Developing Effective IEPs file:///Volumes/DevelopingIEPs/files/5-53.

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Developing Effective IEPs

Follow-up Questions
1. What difficulties, if any, did you encounter in translating students’ present
levels of educational performance into annual goals? If short-term
objectives or benchmarks are not required, do you see any value in
including them on a student’s IEP?
Present level of performance goals translate evaluation information into
present level of performance statements and describes how the disability
affects their progress in the general curriculum. It gives the whole picture
instead of one specific area to work on and it's difficult to take all that
information and put it all into a few goals for the year. Annual goals determine
what the student can reasonably be expected to accomplish by the end of the
year. If short-term objectives or benchmarks are not required I would still
include them on a student’s IEP because it could be working toward the
annual goal.
2. What major component of the IEP serves as a safeguard to ensure that the
IEP team doesn’t lose sight of the relationship between the special education
and related services the team has specified in the IEP and the student’s
progress toward attainment of his or her annual goals?
Special Education and Related Services
3. At what age does a student require transition goals and services? Can these
goals and services be designated for students below that age?
IEP Teams must now include transition planning in the first IEP that will be in
effect when the child turns 16 years of age (states might mandate an earlier
date, but not a later one).
4. Are there other transitions, in addition to that of school-to-adult life and work,
that should be addressed in a student’s IEP? What would be the benefit of
addressing multiple kinds of transitions in an IEP?
Development of appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon
age-appropriate transition assessments related to training, education,
employment, and, where appropriate, independent living skills. The benefit of
addressing these goals is to reflect the student's strengths, preferences, and
interests. In determining such goals, the IEP team (including the student)
must determine what instruction and educational experiences will help
prepare the student for a successful transition from secondary education to
post-secondary life.
5. Is it frustrating or enlightening for you that each of the students for whom
you’ve developed an IEP has a unique background and idiosyncratic
performance patterns and test data? How so? Did you expect that these
students would be alike in terms of their strengths and needs?
I find it enlightening because everyone is different. They tests differently,
have different strengths and weaknesses, attitudes, and values.

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