IEPs in EDU: How Do We Use Individualized Education Plans?

Throughout my teaching experience thus far, I have had very little direct knowledge of or work experience with IEPs. I’ve seen them implemented in practice, but the behind the scenes meetings, details and construction of an IEP have not been clear to me. I hope this post will share some of what I have learned about how IEPs are constructed and what responsibilities are to be upheld by teachers.

What are IEPs?

An IEP, or individualized education plan, is a collaborative document that is a concrete plan to support the learning needs of an individual student. This plan spells out not only the learning needs of a student, but the services and supports that school staff are responsible for providing, the learning or personal goals that will be set to guide a student’s growth, as well as how this progress will be recorded and measured accurately.

How are IEPs used?

An accurate, reliable and inclusive IEP consists of a number of important parts.

First, it must be an honest and accurate representation of what an individual child can and cannot do independently (academically, socially, behaviourally). This is not a static representation of the child, but rather, an evolving picture of a child as they move through the school year and the school system. The IEP will change according to the growth that parents, support staff and teachers recognize. This representation can also become a point of tension between schools and parents, as some may be uncomfortable with how a child is portrayed on paper. For example, while the school and the teacher may recognize that a particular child requires additional academic support with resource staff, the parent may not believe that the child requires intensive support outside of the classroom in the form of pullouts. Or vice versa. This type of situation may be uncomfortable, but is part of the process of constructing a truly collaborative plan to help students grow. At the end of the day, every party involved is simply trying to find the best methods and resources to support the needs of the student.

Second, a proper IEP must include student-specific learning goals and objectives that are concrete. For example, stating that a student will work to build strategies to group and sort objects into groups of 2, 5 and 10. Instead of saying, a student will work better or harder at grouping and sorting. Specific learning goals and objectives help guide a teacher’s instruction and provides parents with clear expectations of where their child is currently and where they will get to in the near future.

Third, the methods, instruction, resources and strategies that an educator will be using must be explicitly stated in the IEP as well. Building upon the stated goals and objectives for the student, the teacher should include specific resources and methods that will support these future outcomes. For example, if a student has a goal to complete two math jobs every morning, but needs behavioural support to do so, a resource to support them may be using the gym as a “break time” for ten minutes in order to energize and refocus. Another example of a specific resources would be using a personal visual schedule so that a student can focus on the specific jobs that they should be working on currently and what jobs are next. Also, the stated methods of the teacher within the IEP should reflect how the child is to be included in the daily operation of the classroom and not forced to achieve goals/ objectives in isolation outside the classroom.

Another critical component of an IEP is for staff to detail plans for assessment and review throughout the school year. Plans that are realistic in terms of a timeline, as well as how assessment will be conducted and who will conduct it. The IEP is an evolving plan and therefore requires targets and reviews in order to be accurate. As stated in the Manitoba Education Student Specific Handbook, “if the planning process is not dynamic and ongoing, and if the IEP that is developed is not referred to regularly, it is unlikely that there will be any impact on the day-to-day performance of the student or on his or her long-term progress and achievement.” (5).

Final Thoughts:

Each school division can differ in terms of explicit responsibilities for each party or formatting of IEPs. I would recommend researching the specific school division that you are working in or interested in, as specific IEP information and documents are available through school division websites.

I’m only scratching the surface here. Take a look at the resources at the bottom of this post to view sample versions of IEPs as well. I found that reading through sample plans and objectives helped immensely.

Thanks for reading!

Works Cited:

Manitoba Education (2010). Student-specific planning: A handbook for developing and implementing individual education plans (IEPs). Retrieved from: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/iep/

Resources:

• Manitoba Education IEP: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/iep/

• Understood.org (American organization: IEP information for educators and parents) https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/ieps/understanding-individualized-education-programs

• Prairie Rose School Division IEP information: http://www.prsdmb.ca/programs/student-services/individualized-education-plan/

• IEP samples in Manitoba: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/iep/samples.html

• “Tim”: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/iep/tim_int.html

• Specific IEP sample goals: http://www.bridges4kids.org/IEP/iep.goal.bank.pdf