EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
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United States Department of Education
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Significant Guidance Document
Aligning IEPs with State’s Academic Content Standards
November 16, 2015
Key Provisions
A.
Overview
1. IDEA ensures that SWD receive FAPE. This includes setting high expectations for SWD by
providing them meaningful access to State’s academic content areas.
2. IEPs must be aligned with State’s academic content standards for the student’s grade placement.
3. SWD can learn grade-level content and make significant academic progress with appropriate
instruction, services and supports.
4. Having low expectations for SWD leads to less challenging instruction and below grade-level
content standards. This paradigm prevents SWD from learning material needed to attain grade level
success.
B.
FAPE
1. SWD are entitled to FAPE.
2. FAPE emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet student’s unique needs
to prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.
3. FAPE is provided through IEPs developed to meet the child’s unique needs.
4. IEPs present levels of academic achievement, functional performance, and the impact of the
child’s disability on his/her involvement and progress in the general education curriculum.
5. IEP goals must be aligned with grade-level content standards for all children with disabilities.
6. Alternative academic achievement standards are available to children with the most significant
cognitive disabilities. See 34 C.F.R. §200.1(d).
Shelby County Schools offers educational and employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, creed, ag e, disability, national origin, or genetic information.
C. NCLB
1. Requires States to apply the same challenging academic content and achievement standards, i.e.,
grade level standards, to all children in the state, including SWD.
D. IDEA
1. FAPE requires IEPs be designed to enable SWD to be involved in and make progress in the
general curriculum
2. Specially designed instruction is defined as “adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible
child, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs of the
child…and to ensure access to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational
standards…that apply to all children.
3. When passing IDEA 2004 Re-authorization, Congress continued to emphasize the importance of
having high expectations and ensuring that SWD access the general education curriculum to the
maximum extent appropriate.
E. OSERS Analysis
1. Department of Education interprets “same curriculum as for non-disabled” as the curriculum
based on State academic standards for the grade in which a child is enrolled. This interpretation helps
to ensure that IEPs are designed to give SWD access to the general education curriculum based on
academic content standards for the child’s grade, and includes instruction and supports that will
prepare the child for success in college and careers.
2. Children with disabilities need access to the general education curriculum (the same curriculum as
for nondisabled children) meaning the curriculum that is based on States academic content standards
for the grade in which a child is enrolled. This interpretation allows SWD to receive high-quality
instruction giving them the opportunity to meet State’s academic achievement standards and prepare
them for college, careers, and independence.
3. In order to receive FAPE, IEPs must be designed to enable SWD to advance toward attaining their
IEP goals and be involved and make progress in the general education curriculum based on state
academic content standards for the grade in which the child is enrolled.
F. OSERS Implementation Interpretation
1. Annual IEP goals should align with state academic content standards for the grade in which the
child is enrolled. This does NOT replace the individualized decision-making required in the IEP
process.
Shelby County Schools offers educational and employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, creed, ag e, disability, national origin, or genetic information.
2. OSERS recognizes that a very small number of children with the most significant cognitive
disabilities must have their performance measured against alternate academic achievement standards,
though alternative assessments are aligned with states’ grade-level content standards. This small
group of students must have annual IEP goals that reflect high expectations that are based on state
content standards for the grade in which the child is enrolled. Goals should be sufficiently ambitious
to help close the achievement gap.
G. OSERS Example1. Student with SLD reads 4 grades below grade placement. Listening comprehension is on grade
level. IEP goals provide for instruction in reading fluency, support services like read aloud and audio
books for core content courses.
Shelby County Schools offers educational and employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, creed, ag e, disability, national origin, or genetic information.