Individualized Education Programs and Instructional Planning
The IEP domain asks you to build a defensible plan: present levels that are data-based, goals that are measurable, services matched to need, and placement decisions that survive LRE scrutiny. Items often present a flawed IEP component and ask what must change.
Required components
- PLAAFP: current academic and functional performance, baseline data, and the impact of disability on progress in the general curriculum. Numbers, not adjectives.
- Measurable annual goals with baseline and target; short-term objectives or benchmarks are required only when the student takes the alternate assessment aligned to alternate achievement standards.
- Statement of special education, related services, supplementary aids and services, program modifications, and supports for school personnel.
- Extent of participation with nondisabled peers, with an explanation of why any removal is necessary.
- Accommodations for district and state assessments (Georgia Milestones), and a rationale if an alternate assessment is used.
- Transition services by age 16 (earlier if determined), a transfer-of-rights statement by 18, and a summary of performance at exit.
Team and process
The team includes a parent, general education teacher (if the student is or may be in general education), special educator, LEA representative, someone who can interpret evaluation results, the student when appropriate, and related service providers as needed. Excusal requires written parent agreement and provider input. IEPs must be in effect at the start of the school year, reviewed annually, and accessible to every staff member responsible for implementation.
Instructional planning
Plan backward from the Georgia Standards of Excellence: identify the standard, unpack the skill, design the assessment, then select specially designed instruction. UDL reduces barriers through multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression. Co-teaching models include one-teach/one-assist, station, parallel, alternative, and team teaching; team teaching requires genuine parity in planning and delivery.
Worked example
A flawed goal reads: 'Maria will improve reading skills.' Rewrite with condition, behavior, and criterion: 'Given a second-grade decodable passage, Maria will read 60 words correct per minute with 95% accuracy across three consecutive probes by May 15.' Baseline (42 wcpm) and measure (CBM) are stated, so progress can be graphed.
Traps
Writing goals that describe activities instead of observable behavior; omitting baseline data; using 'as needed' for service minutes; forgetting the LRE justification; assuming every IEP needs short-term objectives; and treating the IEP as a lesson plan rather than a service commitment.