Year after year, students are entering high school lacking the basic skills required to be successful at the high school level. Often, these skills should have been mastered in the elementary grades. This leads high school teachers to question why low achieving students are promoted each year while functioning well below grade level. Retention is frequently mentioned as an option to address this concern. The decision to retain or promote low achieving students in the elementary grades has been a long standing debate. Those in favor of retention support their argument by citing the positive effects of retention. Proponents of promoting low achieving students support their argument by citing the positive effects of social promotion. Proponents …show more content…
IEPs pinpoint the specific needs of the learner and outline specific strategies and accommodations to meet the learner’s needs. By focusing on the student’s individual needs, the teacher is aware of what each student needs to progress to the next level. Without a continual focus on the learner’s individual needs, progress is often limited or halted. Special education teachers are often asked in reference to a struggling learner, “Does this student have an IEP?” When informing the regular education teacher that a student does not, the following comment often ensues “Well, this student could really progress if he could receive the same help as my students who have IEPs.” In order to implement the process of Individualized Education Plans for low achieving regular education students, funding is required to employ teachers who are knowledgeable in a variety of learning strategies and writing IEPs. These teachers will work with students one-on-one and in small groups while working collaboratively with regular education teachers to meet the students’ needs. Ongoing monitoring and assessment, with revisions to the IEP as needed, is a
Imagine you are Jessica’s general education teacher and a member of her IEP team. As part of her annual review meeting, Jessica and her team discuss her post-secondary plans. Following is some of the information the team learns during the meeting.
This program is geared towards middle and high school students and teaches the leadership and self-determination skills needed to effectively contribute to the IEP process. The Self-Directed IEP uses video modeling, student assignments, and role playing to teach students IEP leadership skills. Arndt, Konrad, and Test (2006) studied the effectiveness of The Self-Directed IEP on 5 inner-city high school students who had been receiving special education since the primary grades. Students were observed during real and mock IEP meetings during the baseline period, and then were given The Self-directed IEP intervention. After the intervention, students once again participated in mock IEP meetings. The study found that student participation in the mock IEP meetings increased after the intervention was implemented (Arndt et al., 2006). The authors also noted that the students were able to generalize skill acquisition and participated more fully in real IEP meetings as well (Arndt et al., 2006).Student feedback also indicated that students felt more knowledgeable and confident about the IEP process as a whole (Arndt et
The IEP team may include the student, their parents, a regular teacher, a special education provider and other representatives, such as a social worker or relative child care provider. These meets are required to be held within 30 days of the student’s acceptance into the special education program. Every IEP has the two main goals of setting reasonable learning goals and establishing academic services that the school will provide. The IEP should state which state and district-wide assessments that the student will or will not participate in and why.
When evaluating a student for an IEP it is important to abide by and look at the process that is required by the IDEA. The reason for this is so that the special education teacher is abiding by regulations that are required for a student to have an IEP implemented in the classroom. An IEP is a binding contract and therefore it is important to understand the legal aspects of an IEP through the 10 step process. In this paper, a case study is looked at and analyzed by using the 10 step process to evaluate the student for an IEP.
In order to thoroughly understand the significance of assistive technology in special education, it is important to understand what an IEP is. An IEP is a mandated document for public schools called an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Each IEP must be designed for one student and must be a truly individualized document. The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, and related services personnel to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities. It is a legal document specific to each individu...
Werts, M. G. (2002). Knowing what to expect Introducing pre-service teachers to IEP meetings. Teacher Education and Special Education, 25(4), 413-418.
Individual Education Plans drive each child’s educational and behavioral services on a daily basis. The demands of this paperwork can become quite time consuming and the special education teacher is the leader of the education team. The IEP looks at a student’s strengths, weaknesses, and present levels of performance. From this ...
IEP Development. In developing the IEP, the team should determine the child’s present level of academic achievement and functional performance and project whether any additions or modifications to the instruction or services are necessary to enable the child to meet measurable annual goals and to participate, as appropriate, in the general education curriculum. IDEA requires that the team considers the student’s strengths; parents’ concerns; evaluation results; and academic, functional, and developmental needs of the student. The IEP team must also consider individual circumstances. One special consideration is whether the student’s behavior impedes that student’s learning or the learning of other students. If so, the IEP team must consider the use of positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), and other strategies, to address the behavior.
For a special education student to be successful and reach their true potential, it takes a collaborative effort between both the special education and general education teacher. Both teachers need to have an understanding of each student’s disability and unique academic needs. Both teachers play vital roles in participating as part of the IEP team, providing professional input, and best practices to develop the student’s IEP, which will provide all stakeholders in the child’s education the accommodations and modifications for the special needs child to be successful in the
The goal of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is to implement improved and effective special education processes. The purpose of the IDEA is to ensure that student-children with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). In order to achieve this, these students must receive a special education with related services designed to meet their unique needs. Special education programs
The Individualized Education Program is developed by a team that includes the parents of the student, a general education teacher, a special education teacher, a school representative (principal), a person knowledgeable about evaluation (school psychologist), and others at request of IEP participants. The primary job of the IEP team is to plan a program of special education and related services that is reasonably calculated to provide a meaningful education benefit. The IEP Process includes a review of assessme...
Students in elementary are advancing to the next highest grade level with little to no comprehension of taught material. 'Social promotion' believes that retaining a student hinders the child’s self-esteem. Retaining a child in the same grade for longer than year is beneficial to the child’s education, self-esteem, and allows the child an opportunity to maturely develop learning and social skills.
Training should be implemented on IEP’s and modifications and accommodations for general education teachers. General education teachers should also be trained on utilizing the special education teachers experience in modifying, accommodating, and differentiated instruction. We are a team and the goal we are working for is for all of our students on our campus to be successful, general education and special education students.
IEP stands for Individualized Education Program. An IEP is a written document required for each child who is eligible to receive special education services. It is provided to a student who has been determined first to have a disability, and second, to need special education services because of that disability. An IEP is very important and should never be overlooked by anyone. The purpose of an IEP is to make sure that only students whose educational performance is affected by a disability receive special services. An individual program plan is designed to make sure that students get the kind of educational experience that they deserve; an experience that results in success. The end goals for students who are on an IEP are to be involved in
Grade retention seems like a reasonable solution to a serious problem. A child is significantly behind their peers, maybe they are emotionally immature, or they cannot quite grasp what is being taught to them. The first thing to do is make sure the child does not have a learning disability, after that, it is determined that since this child is falling so far behind there is no other option than to hold them back a grade. This will ensure that they have time to catch up with their classmates and move on to have a successful school career. Schools implement this every year, despite the research proving how unsuccessful grade retention is. There is no clear cut way to help a struggling child. Children learn in such diverse ways. It is a challenge to help someone falling behind, it takes time, effort and research to realize what is going to be effective for a struggling student. Grade retention is harmful to the student, it negatively impacts the child’s academics, it leads to early dropout, their self-esteem suffers, and it is not a cost effective way to help a child succeed.