Leveraging Progress Monitoring for Student Success For students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), progress monitoring has meaningfully changed in recent years – from a required, compliance-driven exercise to one that truly provides data on a child’s progress, thus informing his or her instruction. At the same time, educators continue to struggle with it. When conducted effectively, progress monitoring can be used as a critical tool to drive instruction. But when conducted poorly, or nonexistent, a lack of progress monitoring can hinder a student’s academic and functional growth and have avoidable, distracting, and costly legal ramifications. [More]
A Guide for Special Education Directors: Planning for Ambitious, Data-Driven, and Measurable IEPs In most school districts, the Special Education Director (or Director of Pupil Personnel Services) has compliance oversight of the district’s Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). [More]
Essential Elements of IEP Goals The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004 (IDEA) establishes annual goals as an integral part of a child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). Since IDEA was reauthorized in 2004, there has been a push from the U.S. Department of... [More]
Harvard Graduation School of Education Asks: What’s Ahead for Special Education? Leaf Shafer of Harvard Graduation School of Education (HGSE) takes a look at how federal policy may shift for students with disabilities in the next few years, and how educators can continue to advocate for the support they need. [More]
NJ Special Education Summit: Theme of Second Annual Summit Announced The theme of the second annual New Jersey Special Education Summit will be Exploring Disproportionality: Discovering Root Causes and Solutions-Based Approaches. This summit provides a forum for Superintendents, Special Education Directors, Supervisors of Special Education, and other special education professionals to discuss and learn about this complex and critical issue. [More]