IEP PROCESS GUIDE - Massachusetts Department of …

[Pages:30]IEP PROCESS GUIDE

June 2001

Massachusetts Department of Education address 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148 telephone 781-338-3000 internet doe.mass.edu

INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM

PROCESS GUIDE

Table of Contents

p Improving Student Outcomes

1

p Working Together

3

p About the Team Process

5

p Making an eligibility determination is

the first step in the process.

6

p Writing the IEP is

the second step in the process.

12

p Making a placement decision is

the third step in the process.

26

p Summary

28

Massachusetts Department of Education / June 2001

INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM

PROCESS GUIDE

IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES

Individualized Education Programs can improve student outcomes. The newly mandated Individualized Education Program (IEP) process and form is an important step forward in providing services to and improving outcomes for Massachusetts' students with disabilities. The revision has fostered collaboration and has linked sound practice with statutory and regulatory requirements. The clear intent of the revision is to ensure that all students are challenged to excel, progress within the general curriculum and are prepared for independence in adult life, including post-secondary education and/or employment.

Not since the inception of the Massachusetts State Special Education Statute in 1972 has such a comprehensive revision been undertaken. IDEA-97 and the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 set the stage and support this critical undertaking.

IDEA-97 leads educators to improve educational results. With the reauthorization of IDEA-97, the IEP process became unmistakably centered on these three key points:

? The involvement and progress of each child with a disability in the general curriculum including the addressing of the student's unique needs that are tied to the disability

? The involvement of parents, students, special educators and general educators in meeting the individualized educational needs of students with disabilities

? The critical need to prepare students with disabilities for independence and employment and other post-school activities.

IDEA-97 states that improving the educational results for children with disabilities is essential to ensuring equal opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic selfsufficiency.

Massachusetts Education Reform Act sets high standards for all. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 also set high standards for all students including students with disabilities. Education reform reinforces the need to assist all children to reach their full potentials and to lead lives as participants and contributors to the Commonwealth.

The Massachusetts IEP Process aligns with federal and state laws. Massachusetts educators' approach to individualized educational programming must be revitalized to reach the goals set by IDEA-97 and the Massachusetts Education Reform Act.

The following process guide will lead you through the revised IEP process as well as suggest sound practices. This guide should be reviewed along with mandated forms, notices and corresponding directions.

Massachusetts Department of Education / June 2001

1

Please read each section carefully and consider how you might begin today to change your current practices. We believe the revisions are comprehensive and intensive. We do not suggest a simple comparison with your current practice, but rather a full-scale rethinking of the process of finding a student eligible for special education and providing that student with appropriate services.

Other guides are available to assist you. The Massachusetts Department of Education is producing other guides that may assist in realigning current practices. You may find the following documents helpful:

Guide to Special Education Requirements

Parent Guide to Special Education (produced cooperatively between the Federation for Children with Special Needs and the Department of Education)

About This Guide:

We have designed this guide to be read and reviewed with its companion document, IEP Forms and Notices. We recommend a thorough reading of the IEP Process Guide before familiarizing yourself with the aforementioned companion document. IEP Forms and Notices, therefore, should be read following this guide. IEP Forms and Notices contains a quick reference sheet, form and notice directions and copies of the coded forms and coded notices. We believe that once you are familiar with the revised IEP process, you will more easily understand the use of the redesigned forms and notices.

We have graphically designed the two documents to help you easily cross reference one to the other. An icon has been developed to represent the three steps in the IEP Process. You will first see this icon on page five of this guide and then used repeatedly in IEP Forms and Notices. The icon becomes a visual link between form and notice use and the three steps of the IEP process described within this guide.

Additionally, we have used the codes from each form within this guide's section entitled About the Team Process. The codes, to the left of text, connect the process description to a specific form(s) or specific form section(s).

After your first thorough reading of IEP Process Guide and IEP Forms and Notices, you will be able to page through the guide while easily referencing specified form(s) or form section(s). Similarly, the icon will help you connect form and notice directions back to the process description found within this guide.

