For the first twenty years of what we now call the IDEA, parents really had to dig to get any information about how their child was really doing. But in 1998 and 1999, the Congress and the Department of Education made sweeping changes -- in both the IDEA Statute and Regulations. Your school district now owes you very specific information about your child’s progress, as stated on written report cards given to you.

 Are you getting what the Congress has ordered your school district to give to you in regard to your child’s IEP and the progress that is being made?

The complaints we get from all across the country tell us that six years after the 1998 Statute was changed [six years ago -- one half of your child’s entire twelve year elementary and secondary school career] you are not getting the information that is needed for successful advocacy.

The purpose of this massive change in the IDEA Statute and Regulations was to make sure parents would know exactly how their student was functioning. “Doing as well as can be expected” can be very misleading if the parents are not getting the information required to be given them under Federal laws.

What does your school expect for your child this year?

Unless you know that – in writing in advance of implementing the IEP -- then you cannot know whether your school is intending to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education or whether they are planning to do so little that your child will continue to fall behind. Unless you have a clear written statement from your school about goals, you cannot complain successfully in time during this year that not enough progress is being made for your child so that you can get compensatory services and get the growth your child is entitled to during this school year.

In the Supreme Court case of Shannon Carter vs. Florence County, 510 U.S. 7 (1993) in which this writer represented the Learning Disability Association of America at the Supreme Court as an amicus curiae (Friend of the Court), the student was approximately four grade levels behind in reading and in math approaching the start of the Tenth grade. The parents had no idea that their child had been allowed to fall so far behind each year and they worried about her emotional responses to her school.

 When the parents pressed for a real IEP that would aim at an appropriate goal for the end of the year for their daughter, the school responded with an IEP that called for an increase of approximately four tenths of a grade level growth the next year in reading and in math. That would mean that the school district was willing to allow Shannon to continue to fall further behind each year and predictably not even graduate from High School.

Her parents placed her in a private school where she gained more than one year’s growth in each year of instruction and was able to graduate with a regular High School diploma and go on to college. 

The U.S. Supreme Court did not feel that the public school’s proposal was aimed at an “appropriate” education and awarded her parents the cost of that private schooling, including room and board..

So how does your child’s IEP measure up for this school year?

At “the beginning of each school year” your school must have an IEP in effect for your child with a disability. This means no later than the first day of the school year [see 34 C.F.R. 300.342(a)]. 

It is typical for school districts to stagger their IEP meetings during the year for their own administrative convenience but the Federal Law requires that your IEP be “up and running” at the start of the school year. So insist on that if you do not have a 2004-2005 IEP yet. 

Your State Education Agency also has a duty here -- to assure that your child has an IEP developed in a timely way [34 C.F.R. 300.341(a)(1)]. So consider complaining to your State Education Agency on that single issue.

So how is your child doing right now under their current IEP?

Your School District has to “review your child’s IEP periodically and to determine whether the annual goals for the child are being achieved and to revise the IEP as appropriate to address any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals … and in the general curriculum.” If the parent provides the school district any information about the child, it has to be considered for revising the IEP as appropriate. [34 C.F.R. 300.343(c)]. 

 The key to all of this, for the parent, is to make sure that your  IEP is so clear – in written beginning baselines and in the written end goals for this year -- that you can then tell whether your child is, in fact, making the expected progress. 

If you allow the IEP committee to use terms such as “improve” then you might be throwing away all of these protections. However if your IEP states “improve reading for this Fourth Grader from the 3.0 grade level, where they are at the start of the 2004-05 school year, to the 4.5 grade level by the end of the Fourth Grade” you then have measurability that shows needed growth. Your child will be moving on into the Fifth Grade still below the 5.0 grade level – but in this 2004-2005 school year your student will have come up 1.5 grade levels in 1.0 years of instruction and presumably could catch up completely by the end of the next year.

  How many report cards do you get in a year? Does your school district do 4, 5, 6? It differs across the country but let us assume 4 which is the majority. In our example we are trying to get our student up 1.5 grade levels over this year’s 4 grading periods. So your first report card should be close to .4 growth. And by half of the year there should be  .75 grade level growth to be on target.

Your school district is responsible to report to you, in writing, this information and tell you in writing whether your child is on target to meet the stated goals by the end of this year.

 If your student is not making progress then there are other alternatives to explore, including compensatory services – see 34 C.F.R. 300.343(c)(2)(i) -- which we address in other articles on our site and in our publications.

 But for now, you can create a revolution in your relationship with your school district by simply insisting on what we describe above ---

            --- clearly stated, written, objective,  measurable baselines, in each area of need being addressed on the IEP for this year; 

            --- clearly stated written, measurable, end-goals which your student is expected to reach by the end of this year, and they have to be so objectively stated that there can be no argument between school and parent that they have, or have not been, met; 

            --- clearly stated written quarterly progress measures (assuming report cards are sent quarterly in your case) so that it is clear whether each of the quarterly goals are being met on time; 

            --- and a clear “notice” warning from the school to you, in writing, whenever a report card shows “any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals” and an invitation from the school to an IEP meeting to revise the IEP and to provide compensatory services at that point to get your student up to their expected goals on their IEP.

 “Good news” about this process is hardly ever brought to our attention but we have a lot of negative comments about how school districts or even State Education Agencies  do not seem to be implementing this incredibly important amendment to our laws. 

If you have a complaint, report it through the various complaint mechanisms that we outline on our Website and do not allow your child to have another year of school without at least a full year of growth.

 A final point is important for parents and parent advocates to understand. A new section in our IDEA Federal regulations at 34 C.F.R. 300.350(a)(2) requires that “each public agency” (that includes your State Education Agency and your local school district) “must make a good faith effort to assist the child to achieve the goals and objectives or benchmarks listed in the IEP.”

This is very important because it allows parents to introduce evidence in administrative complaints or in Hearings complaining about “bad faith” efforts that the parents felt the school district or State Education Agency engaged in.

Good luck and we hope this helps your student to have their best year yet.

This information is educational and not intended to be legal advice. 

Reed Martin is recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on special education law.