Strategies for Building Strong and Compliant IEPs

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Strategies for Building Strong and Compliant IEPs

• Generating Annual Measurable Goals

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Acknowledgements

• Some of the material in this presentation is
• from
• IDEA 2004 and accompanying regulations
• NICHCYs Building the Legacy A Training
  Curriculum on IDEA 2004
• Massachusetts Department of Education. (2005,
  September). Implementation guide. Retrieved
  December 12, 2006 from http// www.doe.mass.edu/sp
  ed/IDEA2004/spr_meetings/iep.html
• Nebraska Department of Education (1998).
  Measurable annual goals, benchmarks, and
  short-term objectives. In Setting goalsachieving
  results Nebraska IEP technical assistance guide.
  Lincoln, NE Author. (Available online at
  http//www.nde.state.ne.us/SPED/iepproj/index.html
  )

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Advance organizer

• Explore the rationale
• Examine the law
• Discuss how to implement the law
• Practices
• Documentation
• Engage in practice activities
• Review next steps

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The Rationale
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What is the purpose and intent of annual
measurable goals?

• They provide a road map, originating with the
  PLAAFP, illustrating the direction the child
  will be heading and what the child or young
  person will be working on during the year,
  academically and functionally.

NICHCY, December 2007
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The Law
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C.F.R. 300.320(a)(2) Definition of individualized
education program, Statement of measurable annual
goals including academic and functional goals.

• (a) General. As used in this part, the term
  individualized education
• program or IEP means a written statement for each
  child with a
• disability that is developed, reviewed, and
  revised in a meeting in
• accordance with Sec. Sec.  300.320 through
  300.324, and that must
• include--   
• (2)(i) A statement of measurable annual goals,
  including academic and functional goals designed
  to--   
• (A) Meet the child's needs that result from the
  child's disability to enable the child to be
  involved in and make progress in the general
  education curriculum and   
• (B) Meet each of the child's other educational
  needs that result from the child's disability   
  
• (ii) For children with disabilities who take
  alternate assessments aligned to alternate
  achievement standards, a description of
  benchmarks or short-term objectives

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C.F.R. 300.320(a)(3) Definition of individualized
education program, Progress toward meeting the
annual goals.

• (a) General. As used in this part, the term
  individualized education
• program or IEP means a written statement for each
  child with a
• disability that is developed, reviewed, and
  revised in a meeting in
• accordance with Sec. Sec.  300.320 through
  300.324, and that must
• include--   
• (3) A description of--   
• (i) How the child's progress toward meeting the
  annual goals described in paragraph (2) of this
  section will be measured and   
• (ii) When periodic reports on the progress the
  child is making toward meeting the annual goals
  (such as through the use of quarterly or other
  periodic reports, concurrent with the issuance of
  report cards) will be provided

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C.F.R. 300.324(b) Development, review, and
revision of IEP,  Review and revision of IEPs.

• (b) Review and revision of IEPs--(1) General.
  Each public agency
• must ensure that, subject to paragraphs (b)(2)
  and (b)(3) of this
• section, the IEP Team--   
• (i) Reviews the child's IEP periodically, but
  not less than annually, to determine whether the
  annual goals for the child are being achieved
  and   
• (ii) Revises the IEP, as appropriate, to
  address--   
• (A) Any lack of expected progress toward the
  annual goals described in Sec.  300.320(a)(2),
  and in the general education curriculum, if
  appropriate   
• (B) The results of any reevaluation conducted
  under Sec.  300.303   
• (C) Information about the child provided to, or
  by, the parents, as described under Sec. 
  300.305(a)(2)   
• (D) The child's anticipated needs or   
• (E) Other matters.

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Documenting Annual Measurable Goal Requirements
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Use the IEP form to guide your practices and meet
requirements of the law.

• On the RECIX IEP Form this information will be
  documented in the following section
• Measurable Annual Goals

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What is an annual measurable goal?

