s educational needs and identified in her IEP. Finally, seventh grade is an important time in childhood development. The team when preparing their statement should keep in mind that Bella is only a few years away from transition services being needed. They should consider including a description of the transition services that will be provided to prepare Bella for postsecondary education, employment, and independent living. These services may include vocational training, job coaching, career counseling, and collaboration with community agencies.
The Importance of Monitoring Progress and Parental Communication
Monitoring a student’s progress toward IEP goals and reporting to parents is crucial because it ensures that strategies and interventions are effective based on the student’s current abilities and needs. This involves establishing measurable criteria for each goal and using objective data like standardized assessments or progress monitoring probes to evaluate performance and make necessary adjustments to the educational program (Allen, 2024). Regular progress monitoring supports instructional decision-making by identifying performance trends and guiding timely adjustments to interventions, such as exploring alternative teaching methods or providing additional support if a student isn’t meeting expected milestones, like a reading fluency goal.
Reporting progress to parents is crucial for transparency and collaboration between educators and families. Parents have a right to know about their child’s academic and functional development and whether they are on track to achieve their IEP goals. Progress reports should be as frequent as general education reports, keeping parents informed so they can actively participate in decisions about their child’s education. Clear, accessible reporting practices, using understandable language and visual data representations, help parents grasp their child’s progress relative to goals. This transparency supports parents in advocating for their child and ensures prompt adjustments to the IEP if needed due to unexpected progress.
Conclusion
In summary, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for Bella should be informed by a comprehensive PLAAFP statement that includes detailed evaluation results, impacts on her education, baseline data, and clear connections to future goals and services. This approach ensures Bella receives the tailored support necessary to achieve her educational goals effectively. The current annual goal lacks growth potential by focusing solely on reading rate without addressing Bella’s documented difficulties in comprehension of content area texts and abstract concepts. To better meet Bella’s needs, goals should integrate both fluency and comprehension strategies, supported by explicit instruction, graphic organizers, and opportunities for abstract thinking and inference-making. Furthermore, the development of Bella’s IEP should encompass essential elements such as special education services, supplementary aids, program modifications, extent of nonparticipation in general education, accommodations for assessments, and transition services. These components are vital to ensuring Bella’s IEP is comprehensive, addresses her individual needs, and supports her educational progress and success under IDEA guidelines.
References
Allen, S. (Ed.). (2024). IEPS: Developing high-quality individualized education programs. IRIS Center. https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/iep01/#content
Quinn Kendall, Educator 