What should happen at an end of year IEP meeting?
IEP meetings happen throughout the year– your child’s “annual” IEP date (marked on the top of the IEP) may be anytime during the school year, and an annual meeting is required to be held by that date. Quarterly progress reports on IEP goals should be sent to you every quarter. Most school districts send these reports with report cards. Remember that for each IEP year– which may or may not line up with the school year– there must be 4 quarters of reports, regardless of when they are sent or when report cards come out. The 4th quarter report is the most important, because it should indicate whether the student met each goal for the whole IEP year (but you may have to do some advocacy to get this report documented correctly). At the end of the school year, or at the end of your IEP year, you should ask yourself or the IEP team the following questions:
1. Did my child meet her IEP goals for this quarter?
Your child’s special education team, including related service providers, should provide a progress report each quarter. The report should say “achieved,” “making progress,” “not making sufficient progress,” or “not yet introduced” for each goal. In most cases, the team will say the child is “making progress.” You have the right to know how much progress in objective terms. The description in the progress report should include data. Data are numbers in almost every case. If the data or progress report doesn’t make sense to you– ask questions– you have a right to be an active part of the IEP team and therefore need to know this. Also, we often find that the progress report does not provide enough objective data, and then it’s time to ask more questions. Of course, to provide accurate progress data, the IEP goal and objective must be written correctly. Not sure whether your goals are written in a way that will allow good progress monitoring? It might be time to get some outside help. If the report says “Achieved,” the right question is whether a new goal should replace it in that area of need or whether it is no longer an area of need. Again, you can only make this determination if you have objective data.
2. Did my child meet her IEP goals this YEAR?
Assuming this is an annual review, and your child’s IEP year is ending, you absolutely MUST know whether your child met the IEP goals for the YEAR. Very often, teams will report progress for each quarter, but NOT update the “making progress to achieve goal” comment for the end of the year (although this is critical information for developing next year’s IEP). This is just a drop down on their on-line form that needs to be updated to either “achieved” or “did not meet.” Insist that the team tell you whether the goal was met or not met for the year. Ask to see the data to support that determination if it is not in the progress report. Ask where in the record this is documented. Be sure to get and keep that final 4th quarter progress report and that whatever is reported is documented in the meeting minutes (Prior Written Notice). I cannot repeat this often enough. I almost never see final goals marked “did not meet.” Instead, the team MEANS that your child did not meet the goal by leaving the comment marked “making progress to meet goal.” “Making progress” at the END OF THE YEAR actually means “did not meet.” It is critically important that you document properly that the student didn’t meet that goal. This will come back to be very important as you monitor long term progress.
3. What will be done about annual goals that my child did not meet?
If the team says your child did not meet a goal, the goal might need to be carried over to the next IEP. Carrying over an IEP goal is OK– it can help parents and educators keep track of how long the child has been working on the skill. In fact, if you don’t carry it over, the fact that the student didn’t meet the goal will just get lost– that’s one of the reasons it is so important to do accurate documentation. However, something must change in order to address the failure to meet the goal. What else about the IEP is the team going to change for the coming year so more progress is made? More services? Different services? A different service model? If your child did not meet one or more IEP goals this year, be sure you are asking the IEP team these questions.
4. Has the IEP team documented the progress or concerns noted by current teachers?
It is important to get classroom teachers’ opinions as to your child’s progress to the IEP team for documentation. Often only one of the teachers will be present at an IEP meeting. Find out what other teachers think. Written progress reports are a possibility. Don’t forget that next year you may have all new teachers, or even a new school. This year’s teachers spent 9 months learning about your child – make sure that information is communicated to the team and documented, usually in the “Prior Written Notice, or in the “Present Levels” section of the IEP. You may have heard from a teacher that your child was having trouble in one particular class. Make sure that the teacher’s thoughts are documented. It is very easy for information to get lost year to year as staff change or your child changes schools. Speaking of changing schools, if you are in a transition year (like middle to high school), you should be offered a transition meeting where someone representing the new school’s special education team is present to learn about your child.
Keep in mind that you can request and the team must hold IEP meetings at any point in the school year. You do not have to wait until your annual meeting to discuss problems, and you shouldn’t! Ask for a meeting if you have concerns. Lastly, summer meetings ARE allowed. Not every teacher is available, but there are staff that work all year round, and those people can hold an IEP meeting for you. If there is an issue that needs to be resolved so that your student can have a smooth transition into the new school year, a summer meeting is appropriate and should be granted by the IEP team.
This blog post is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you think you need assistance with your child’s education program, you can schedule a quick call here.