• A goal is a measurable statement that describes
  what a child is reasonably?expected to accomplish
  from the specialized educational program during
  the?school year.
• An IEP team may consider the following questions
  as they write goals
• What does the child need to learn or do
  academically?
• What does the child need to learn or do
  functionally?
• Whats reasonable to achieve in a year?
• Can you measure whether or not the child has
  reached the goal?

NICHCY, December 2007
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Annual goals are meaningful.

• There is direct correlation between the students
  annual goal(s) and their Present Level of
  Academic Achievement and Functional Performance.
• The goal(s) are determined through an
  individualized process. Goal(s) addresses the
  priority needs for the student.
• The goal(s) clearly states the target knowledge,
  skill or behavior.
• The goal(s) is challenging and ensures high
  standards but is seen as one that can be
  reasonably achieved in one year.

Nebraska Department of Education, 1998
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Annual goals are measurable.

• The behavior, knowledge or skill the team wants
  the student to learn is clearly stated and and be
  measured or can be observed team clearly
  documents what one will see if the student has
  reached the goal(s).
• The actual starting point or baseline is known
  and stated (in goal or PLAAFP).

Nebraska Department of Education, 1998
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Annual goals are able to be monitored.

• Goal(s) include evaluation strategies and
  criteria. Does the IEP state how will the
  students performance, resulting from
  instruction, be documented?

Nebraska Department of Education, 1998
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Annual goals are useful in making decisions.

• Data collection/performance monitoring and data
  reporting are helpful in determining the
  effectiveness of an IEP and in related problem
  solving.

Nebraska Department of Education, 1998
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Other considerations when writing annual goals.

• The goal(s) can be understood, implemented and
  evaluated by another the goal(s) pass the
  stranger test.
• The goal(s) pass the so what test.
• Language used is clear and vague terms are not
  used.

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Writing an annual measurable goalWhat needs to
be there?

• Goals should at a minimum answer the following
  basic questions
• Who will achieve?
• What skill or behavior?
• To what criteria? How much, how often, standards
  of the behavior.
• Where in what setting or under what conditions?
• When by what time? An ending date?

NICHCY, 2007
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Examining goals in the context of the whole IEP,
a team should consider

• Is the goal aligned with the students PLAAFP?
• Is the goal aligned with the student and familys
  vision?
• Is the goal practical and relevant to the
  students academic, social and vocational needs?
• Is the goal practical and relevant when the
  students age and remaining years in school are
  considered?
• Does the goal reflect appropriate growth within
  the instructional area?
• Can the goal be accomplished within one year?

from www.spedforms.com/goals/criteria.html
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Goals typically address student needs in academic
and functional domains such as

• Reading (e.g., vocab, fluency, phonics,
  comprehension)
• Writing (e.g., spelling, punctuation, sentences,
  paragraphs)
• Math
• Communication (listening, speaking)
• Physical development
• Motor skills
• Vocational skills

• Cognitive processing (e.g., memory,
  problem-solving, attention)
• Organization
• Social skills
• Play skills
• Visual perception
• Auditory perception
• Behavior
• Career and community living skills

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Caution! Annual Goals

• should not
• restate the general education curriculum
• address areas that are not affected by the
  students disability

• generally do not
• address specific subject areas such as social
  studies, art and English

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Examples of academic goals

• Given sample passages of at least 200 words or
  more from high school level textbooks, Michelle
  will read grade levels materials at an average
  rate of 100 words per minute with 98 accuracy or
  better in word identification.
• In 36 weeks John will write at least a six
  sentence paragraph using at least three different
  sentence types scoring 45/50 on the writing
  rubric.

NICHCY, 2007
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Examples of functional goals

• In 32 weeks, across all settings, Ian will
  identify 20 major warning words and symbols
  (e.g., Stop, Poison, Danger, Hazard, etc.) with
  95 accuracy and will identify appropriate
  actions to take when these words are seen with
  100 accuracy.
• In 32 weeks, when a grocery item or items are
  needed, Marlo will go shopping at the grocery
  store, pay for her purchases using the nearest
  dollar strategy and count change (-1.00), on
  three consecutive trips to the store.

