Standards-Based IEPs
M. Pleshette Smith
Office of Special Education
Division of Technical Assistance
Beginning with the reauthorization of IDEA in 1997,
significant Federal legislation was passed that
dramatically changed how states and local
education agencies function.
• Accountability for student learning became
foremost in Federal regulations.
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• IDEA reauthorization 1997
• Access to, participation and progress in the general
education curriculum
• No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
• Aligned system of standards and assessments
• Accountability for all students
• IDEA 2004 and 2007
• National Standards Movement
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In the last decade, Federal legislation has focused
on two major assumptions related to teaching and
learning.
• Special Education students have the right to be
taught with the same high standards expected for all
students.
• All students must be provided opportunities to learn
the general education curriculum.
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Challenges to State and Local Education Agencies
(LEAs)
• Change the way educators think about instruction for
special education students.
• Raise expectations for students’ learning.
• Provide access to grade-level content standards.
• Plan, teach, and assess students so that they can
participant and make progress in the general
education curriculum.
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A standards-based IEP is “a process and
document that is framed by the State
standards and that contains goals aligned
with, and chosen to facilitate, the student’s
achievement of State grade-level academic
standards.”
NASDSE Project Forum “Standards-based IEPs: Implementation in Selected States” (Ahearn, 2006)
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Traditional IEP
Standards-based IEP
• Discussion of
student strengths
and weaknesses
• Review existing
formal and informal
evaluation data
identifying student’s
areas of need
• Discussion of (Present Level of
Academic Achievement/Functional
Performance) PLAAFP within context
of enrolled grade-level standards
• Identify skills possessed by student
that will allow/support (all standards
are not created equal) their access to
enrolled grade-level curriculum.
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Traditional IEP
Standards-based IEP
• Goals and objectives
focus on basic
developmental and
functional skills,
typically written based
on curriculum at the
student’s functional
level without specific
links to enrolled
grade- level
curriculum standards
and therefore,
designed to close skill
gaps.
• Determine skills student needs to acquire
in order to achieve enrolled grade-level
standards based upon evaluations and
other information.
• Goal and objectives focus on identifying
accommodations/strategies and supports
that will be necessary to allow student
access to enrolled grade-level
curriculum. Goals and objectives might
be linked to pre-requisite skills. They are
designed not only to support skill gaps,
but also to close the achievement gap
between functional and enrolled gradelevel curriculum.
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• Ties the IEP to the general education curriculum.
• Provides positive direction and goals for intervention.
• Utilizes standards to identify specific content critical to a
student's successful progress in the general education
curriculum.
• Promotes a single educational system that is inclusive
through common language and curriculum for special
and general education students.
• Ensures greater consistency across schools and
districts.
• Encourages higher expectations for students with
disabilities.
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Does a Standard-Based IEP imply that the student
is on grade-level in that content area?
Standards-Based IEP State-Directed Project- Virginia Department of Education
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No, the student may not be on grade-level in that
content area. However, they are working toward
meeting grade-level expectations and are receiving
grade-level content instruction. The IEP should
address what needs to happen in order for the
student to meet the standards. Once the IEP team
has analyzed the student’s current performance and
determined what the student needs to learn, the
specialized instruction, related services and supports
should be addressed.
Standards-Based IEP State-Directed Project- Virginia Department of Education
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• Equitable access and progress in the
general education curriculum
• Standards aligned accountability
• Goals and objectives linked to standards
• Statewide assessments based on
standards
• Educational benefit rather than compliance
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Base the student’s IEP on grade-level content
standards to:
• Provide opportunities to learn the same content
learned by general education students;
• Address the unique needs presented by the student’s
disability; and
• Emphasize access through analysis of the student’s
disability and how it will impact learning.
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The following data is not all inclusive and/or limited
to:
• Informal classroom assessments
• Statewide assessments
• Authentic performance task
• Criterion based evaluations
• Curriculum-based assessments
• Work samples
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The essential skills in the grade-level
Curriculum Frameworks/Standards that are
primarily being affected by the student’s
disability and whether the data is indicative of
student performance, what the data indicates
about student leaning and how data can be
utilized to determine future needs, students and
parent input, and what does previous IEPs and
progress monitoring data suggest about the
student’s performance.
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What steps do IEP Teams need to follow to
develop effective standards-based IEPs?
• Collect and examine materials for making databased IEP decisions.
• Analyze data to develop the student profile.
• Use data to summarize the present level.
• Write annual goals
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Collect and examine materials for making data-based
IEP decisions.
• Courses of study and/or curriculum guides
• Current assessments data
•
•
•
•
State Assessments
Classroom assessments (curriculum-based)
Eligibility data (if current and related to learning the standards
Universal Screeners
• Student work samples
• Previous year’s IEP
• Other information (e.g., grades, discipline referrals,
attendance reports)
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Analyze data to develop the student profile.
• The profile should include general statements
regarding:
• Strengths
• Needs
• How the disability affects involvement/progress in
the general education curriculum
• Assessment/Evaluation
• Status of prior IEP goals
• Teacher/Parent/Student input
• Transition needs (at least by age 14)
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Use data to summarize the present level.