Massachusetts Department of Education / June 2001

2

WORKING TOGETHER

IDEA-97 emphasizes a collaborative approach. The IEP requirements under IDEA emphasize the importance of working cooperatively as a team. The law expects school districts to bring together parents, students, general educators and special educators to make important educational decisions for students with disabilities. With the combined knowledge and resources of these individuals, students will be assured greater support and subsequent success.

Parents are equal partners in the Team process. The Team process should be a collaborative process between parents, school staff members and other professionals. Parents have a unique and critically important perspective on their child's learning style, strengths and needs. The school staff should ensure that parents feel welcomed and comfortable when communicating with school staff and at all meetings.

Parents have the right to be involved in meetings that discuss the identification, evaluation, IEP development and educational placement of their children. The law ensures that parents and school personnel are equal partners in all steps during the Team process.

Every effort should be made to resolve differences between parents and school staff through informal measures. Respect parents' right to disagree while looking for common goals and interest between a parent's requests and the school's position. Make sure you listen carefully to all proposals and understand the major issues involved. Brainstorm possible alternative solutions and offer reasonable compromises keeping the needs of the student central to your discussions and your negotiated agreements.

The Team should always work toward consensus. However, school personnel ultimately have the responsibility to ensure that the IEP includes the services that the student needs. Schools districts are, by law, obligated to make a proposal to the parent. If agreement cannot be reached, the school district cannot delay in proposing the services that it believes are the best services to ensure that the student receives an effective education.

Suggested Practices:

? Send evaluation material home in advance asking parent to develop a list of questions and/or concerns.

? Contact parents in advance of the meeting to discuss their concerns. For instance, call them a day or two before the meeting to talk through their concerns or ask them to come in fifteen minutes before the start of the meeting. Let them know that you would be happy to relate their concerns if they would prefer.

? Provide parents a seating plan for the meeting or use name signs or nametags. ? Introduce and refer to all Team members in the same manner and by name not role. For

instance, if you refer to the child's science teacher as Mr. Smith, then the parent should be addressed as Mr. Jones not as dad or John. ? Establish methods for communication of general education and special education information with parents (e.g. newsletters, parent forums, training activities) ? Recruit parents who have children eligible for special education services to serve on school-wide parent groups.

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3

Student participation is important and, at times, required. Students should also be considered important members of Team meetings. As students get older, they should become more and more active within Team meetings with their interests and preferences determining the direction for the identified goals and services in the IEP. Supporting active student participation in the Team process assists students in developing selfdetermination skills. Such skills are necessary in adult life.

School districts must explain to students their rights including their right to attend Team meetings and the importance of the corresponding responsibilities. Students are invited to attend beginning at age 14 or younger if the purpose of the meeting is to discuss transitional services. If the student does not attend the meeting, the district must take other steps to ensure that the student's preferences and interests are considered.

Massachusetts law establishes age eighteen (18) as the age of majority. At that age, students are adults and competent to make their own decisions including decisions in relation to special education services. Therefore, the school district at the student's 18th birthday and in the absence of any court action to the contrary must seek the consent of the student to continue the special education program. To prepare students for assuming their own decision making, Teams must discuss the transfer of rights at least one year before students turn eighteen.

Suggested Practices:

? Teach students their civil rights. ? Develop students' self-advocacy skills. ? Have students lead their own Team meetings. ? Invite adult human service agency representatives to speak to student groups about

provided services and eligibility requirements.

General educators play a central role. With all students accessing the general education curriculum, general educators are vital participants in the development, review and revision of the IEP. As the experts on the general curriculum, their knowledge of the curriculum and how to modify the curriculum is vital to ensuring that a student participates in the general education environment and that a student makes progress in the general curriculum.

The general educator participates in the Team if the student is or may be participating in the general education environment. Although the general educator may not need to stay for the entire Team meeting or need to attend every Team meeting, IDEA-97 clearly includes general educators in the individualized decision-making process.

Suggested Practices:

? Have teacher assessment forms address a student's progress in the curriculum standards. ? Include general educators in professional development on special education topics. ? Provide routine opportunities for general and special educators to work together on lesson

planning and curriculum development.

