Goals, services, accommodations and placement in the IEP

The parts of a measurable goal, how progress is reported, each service's amount, frequency, location and duration, accommodations and modifications, extended school year, least restrictive environment and the standard for appropriate.

1. The parts of a measurable goal Understand

Reading the IEP copied the goals into a table. This chapter takes each one apart. The regulation asks for "measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals," designed to meet the needs that come from the disability so the child can take part and progress in the general education curriculum (34 CFR 300.320(a)(2)). It does not prescribe a format. In practice, a measurable goal usually has five parts, and naming them gives you a way to read any goal on any form Convention.

Behind the goal sits a baseline: where the child is today on the same measure, written in the present levels. A goal of "80% of attempts" means little without knowing whether the child is at 20% or 70% now. The CPIR page on IEP contents describes how present levels and goals connect.

The simplest test of any goal is a question you can ask out loud: "How would anyone know, at the end of the year, whether this was met?" If two people reading the goal could disagree about the answer, the goal leaves something open, and that is worth a question. A goal like "will improve reading skills" passes nobody's test. A goal like "will read a grade 3 passage aloud at 70 words correct per minute, measured monthly with curriculum-based probes, by June" passes it, whether or not you think 70 is the right number.

Notice the difference between those two judgments. Whether a goal is measurable is something you can check on the page. Whether it is the right goal, ambitious enough and aimed at the right skill, is a decision for the team, with you as a member. This chapter helps with the first and gives you questions for the second.

Academic and functional goals

The regulation names both. Academic goals cover reading, writing, math and other subjects. Functional goals cover the skills a child needs for the school day and daily life: organizing work, communicating, managing behavior, moving around the building, self-care. If your priorities from Observations and priorities include something functional (starting homework, handling transitions, asking for help), look for a functional goal that addresses it.

2. Progress reports

The IEP must describe how the child's progress toward each annual goal will be measured, and when periodic reports on that progress will be provided; the regulation's example is "quarterly or other periodic reports, concurrent with the issuance of report cards" (34 CFR 300.320(a)(3)). So the IEP sets the schedule, and the report should speak to each goal.

Write the schedule in the "how often reported" column for every goal. A useful progress report does three things: it names the goal, gives a number or description on the goal's own measure, and says whether the child is on track to meet it by the end of the IEP. A report that says only "progressing" or "making progress" for every goal does not tell you which. After the meeting checks each report against the goal's measure, line by line.

3. Services: how much, how often, where, by whom

Every service on the IEP should answer four questions. The regulation requires "the projected date for the beginning of the services and modifications" and "the anticipated frequency, location, and duration of those services and modifications" (34 CFR 300.320(a)(7)). A provider role (who delivers it) is usually written alongside.

The types of service were introduced in Reading the IEP: special education (specially designed instruction) (34 CFR 300.39), related services such as speech-language therapy or counseling (34 CFR 300.34), and supplementary aids and services delivered in regular classes and other settings (34 CFR 300.42). Choose the type in the services table's Type column, as the IEP lists it.

Two reading habits help. First, read the service against the goal it supports: a reading goal with no reading instruction anywhere on the service page is a gap to ask about. Second, read the location against the placement statement: if the placement says the child is in general education "80% of the day" and the services add up to more time out of class than that, ask how the two fit. Neither is a conclusion; both are questions.

Some IEPs list consultation, meaning the specialist advises the teacher rather than working with the child. That is a real service, and it should still say how often and with whom. If you are not sure whether a line means direct work with your child, ask.

4. Accommodations, modifications and extended school year

Accommodations and modifications

The federal regulations use "modifications" in the IEP contents list but do not define the two words against each other. In common school usage they mean different things, and the difference matters for grades, tests and diplomas Convention:

• An accommodation changes how a child learns or shows what they know, without changing what is expected: extra time, a quiet room for tests, a test read aloud, preferential seating, breaks.
• A modification changes what the child is expected to learn or show: fewer or different problems, a shorter assignment covering less content, a different grading standard.

The CPIR page on supplementary aids and services lists examples a state guide uses, from seating and pacing to assignment and testing changes. Ask the authority Because the words are used loosely, ask the team which items on your child's IEP change the expectation and which change only the method, and whether any of them affect grades, credit or the tests the child takes. Your state sets the rules for diplomas and test accommodations.

Put each one in the accommodations table, with where it applies (class, tests, homework). A common gap is an accommodation listed for tests that is not used in daily classwork, or the reverse.

Extended school year

Extended school year services are special education and related services provided beyond the normal school year. They are provided only if the IEP team decides, "on an individual basis," that they are necessary for the child to receive FAPE; a school may not limit them to particular disability categories or unilaterally limit their type, amount or duration (34 CFR 300.106). So the question is not "does my child's category qualify?" but "has the team considered whether my child needs it, and on what information?" States often set the criteria the team uses; ask the school how your state's criteria work.

5. Placement and the least restrictive environment

"Placement" in an IEP does not mean a building. It means where along a range of settings the child's services are delivered. The regulations require that, to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities are educated with children who are not disabled, and that removal from regular classes happens only when education there, with supplementary aids and services, does not work satisfactorily because of the nature or severity of the disability (34 CFR 300.114). This is the least restrictive environment, or LRE.

Schools must have a continuum of placements: instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions, plus supplementary services such as a resource room or itinerant instruction alongside regular class placement (34 CFR 300.115). The continuum exists so the placement can fit the child, rather than the child being fitted to whatever program the school happens to have.

The placement decision itself follows rules you can check (34 CFR 300.116):

• It is made by a group of people that includes the parents and others who know the child, the evaluation data and the placement options.
• It is determined at least annually, is based on the child's IEP, and is as close as possible to the child's home.
• Unless the IEP requires another arrangement, the child is educated in the school the child would attend if not disabled.
• Potential harmful effects on the child or on the quality of services are considered.
• A child is not removed from age-appropriate regular classrooms solely because the child needs modifications in the general education curriculum.

