Standards-Based IEPs

Standards-Based IEPs Module 1: IEP Overview – A Plan for Guiding Instruction and Service Provision

Product vs. Process • Product: • An individualized plan reasonably calculated to result in educational benefit (FAPE) • Process: • Planning to determine what is needed for student to benefit from education

IEP Development Process Desired Outcomes/ Instructional Results General Curriculum Expectations Developing PLAAFP Statements Area of Instructional Need PLAAFP Statements on IEP Form Current Skills and Knowledge Implement & Monitor Progress Select Instructional Services & Program Supports Write Measurable Goals

IEP Development: a “GPS” • You: • Know where you want to go • Enter data about where you are • Create a map • Adjust to opportunities/barriers • Arrive and choose a new long-term goal

Planning: Two Critical Components • Knowing where you want to go • Using data as the basis

Assumptions • Good IEPs are: • Reasonably calculated to result in educational benefit • Connected to state standards as a fundamental component to educational benefit

Assumptions • Good IEPs are: • Dependent upon knowledge of curriculum/effective practice • Not an isolated event • Consistent with regulation/best practice

The “I” in IEP • Requires: • Consideration of individualized data/needs • Different goals for different students based on needs

Reflect & Note: Activity 1.1 • Why: • Are standards important? • Should we consider them? • Standards-Based IEPs?

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) • Added accountability by requiring: • Demonstrated progress on state standards • Assessment on grade-level standards • Students with disabilities as a reported subgroup

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) “…meet the child's needs . . . to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum . . . ” 34 CFR 300.320(a)(2)(i)(A)

ESEA/IDEA Intersect • Successful educational outcomes for all students • Statewide Assessment Accountability for all students • Consequences for not assessing all students • Access to the general curriculum is essential to closing the achievement gap and reaching Annual Measurable Objectives (AMO)

Ultimately… “ It means that all our kids, even the ones our system calls ‘hard to teach’ can learn.” -Rod Paige, former Secretary of Education “Ready means ‘never’ if we continuously focus on the lowest-level skills.” -Maggie McLaughlin, Autumn 2009

In Your Own Words… Activity 1.2 • Finish this sentence: • Standards-Based IEPs are important because…

Accessing the General Education Curriculum • What is meant by the general education curriculum? • The full range of courses, activities, lessons, and materials routinely used by the general population • What is meant by access? • Participation in the knowledge and skills that make up the general education curriculum

Access to the General Education Curriculum for Students with Disabilities ACCESS is not: • Students with disabilities sitting in the general education classroom completing work that is unrelated to the grade-level standards. • Students with disabilities sitting in the general education classroom exposed to content that is out of their reach.

Access to the General Education Curriculum for Students with Disabilities • It is essential to determine how students with disabilities will participate in the content of the general education curriculum. • The student’s strengths provide the best information to determine how the student can access the knowledge and skills of the general education curriculum.

Standards Drive Curriculum • Provide instructional accountability • Drive general education content instruction • Support instruction in the least restrictive environment • Define the expectations of all students with or without disabilities • Create a structure for linking the IEP to the general curriculum

Why Connect IEPs to Standards? • High stakes accountability, performance goals and indicators • IDEA – access to the general curriculum • Essential for closing the achievement gap • Promotes a single system of education – inclusion and a common language • Encourages greater consistency across schools and districts • It’s best for kids – assumes more, not less

Think and Discuss Activity 1.3 • How are you using the standards in your school to shape your curriculum and instruction? • How are you using the standards to develop IEP goals?

Connecting IEPs to Standards… • Does not mean – • Writing goals that restate the standards • Using the academic standards alone to determine goals • Assuming that every student will work only on grade-level content

Connecting IEPs to Standards… • Does mean – • Referring to standards to determine expectations at grade level • Using the standards as a guide to determine what is important for the student to learn or be able to do • Conducting an analysis to determine gap between grade expectations and current skills/knowledge

What is a Standards-Based IEP? • A process and a document (product) that is framed by the state standards to ensure instructional accountability for each student with an exceptionality. • A plan that contains goals individually designed to facilitate the student’s achievement of grade-level state standards. • The cornerstone of access to the general education curriculum for students with exceptionalities.

General Steps: 1. Consider the grade-level content standards • Examine benchmarks • Discuss expected knowledge and skills • Consider prerequisite knowledge and skills 2. Examine student data to determine where student is in relation to grade-level standards • Compare expectations with student’s current instructional level • Gap Analysis

Standards-Based IEPs: Review and Wrap-up • Content is determined through planning process • Development is like using a GPS

Standards-Based IEPs: Review & Wrap-up • Depend on good data from multiple sources • Start with discussion about the desired outcome • Include vision with parent and student as a source of data • Determine instructional need(s) by a gap analysis • Include data from comprehensive evaluation as one source of data

Process of Developing Standards-Based IEPs Determine general education curriculum expectations • NxGCSOs/Support for SB-IEPs (ELA, Math) • NxGECEs/Community Readiness • Unwrap the Standards Identify current skills, knowledge and area(s) of instructional need • What is the big picture? • Which are most important? • Which are critical needs? • Develop student data profile Conduct data/gap analysis and develop impact statement • Review student data profile • Review Grade-Level CSOs • Review Learning Progressions • Determine Gap • Where student is and where student needs to go

Develop Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance • Collect Data • Identify Strengths • Identify Needs • Develop Impact Statement Choose content standard and objective(s) • What standard(s) and objective(s) best address the gap? • What standard(s) and objective(s) are critical for accelerating student learning? • Develop 4-Point Goal • In what length of time (Timeframe) • Under what context (Conditions) • The student (Who) - Will do what (Behavior) • Through what assessment (Evaluation) - To what degree/level (Criterion) • Accommodations/Modifications/Specially Designed Instruction Write measurable goals and objectives

High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

Activity 1.4

Which Came First? Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance Standard

Standards-Based IEPs