WEBVTT

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IEPs: Developing High-Quality Individualized Education Programs

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Mr. Anaya is a first-year special education teacher at Washington
County Elementary School. The assistant principal, Mrs. Pederson, has

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just emailed him about an upcoming IEP meeting for Sienna, a 4th-grade
student whose initial evaluation was just completed. This will be Mr.

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Anaya’s first IEP team meeting. He learned a lot about IEPs in college
and had lots of practice writing the various components as part of his

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course assignments. He even attended several IEP meetings during
his student-teaching semester. But now he’s going to be involved in

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the process for real and is a bit nervous. If the IEP team determines
that Sienna is eligible for special education services, Mr. Anaya

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wants to make sure that she has a high-quality IEP that is geared to
address her individual needs. He also wants to be sure her IEP

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contains challenging and meaningful learning goals that will guide his
instruction.

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To prepare for the IEP meeting, Mr. Anaya talks to Mrs. Pederson.

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Mr. Anaya: I noticed the meeting is only scheduled for 45 minutes. I’m

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wondering how we’re going to get everything done in such a short
timeframe.

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Mrs. Pederson: Don’t worry. There’s plenty of time. Mrs. Esposito has
already started pulling Sienna’s learning goals into her IEP. She’s

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using a computerized program.
Mr. Anaya: Really? You can do that?

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Mrs. Pederson: Oh, yeah! It’s got a bank of pre-developed items to
select from. It’s super easy to use. The IEP’s practically done. We

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just have to share it with the parents and have them sign it.

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Mr. Anaya: But if I’m the one going to the IEP meeting, why is Mrs.
Esposito working on the IEP?

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Mrs. Pederson: Well, Mrs. Esposito has an available slot in her
classroom, so she will probably be Sienna’s teacher. I asked you to

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attend because she’s not available at that time. As long as we have a
special education teacher at the meeting, it really doesn’t matter who

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it is. Anyway, Mrs. Dubois—you’ve met her, right?—she’s Sienna’s
4th-grade teacher. Well, she can only be there for 20 minutes while

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her class is at recess. I think it’ll be a quick meeting.

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Mr. Anaya is now more nervous than ever. The process at Washington
County Elementary is quite different from what he learned about in

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college, and it is nothing like what he experienced during student
teaching. He wonders whether he should just sit quietly during this

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meeting and then take a more active role in future meetings, once he
has learned how Washington County Elementary does things.

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Here is your Challenge:

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What is an IEP?

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What is the IEP process?

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What is included in the IEP document?