Developing Educationally Meaningful and Legally Sound IEPs (Special Education Law, Policy, and Practice)

Review
Yell and Bateman provide a clear, practitioner-friendly guide to help educators improve the quality and impact of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) in alignment with the recent Endrew F. Supreme Court decision. This text offers guidance for setting goals, collecting meaningful student data, involving key stakeholders including families, and for evaluating student response and refocusing when response is insufficient. This text is an incredibly important tool that is easy to access. Educators will benefit from the wise guidance—and, more importantly, students with disabilities will benefit from more focused IEPs that are more rigorous and are more aligned with the intent of IDEA. Another hit out of the park for this brilliant author team.
-- Christopher J. Lemons, associate professor of special education, Stanford University
I was thrilled to read this book. It provides a solid grounding in IDEA’s requirements for IEPs, and then brings them alive by discussing how to develop IEPs that not only meet legal requirements but also are meaningful for each child’s education. This book provides the foundation for a pathway to better outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
-- Martha L. Thurlow, senior research associate, National Center on Educational Outcomes
The purpose of this book is to assist readers to use better practices when developing educationally meaningful and legally sound Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Beginning with the history and purpose of IEPs, this book examines the context and reasons IEPs were first created. The core chapters address better practices in conducting assessments, developing present levels of academic achievement and functional performance statements, crafting measurable annual goals, determining special education services, and monitoring and reporting on students’ progress. The authors also discuss placing students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment (LRE) and provide forms and graphics to assist in developing students’ special education programs.