Tips for Teachers
Addressing the IEP in General Education
General and special educators share the responsibility for ensuring that students with IEPs have adequate access to the curriculum
and sufficient instruction and practice on their individual IEP goals. Many opportunities to address these goals occur naturally in the
course of on-going general education instruction with the addition of individualized supports and/or instruction. In other cases,
extra opportunities to work on the goals need to be embedded. Ensure that individual needs are met requires collaboration
between general and special educators and careful planning.
1. Become familiar with students’ goals and identify opportunities to address them.
To ensure that students are getting ample opportunities to work on their goals and that supports are provided consistently, many
teachers find it helpful to create a matrix of each student’s goal and the subject area where that skill is addressed. To create such a
matrix:
 Create a separate matrix for each student, or one for the whole class if many students have similar goals
 Identify students by initials to ensure confidentiality when others review your planbook
 Consider all content areas where a skill can be taught/used (not just ELA and math)
Student : JB
IEP Goals
1. JB will increase comprehension
of a variety of printed materials to
90% accuracy as measured by
running records, IRI, anecdotal
data, observation, performance
assessment, etc.
2. JB will increase writing skills to
5th grade/proficiency level in the
area(s) of ideas and content,
organization, voice, vocabulary,
fluency and conventions as
measured by writing rubrics,
student self-evaluations, and
spelling inventory.
3. JB will increase ability to design,
use and communicate a variety of
mathematical strategies to solve 2
digit multiplication and division
problems as measured by 85% on
math tests, and performance on
student work.
Objectives
A. Review text to locate information and
clarify meaning by skimming, scanning,
reading carefully, and using other reading
strategies.
B. Use information from illustrations, tables of
contents, glossaries, indexes, headings, graphs,
charts, diagrams, and/or tables to assist in
comprehension of text.
A. Write clear, focused main ideas and
supporting details on a topic.
Language
Arts
Social
Studies
Math
Science
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
A. Determine appropriate operation and
apply to a variety of math problems
X
2 . Select specific teaching opportunities
Each objective will not be addressed in each subject area every day. As you plan lessons, identify the naturally-occurring
opportunities to work on the target skills. In some cases, it may be necessary to adapt assignments to embed
instruction and practice on specific skills (for example, if a student has an objective related to measurement and
converting units, a few problems applying this skills can be added to a math worksheet or science lab). Be sure to
document IEP skills being addressed in your lesson plans or a matrix or other record-keeping format.
Embedding the IEP in General Education
3. Provide specialized instruction and supplementary aids/services to promote
learning.
Once you have decided when you are going to teach the IEP goals, you must decide what special instruction the student
with an IEP will receive on the target skills; just receiving the same instruction as the rest of the class will not usually
allow the student to meet the goals. Consultation with the special educator will help you determine how to best assist
the student to move from his or her current level of performance to the goal level. Some examples are:
 Scaffolding is the gradual fade of teacher assistance (modeling of a technique) to increase student
independence . The degree and type of modeling required by an individual student is dependent upon the
achievement and ability levels of the student. The student may need the skill broken down into small steps that
can be mastered one at a time.
Gradually increasing the level of complexity of the task is another form of scaffolding. For example, you might
use text with a lower readibilty level to teach a skill like ‘scanning for main ideas,” then move the student to
grade-level text or introduce a math process using only whole numbers, then teach it with fractions one the
student masters the basic process.
 Graphic organizers and Note-Taking Guides give students a visual representation of concepts being studied and their
relationships to other concepts. Process guides provide explicit reminders of the steps involved in a skill (such as long
division or writing a paragraph).
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Pre-teaching and re-teaching. Introducing a student to a challenging skill before it is presented to the whole
class can allow the student to better understand the whole group instruction. Re-teaching solidifies
understanding, provides extra practice, and allows teachers to correct any misunderstanding. Presenting the
material in a different way (e.g., using manipulatives, visuals, videos, etc) may help the student grasp the
concept or skill.
Flexible Grouping is the use of small groups that change depending on the activity, student prior knowledge,
skill set, and interest level. Small groups can be used for pre-teaching, re-teaching, extra practice, to present
material in different ways, and for enrichment. Using heterogeneous groups allow for students to help one
another while homogeneous groups work better if you need to target a specific skill with a particular group of
students. Any student who needs this extra instruction can be in the group, regardless of if they have a
disability. Make sure you do not always group students with IEPs in the same group to avoid recreating a
separate class within a class.
Tiering of Instruction is used to ensure all students focus on essential understandings and skills, but at different
levels of abstractness, complexity, and open-endedness. By keeping the focus of the activity the same, but
providing different routes of access at varying degrees of difficulty, the teacher maximizes the likelihood that
each student comes away with pivotal skills and understandings and that everyone is appropriately challenged.
More Information and Resources:
http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers
http://www.k8accesscenter.org/index.php/category/differentiated-instruction/
http://mcieinclusiveschools.org/olms/output/page_resource.php?pageID=12221&resourceID=3702
http://differentiationdaily.com/
http://eht.k12.nj.us/~Jonesj/Differentiated%20Instruction/1%20DI%20Strategies.htm
http://www.paulakluth.com/
Inclusive Practices and Co-Teaching
BCPS/MCIE 2011