Massachusetts Department of Education / June 2001

4

ABOUT THE TEAM PROCESS

The Team process has three important, integrated steps. Under IDEA-97, the IEP process is a focal point for reaching improved outcomes for students with disabilities. The process, critically important to children with disabilities, must be carefully managed to ensure that the unique needs of the student are addressed and to ensure full compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

The Team has three important and integrated activities to manage. Each is of equal importance and interdependent on the quality of the other.

1. Eligibility determination: The Team must first determine whether a child is eligible for special education services. This determination starts with the careful and thorough evaluation of the child in all areas of suspected disabilities.

2. Development of the IEP: Next, if the Team has found the student eligible for special education, the elements of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) must be discussed, planned and then captured in a written document. Input from parents, the student, general educators and special educators is necessary to complete this service contract that sets high expectations for a student and then guides that student's special education services for the next year.

3. Placement decision. Once all the elements of the IEP are determined, including services and supports, a placement decision must be made. The first placement option considered for each student with a disability must be the general education classroom with the provision of needed aids and services. The law requires that students do not get placed outside of the general education classroom unless their disability requires another setting. The Team must always consider the unique needs of the student before making the final placement determination.

The guide discusses these three activities separately to clearly describe each area. However, most often, these activities will occur within a single meeting for students who are found eligible for special education.

Eligibility Determination

I E P

P

R

IEP Development

O

C

E

S

Placement

About the Icon:

The icon was designed to visually represent the three steps of the IEP process. The icon is fully shaded when we refer to the process in its entirety. When we refer to a specific part or parts of the process, only the referred to section(s) of the icon is shaded.

The icon is found in this section of the guide and in direction sections of IEP Forms and Notices. The icon will help you connect the process description to form and notice directions and form and notice use.

Massachusetts Department of Education / June 2001

5

Making an eligibility determination is the first step in the process.

To make an eligibility determination, the school district in consultation with the parent(s) must decide how best to evaluate the student. The Team's decision in regards to eligibility is based on the evaluation results.

Districts should take positive steps to promote responsive school environments. All schools are required to have sound instructional practices and instructional supports that are responsive to the needs of all students. A variety of practices and supports should be tried and the results of each attempted strategy should be documented and placed in the student's record. If a student is subsequently evaluated to determine special education eligibility, documentation of instructional supports that have been tried should be made available for review by the Team when determining eligibility. No instructional support program or any other intervention, however, limits the right of a parent to refer a student for a special education evaluation.

An initial evaluation must be completed to determine eligibility. A parent or any person in a caregiving or professional position concerned that a student may have a disability or concerned about a student's development may refer a student for an initial evaluation for purposes of determining whether the student needs special education. Special words need not be used in making a referral. Upon receipt of a referral of a student for an initial evaluation to determine eligibility for special education, the school district must send notice to the parent and must seek the parent's consent to conduct an evaluation in compliance with 603 C.M.R. ?28.04(1). Where appropriate, the school district may also provide the parent and any other person making the referral with information concerning other supportive services that may better suit a particular student's needs.

Within thirty school days of receiving the parent's consent, the school district must evaluate the referred student in compliance with 603 C.M.R. ?28.04(2). A school district may not refuse to evaluate a student who has been referred for evaluation as set forth above, on the basis of a pre-referral program or in order to try other instructional support activities or for any other reason. In accordance with G.L. c. 71B, ?2, second paragraph (as amended, effective January 1, 2001), prior to referral by the school district of a student, the principal of the student's school shall ensure that all efforts have been made to meet such student's needs within the regular education program, but such efforts shall not be construed to limit or condition the right to refer a student for evaluation.

Note: The state special education law, at G.L. c. 71B, ?3, fifth paragraph, provides that the school district is not required to refer a student for evaluation solely because the student presents a risk of or fails to be promoted at the end of a school year, or solely because the student has failed statewide assessment tests (MCAS). Further, G.L. c. 71B, ?1, provides that no student shall be determined to be eligible for special education solely because the student's behavior violates the school's disciplinary code or solely because the student has failed the MCAS.

Evaluation of all areas related to the suspected disability is required. Evaluation of a student in all areas of suspected disability is one critical aspect of the needed evaluative information. The evaluation process should be sufficiently comprehensive and child driven. No single procedure should be used as the sole criterion

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