NICHCY, 2007
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Annual Measurable GoalsBenchmarks or short-term
objectives

• The requirement for pairing of short term
  objective or benchmarks with annual goals was
  removed with the 2004 Ammendments to IDEA.
• EXCEPT for students with disabilities who take
  alternative assessment, you must have short term
  objectives.

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Evaluation procedures to measure student progress

• These identify the method that will be used to
  measure progress and determine if the student has
  met the objective or benchmark.
• An evaluation procedure must provide an objective
  method in which the student s behavior will be
  measured or observed.
• Examples structured observations of targeted
  behavior in class student self-monitoring
  checklist written tests audio-visual
  recordings behavior charting work samples.

Source Unknown
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Measuring progress in annual measurable goals

• An IEP team might ask,
• How will the childs progress be measured?
• When will the childs progress be measured?
• How well will the child need to perform in order
  to achieve his or her stated IEP goals (and for
  some children, benchmarks or objectives)?

NICHCY, December 2007
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You can make goals measurable by

• specifying a grade or age level performance if
  that grade or age level performance is clear or
  definable through district standards or other
  curriculum or through known scope and sequence
  materials, developmental materials, or through
  testing materials.
• indicating a rate, for example, 3 out of 4 times,
  80 of the time, 5 minutes out of every 10, 75
  success.
• defining the factors surrounding the behavior
  (e.g., precipitating events, such as, "when asked
  to work independently," or environmental factors,
  such as, "when dealing with female authority
  figures," or other patterns, such as "always
  after lunch," "in math class," "on the
  playground."
• identifying the results of the behavior (e.g.,
  "Removal from the classroom has increased this
  behavior." )

Source Unknown
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Reporting progress in IEPs

• On the IEP parents of a child with a disability
  must be informed of their childs progress at
  least as often as parents of nondisabled
  children is NO longer the law.
• Progress may be provided (examples in the law)
• quarterly
• along with report cards
• You must state the times, manner and format of
  these reports. This is determined by the team.
• Progress toward goals should be in the Annual
  Review Meeting.

NICHCY, December 2007
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Suggested criteria for Measurable Annual Goals
Reporting progress in progress reports

• Your progress notes/reports should respond to the
  following questions
• Specify what the student has been working on.
• List what the student has achieved.
• Indicate any stumbling blocks to progress.
• Project whether the student will reach the annual
  goal if progress continues at its current pace.
• Refinements to existing in class strategies to
  address any lack of progress. And if not
  recommendations to reconvene the IEP Team to
  revise the IEP.

Massachusetts Department of Education, 2001
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Rationale for measuring progress

• Helps inform intervention
• Helps inform parents
• Essential though to identifying when an IEP needs
  to be adjusted

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Practice Activities
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Activity Reviewing Your Annual Goals

• Work individually, in a pair or a small group.
• Using the provided criteria and the Reviewing
  Your Measurable Annual Goals Worksheet, review
  the goals in an IEP for a student in your school
  and document your findings and suggestions on the
  form.
• Be prepared to share your impressions with others.

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Activity Writing Annual Measurable Goals

• Work individually, in a pair or a small group.
• Using the provided criteria and the Writing
  Annual Measurable Goals Worksheet, write an
  annual goal for a student you know well. Then use
  the criteria provided to assess the completeness
  of your goal.
• Be prepared to share your work with others.

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Activity Documenting and reporting progress

• Work individually, in a pair or a small group.
• Using the Documenting and Reporting Progress
  Worksheet, generate answers to the questions
  based on the goal you drafted in the previous
  activity to draft a progress monitoring and
  reporting plan.
• Be prepared to share your work with others.

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Next Steps
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The challenge

• Use new skills in future IEP meetings!
• Remember it is all about doing and documenting
  what is best for students and supports positive
  outcomes.

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What questions do you have?
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Contact for additional support

• Region IX Education Cooperative
• 1400 Sudderth Dr.
• Ruidoso, NM 88345
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• recix_at_recixnm.org

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Wrapping it up

• Please complete the evaluation form and return to
  the RECIX office.
• Thank you!