The IEP

All About The IEP Article

This describes all the steps to developing and writing an IEP. It tells who is on the IEP development team, and when the team meets.

This article is also available in Spanish.
Here is a useful guide for parent's on the steps to an IEP as well as resources.

Here is an example of goals for an IEP:

Annual goals must be measurable and contain these 5 elements:

The student…(WHO)

Will do what...(BEHAVIOR) 

To what level or degree...(CRITERION) 

Under what conditions...(CONDITIONS) 

In what length of time...(TIMEFRAME)

Here is an example of a properly written goal that contains all of the elements above: • Jacob (WHO) will read 90 –110 words of connected text (CONDITION) per minute (BEHAVIOR) with 100% accuracy (CRITERION) at the end of 36 weeks (TIMEFRAME).

IEP Process

Source: Alabama statewide training on standards-based IEPs (January to March 2006)

Tips for Understanding Standard-based IEPs:

Tips for Parents:

• Provide expectations and concerns regarding your child’s school performance to the IEP team in a organized and concrete manner.

• Confirm that all information used to develop your child’s present level of performance is based on a variety of information that is objective and documented.

• Expect all language in the IEP to be clear, understandable, and focus on what your child can be expected to do, not what your child can’t do.

Tips for Teachers:

• Be familiar with the standards for the grade level you are teaching.

• Carefully consider the entire standard and decide if the student needs to master all of a particular standard or only part(s) of the standard.

• Analyze test results to determine the student’s present level of performance relative to the standards for his enrolled grade.

• Include the priorities and concerns of the student and the student’s parents.

• Define the student in terms that translate directly into instructional intervention.

• Document all data sources used to develop the student’s present level of performance.

Source: 
Understanding the Standards-based Individualized Education Program (IEP) National Center for Learning Disabilities • www.LD.org