3 minute read
THE ABC’S OF IEP’S
By Sheila Wolfe - IEP Services
Each student, regardless of disability or level of functioning, has the right to pursue meaningful academic progress. Within this arena are four broad categories of content: reading fluency, reading comprehension, math, and written expression. Each of these specific areas should have been tested during a full educational evaluation. The evaluation results should provide the school and parent with information that can be used to set appropriate goals. If the assessment(s) does not provide information regarding the grade-level equivalent of the academic scores for the student, ask the school or evaluator to provide this information. Simply knowing that your child tested “below average” for math computation, for example, does not provide the information necessary to set appropriate goals.
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Last month we examined the need to establish current and accurate Present Levels of Performance (PLOP) for each student with a disability, and then write an appropriate IEP to address the needs of that student. Creating an appropriate IEP, which delivers meaningful progress, is a topic we will discuss over the next few months. This month let us look at creating academic goals.
In addition to understanding the grade-level equivalent or age level equivalent of your student in each academic area, parents and schools need to understand the specific skills mastered and not mastered by that student. This information can often be found in the “baseline assessments” done toward the beginning of each school year. Some common names of these assessments include NWEA, Acuity, DIBELS, Aimsweb, STAR, etc. Educators can perform an error analysis on these assessments to find the specific skills the student has not mastered in the various academic areas.
Supported by detailed information regarding the PLOP of the student in the four basic academic areas, appropriate goals can be written in two basic ways: 1) to address the skills that have not been mastered or 2) to achieve a certain amount of growth. Deciding which approach is best (or what combination of the two) often depends on the individual ability of the student. For example, a third-grade student who has the reading fluency scores of a 2.5grade level student might have a goal to achieve reading fluency scores equivalent to his typical peers by the end of the school year. The overall goal in this case is closing the gap with peers.
Conversely, a fifth-grade student who has reading comprehension skills at the 2.5-grade level might have a goal to achieve a year’s growth (get to a 3.5 grade level) for a year’s instruction. I encourage parents to make “a year’s growth for a year’s instruction” to be the lowest acceptable goal in any academic area unless it is agreed that the student is just not capable of this level of growth despite a rigorous and appropriate academic program.
Grade level academic standards for Indiana can be found at https://www.doe.in.gov/standards. Parents should make themselves aware of the skills and content included in each grade level academic area as their child progresses through school. Not only will this help you understand the necessary skill progression to become proficient in each academic area, but it also helps to make sure the IEP does not “skip” any skills as your child moves through the grades. This is particularly important in math since those skills build directly upon one another.
When setting goals for written expression, be aware that there are fine motor (handwriting/keyboarding), visual-motor-integration (copying from a model or board), and organizational skills (staying on topic/remembering the mechanics) needed to perform in this area. Written expression also requires solid reading/phonics fundamentals to be successful. Ask your school to provide a grade-level writing rubric at the level your student will be working. This should show the various skills being assessed at that grade level (punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, content development etc.).
This is only a broad overview of goal development for academic skills. Next issue, we will expand our look at goals to include additional developmental concerns such as behavior, social skills, language, fine motor, and gross motor skills. Please remember, the goals in every IEP are directly related to that student’s needs. If there is an established need, there should be a corresponding goal to address it.
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