Individualized Education Programs (IEPS)

To Assure the Free Appropriate Public Education of all Children with Disabilities – 1995

Table 6.4 Summary of Findings in Final Monitoring Reports Issued During FY 1994

Individualized Education Programs (IEPS)

300.343(a) and (d) — Public agencies must conduct meetings to develop, review and revise IEPs for all students with disabilities.

300.344(a)(1) — Agency representative must participate in each IEP meeting.

300.345(b)(1) — Notification to parents of IEP meetings must indicate purpose, time, and location of meeting and who will be in attendance.

300.345(d) — If public agency unable to convince parents to attend IEP meeting,public agency must have record of its attempts to arrange a mutually agreed on time and place.

300.346(a) — Each IEP must include:

 

1. A statement of child’s present levels of educational performance; 
2. Annual goals, including short-term instructional objectives; 
3. Statement of specific special education and related services to be provided to child and extent child will be able to participate in regular educational programs; 
4. Projected dates for initiation and anticipated duration of services; and 
5. Appropriate objective criteria and evaluation procedures and schedules for determining, on at least an annual basis, whether the short term instructional objectives are being achieved.

300.346(b) — Beginning no later than age 16 (and at a younger age, if determined appropriate), each child’s IEP must include statement of needed transition services as defined at 300.18.

 

Placement in the Least Restrictive Environment

300.550(b)(2) — Child may be removed from regular educational environment only if education in regular classes cannot be achieved satisfactorily with use of supplementary aids and services.

300.551(a) and 300.552(b) — Continuum of alternative placements must be available to meet children’s needs for special education and related services and to implement each child’s IEP.

300.552(a)(1) — Each child’s placement must be determined at least annually.

300.552(a)(2) — Each child’s educational placement must be based on IEP.

300.552(a)(3) AND 300. 552(c) — Each child’s educational placement must be as close as possible to the child’s home, and, unless child’s IEP requires some other arrangement, in school child would attend if not disabled.

300.553 — Each child with a disability must participate in nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities with nondisabled children to maximum extent appropriate to child’s needs.

300.533(a)(3) — Placement decision for each child with a disability must be made by group of persons, including persons knowledgeable about child, meaning of evaluation data, and placement options.

 

Protection in Evaluation Procedures

300.534(b) — Each child with a disability must be evaluated, consistent with requirements of 300.532, every three years, or more frequently if conditions warrant or the child’s parent or teacher requests an evaluation.

 

Procedural Safeguards

300.501 — Public agencies must establish and implement procedural safeguards consistent with 300. 500-300. 515 and 300. 562-300. 569.

300.504(a) Public agencies must provide parents with written notice when they propose or refuse to initiate or change identification, evaluation, educational placement, or provision of free appropriate public education.

300.505(a) — Notice under 300. 504 must include:(1) Full explanation of procedural safeguards; (2) Description of action proposed or refused, explanation of why agency proposes or refuses to take action, and description of any options agency considered and why options rejected; (3) Description of each evaluation procedure, test, record, or report the agency uses as basis for proposal or refusal; and (4) Description of any other factors relevant to agency’s proposal or refusal.

300.512(a), (b), and (c) — Final decision must be reached and mailed to parties not later than 45 days after receipt of request for hearing, and not later than 30 days after receipt of request for review, unless hearing or reviewing officer grants specific extension at request of party.

 

Complaint Management

300.660(a) — SEA must resolve any signed written complaint that alleges public agency violated Part B requirement and includes facts on which complaint based.

300.661(a) –SEA must resolve Part B complaints within 60 days from date received, unless exceptional circumstances exist with regard to individual complaint.

 

Provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

300.300 — Student must receive extended school year services if necessary to ensure provision of FAPE.

300.300 AND 300.350 — IEP must accurately specify what, if any, related services student needs to benefit from special education, and those services must be provided as specified in IEP.

300.300, 300.128, and 300.220 — Provision of FAPE must not be denied or delayed because agency fails to conduct timely preplacement evaluation.

 

General Supervision

300.600(a)(2) — SEA responsible for ensuring that each educational program for children with disabilities administered in State, including each program administered by any other public agency, under SEA’s general supervision and meets SEA’s education standards.

 

Review and Approval of Local Educational Agency (LEA) Applications

76.400 — State may approve LEA application for Part B funds only if it meets all Part B, EDGAR, and GEPA requirements.

76.770 — State must have procedures for providing technical assistance to grantees to ensure applications meet applicable regulations and statutes.

 

SEA Monitoring

20 USC 1232(b)(3)(A) — SEA must adopt and use effective methods to identify deficiencies of public agencies that provide educational services to children with disabilities.

20 USC 1232(b)(3)(E) — SEA must adopt and use effective methods to correct deficiencies identified through the monitoring process.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Division of Assistance to the States.