• The present level answers the question:
“What is the student doing now?”
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• Describe the skills the student demonstrates.
• Describe how the student performs compared
to expectations in the general education
curriculum (how wide is the gap).
• Describe the skills the students needs to learn
this year in order to narrow/close the gap.
• Describe how the student performs in the
classroom/school environment.
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• Describe effective accommodations that
support this student.
• Describe the student’s interest and
preferences that are motivators.
• Identify what you will measure to assess
progress and collect baseline data
(measureable/observable data).
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Purposes
• To provide a summary of baseline information that
indicates the student’s academic achievement
(focuses on student’s learning/progressing in the
general curriculum)
• To identify current functional performance (focuses on
student accessing the general curriculum)
• To provide an explanation of how the disability affects
the student’s involvement/progress in participating in
the general curriculum
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Characteristics
•
•
•
•
Standards-centered
Data-driven
Understandable
Measureable
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Components
• Strengths
• Needs
• How the student’s disability affects performance in the
general education curriculum (for preschool children,
how the disability affects the child’s participation in
age-appropriate activities.)
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Strengths
• Student’s response to:
•
•
•
•
Learning Strategies
Accommodations
Interventions
Standards Instruction
Ask…What have we learned about this student’s
strengths?
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Needs
• Focus on needs that affect progress in the general
education curriculum
Ask…What prerequisite skills/knowledge does the
student need to close the gap between his/her
present level and the grade-level content
standards?
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How the disability affects performance?
• Consider how the student’s disability affects progress
in learning the grade-level content standards
Example:
Tasha’s difficulties retrieving information may
negatively impact her progress in achieving
reading standards that include synonyms,
antonyms, and multiple-meaning words.
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DO NOT use the student’s exceptionality to explain
how the disability affects involvement/progress in
the general curriculum!
• Example of what NOT to write
Mark’s learning disability affects his progress in the general
curriculum.
• Example of what to write
Mark’s weakness in applying strategies, such as making
inferences and making complex predictions, affect his progress
in comprehending sixth grade literary materials.
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Subject
Grade-level
Content standard
Objective
Standard R 4.3
Use a wide range of strategies
including distinguishing fiction
from nonfiction and making
inferences, to comprehend fourthgrade recreational reading
materials in a variety of genres.
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R 4.3.4
Draw conclusions
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Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional
Performance
Classroom assessments indicate that
Jennifer can use details and examples to
draw conclusions (R 4.3.4) from gradeIncludes
level reading passages. She experiences
Assessment
difficulty synthesizing ideas from reading
passages and drawing inferences (R 4.3).
Includes Strengths Jennifer’s difficulty with abstract
and Weaknesses
reasoning may negatively impact her
understanding and drawing inferences
How Disability
from text.
Standards-Based
Impacts Learning
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Remember…
The present level of academic achievement
and functional performance sets the stage
for developing IEP goals!
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Write annual goals
• Purpose
• To describe what a student can reasonably
expect to accomplish in one school year
• Annual Goals answer the question
“What should the student be doing?”
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Annual goals are related to needs resulting
from the student’s disability that directly
affect involvement and progress in the
general education curriculum.
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• Not all standards are created equal!
• Select the most powerful standards to
address, such as those that will:
• Target foundational skills;
• Target high leverage skills; and
• Move the student closer to long-term goals.
Writing IEPs That Align to Common Core Standards by Carol Kosnitsky
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• If a large number of needs are identified in the
present level, the IEP Team must consider how
each need impacts the students’ progress in the
general education curriculum.
• Select the need that has the greatest impact on
progress, and develop a goal to address that
need.
Aligning IEPs to Common Core State Standards for Students with Moderate and Severe
Disabilities by authors Ginevra Countade and Diane Browder
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Consider content standards
• Look at all grade-level content standards
• Discuss intent of standard
• Determine which standards are most
important for each student (based on
progress in the general education curriculum)
• Compare standard(s) with student’s areas of
needs and the impact of the disability
• Use data to determine the areas that student
will find difficult without additional supports
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Remember…
• The IEP goal is NOT the content standard.
• Do not copy the content standard word for
word to become an IEP goal.
• The IEP goal is part of a plan to make the
content standard immediate and
individualized for the student.
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• Specific - based on the student’s Present Level of
Academic Achievement/Functional Performance
• Measurable - progress is objectively determined at
frequent data points
• Achievable - realistic, related to the most critical
needs
• Results - oriented-developed with a standards’
outcome in mind
• Time-bound - clearly defined beginning and ending
dates
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Curriculum and Instruction
IEPs
Eligibility
Teachers
Professional Development
Assessment
Areas of Continued Work
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“Coming together is a beginning;
Learning together is progress;
Working together is success.”
Henry Ford
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M. Pleshette Smith
mcsmith@mde.k12.ms.us
Desma McElveen
dmcelveen@mde.k12.ms.us
Tanya Bradley
tbradley@mde.k12.ms.us
Office of Special Education
Division of Technical Assistance
(601) 359-3498
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