THIS ISSUE: An Individual Education Plan Checklist

Dear Arizona Promising Practices Subscriber,

Welcome to another online addition of the Arizona Promising Practices forum. For those new to this service, each issue, which will now be sent to you on a regular basis, will focus on:

(1) Recommended National Education websites; and

(2) One promising practice article in condensed form. We welcome your recommendations for improvement to this forum or suggestions on future topics (these will be wide ranging so if nothing in this update interests you, hold on for future editions!)

The Arizona Promising Practices Forum and website, www.azpromisingpractices.com is a FREE resource of the Arizona Department of Education.

In this issue of the Promising Practices Forum we have been asked to provide information that can be used in checking for a complete Individual Education Plan (IEP) that will be given to parents. This step by step checklist provides a comprehensive list of items that should be included in an IEP when it is being developed.

National Website of Importance - Educational recruitment season is fast approaching so we remind all job seekers to check out the Arizona Educational Employment Board (www.arizonaeducationjobs.com). This one stop recruitment resource provides listings of jobs across Arizona as well as an online application in which to apply.

Promising Practice Research and Teaching Tips

Present Level of Performance

Is there sufficient information on what the child is doing now?

____ strengths
____ needs related to the child's disability
____ parent concerns

How does the child's disability affect progress in the general curriculum?

Does the PLOP establish a baseline of information about the child?

____ measurable - means observable (you can see it, hear it, count it)
____ functional - means useful in the child's daily environment
____ identifies any special factors
____ describes both academic and non-academic areas
____ includes results of most recent evaluation or re-evaluation (e.g. formal and informal educational performance data, state and/or district assessments)

Annual Goal

What can the child accomplish in 12 months?

____ related to the disability
____ related to the Wisconsin academic standards/general curriculum
____ functional
____ measurable

Is the goal stated in the following terms:

The child - will do what - to what level/degree?

Does the goal apply to a variety of situations and activities?

Can you describe the behavior the child will be doing when the goal is reached?

Short Term Objectives/Benchmarks

What will the child need to do to achieve each annual goal?

____ at least 2 per each goal
____ a precursor step or building block skill
____ measurable

Do the short-term objectives define the intermediate steps to a goal?

The child - will do what - to what level/degree- under what conditions?

Do the benchmarks identify major milestones in achieving a goal?

The child - will do what - to what level/degree - by when?