The order matters: the IEP comes first, and placement is based on it. If a placement is offered before the goals and services are discussed, you can ask the team to go back to the IEP. Copy the placement statement and the "extent not with nondisabled children" sentence into your summary fields word for word.

6. What "appropriate" means

The "A" in FAPE is the word most disagreements turn on, and the regulations do not define it beyond the IEP's required contents. In 2017 the Supreme Court said what the law asks: "a school must offer an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances" (Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, 580 U.S. 386 (2017)). The Court added that a child's program should be "appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances," and that "every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives."

The Department of Education's question-and-answer document on the decision explains that the standard is individual, and that when a child is not making the progress the team expected, the team considers whether the IEP needs revising (ED, Questions and Answers on Endrew F., December 7, 2017).

What this gives you is a set of questions, not a verdict:

• What progress does the team expect over the year, and how does that compare with last year's?
• If a goal was not met last year, what is different about this year's plan?
• How does this goal connect to what my child's classmates are learning?

Pick the one that fits a goal or service you have doubts about and add it to your questions sheet.

7. Counting service time

Services are written as minutes and sessions, and they are easy to read past without adding them up. Adding them up turns a line on the IEP into a number you can compare with what happens. The service time calculator does the arithmetic on the IEP's own numbers and your counts:

• Minutes per week (or per month): minutes per session times sessions per period.
• Minutes scheduled in a stretch you choose: the weekly figure times the number of school weeks in that stretch, which you count from the school calendar.
• Minutes held: the sessions held, from your count, times the minutes per session.
• The difference, in minutes and in sessions.

The calculator assumes nothing about how many weeks school runs. You enter the weeks, because breaks, testing days and holidays differ by district Test it. A service written per month stays monthly; the calculator does not turn it into a weekly figure, because months hold different numbers of school days.

If your services sheet has rows, the calculator can read one: pick it from the list above the fields, and if your service log (After the meeting) has sessions for that service, the held count fills in too.

A weekly total also helps you read the IEP as a whole. Add up the minutes your child is out of the general education class each week, and compare the total with the placement statement. If they do not match, ask how they fit.

8. Worked accommodations, the continuum, ESY and the Endrew F. questions Go deeper

9. See it See it

Free sources for this chapter, chosen because they are the primary text or explain it in plain terms:

• Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (Supreme Court, 2017): the opinion itself; the standard is in the syllabus on the first pages.
• Questions and Answers on Endrew F. (U.S. Department of Education, 2017): the Department's explanation of the standard for families and schools.
• Supplementary Aids and Services (CPIR): examples of supports, accommodations and modifications.
• Contents of the IEP (CPIR): how goals, progress reporting and services sit in the IEP.

10. Practice Practice

Minimum: each goal's measure and report schedule, each service's four details checked, one calculator run, one question. Time: about 40 to 60 minutes. Materials: your filled IEP at a glance sheet, the IEP or draft, the school calendar, and the service time calculator.

1. Take each goal apart. For every row in the goals table, fill baseline, target, how measured and how often reported. Where the IEP does not say, write a question in the question column.
2. Check each service's details. For every row in the services table, check minutes, sessions, period, setting and provider. Write a question beside any blank.
3. Run one service through the calculator. Pick the service you know least about. Enter its numbers, count the school weeks in this grading period from the calendar, and leave held sessions at your best count or blank. Write the weekly total in the row's question column or notes.
4. Compare the time with the placement statement. Add up the weekly minutes outside the general education class and compare with the placement statement.
5. Write one question. Choose a goal or service you have doubts about and write one question from section 6 or the question bank. Add it to your questions sheet with the IEP section marked.
6. Sort the accommodations. (Go deeper; optional.) For each row in the accommodations table, mark whether it changes the method or the expectation, and ask the team about any you cannot place.

11. Your situation Your situation

12. Check your work Check your work

Criteria

• Can you say, for each goal, how it is measured and when you will hear about it?
• Can you say, for each service, how much, how often, where and by whom, or have you written a question where one is missing?
• Have you written one service's weekly total?
• Can you tell an accommodation from a modification on your child's IEP, or have you a question about it?
• Is your question about a goal or service phrased so the team can answer it?

Worked example

Priya's goal row has all five parts and the baseline. Her service row is complete. Her calculator result (60 minutes a week; 720 scheduled, 510 held, 210 minutes and 7 sessions scheduled minus held over 12 weeks) is written in the service row's notes with the date she counted. Her question asks how the sessions will be addressed and what the data shows. It does not say the school owes the time, because that is not a question the calculator or this manual answers.

Common mistakes

• Judging the goal before measuring it. First check whether the goal is measurable; then ask whether it is the right goal.
• Assuming a school year length. Count the weeks in the stretch you are checking from the school calendar. Breaks and testing days change the total.
• Reading placement before the IEP. Placement is based on the IEP. If the setting is decided first, ask to return to the goals and services.
• Treating a missed-time total as a debt. The calculator counts time. Whether any is owed is a legal question for the processes in When you disagree.

What is still unresolved

Whether the goals and services are appropriate for your child is the team's decision, with you in it, and in a disagreement a hearing officer's. This chapter gives you the questions; Before the meeting gets them onto your list, In the meeting gets them asked, and After the meeting checks the answers against what happens.

13. Knowledge check and scenario

Checklist

• Every goal row shows how it is measured and when it is reported.
• Every service row is complete or marked with a question.
• I have written one service's weekly total from the calculator.
• One question about a goal or service is on my questions sheet.
• I have sorted the accommodations into method and expectation. (Go deeper; optional)