The IEP Progress Report – Understanding Your Child’s Progress Toward IEP Goals & Objectives
The new school year is underway and you’re moving along at a steady pace while navigating your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). So far, you received insight into how your child is doing with classroom assignments by way of their report card, which includes test scores and feedback on homework and assignments. If you’re looking to ensure your child is improving on their IEP journey, be sure to also thoroughly review their IEP Progress Report. This report is key to the ongoing learning and development of your child and identifies if your child’s IEP team has been effective in improving and building their skills.
What Is an IEP Progress Report?
Each student with an IEP has specific goals and objectives to accomplish within the school year that address a variety of their individual needs. As your child is working toward hitting their marks, the IEP progress report provides detailed information about their progress toward the individualized goals and objectives designed for them in the IEP. These goals and objectives aim to remediate your child’s skill deficits in order for them to advance as it relates to their learning disability and individual needs.
Why Can’t I Just Review the Report Card?
IEP goals address areas such as academic skills, speech and language goals, and behavioral needs, but not all of these areas are not reflected on the report card. This is because report cards only give you information about how your child is performing on classroom tasks, such as tests, classwork, homework, and participation. It is important to keep in mind that in some cases, your child’s classroom grades referenced on the report card may be based on modified work. Because report cards are designed to only provide information about classroom academic performance, it is best to use the IEP progress report as a more detailed resource to give you a deeper understanding of your child’s progress on individual goals and objectives.
What If I Don’t Receive an IEP Progress Report?
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), you should receive IEP progress reports at least as often as students without IEPs receive report cards. Be sure to review your IEP to confirm how often you should expect to receive your child’s IEP progress report. If you have not been receiving IEP progress reports at least as often as you receive report cards, this is a violation of your parental rights. If you suspect your child’s IEP is not being implemented, here’s what you should do.
What Should I Be Reviewing in the IEP Progress Report?
On the surface level, you want to review your child’s IEP progress report to determine if they are making progress toward their goals and objectives. A statement about if the child is making progress, maintaining current performance, or regressing is only the tip of the iceberg – reviewing the numerical data on your child’s progress will yield even more information about the rate of progress. For example, let’s say your child had an IEP goal to increase their accuracy of math computation on addition and subtraction problems from 40% to 90%. Knowing that they are making progress is one thing, but knowing if they progressed to 50% or 80% is much more valuable information.
MY CHILD HAS AN IEP…NOW WHAT?
What Parents Need to Know and Do When Their Child Has an IEP
The 20-page guide includes checklists, quick reference sheets, and an IEP At-a-Glance page for you to summarize your most important IEP information.
What If I Have Questions About My Child’s Progress?
In some cases, IEP progress reports may only contain narrative information or a brief description of the child’s progress. If this is the case, you may need to follow up with the school staff for further information. You could review this information during an informal parent-teacher conference. If it is reported, or if you suspect that your child is not making adequate progress, you may wish to request an IEP meeting to discuss changes in programming with the committee. For academic goals, ask to see the probes (i.e., tests or work samples) that your child completed that were used to collect data for the IEP progress report. For non-academic goals, ask to see the logs or recording sheets that were used to collect the report data on the child’s progress. In some cases, school staff members are unable to produce such data during a meeting, which calls the validity of the data into question. This is a serious problem because your child’s program should be based on sound data.
How Do IEP Progress Reports Compare to Other Data Sources?
As a parent, you have multiple pieces of information besides a report card to analyze your child’s progress and performance. Psychoeducational evaluation reports and evaluation reports from other specialists provide a snapshot of your child’s ability at the time of the assessment. Norm-referenced (or standardized) tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), provide you with information about how your child is performing in reference to same-age or same-grade peers. Criterion-referenced tests, such as state benchmark tests, provide you with information about if your child is meeting grade-level standards.
While often overlooked, IEP progress reports are the data source you need in order to get specific information about your child’s progress toward their individualized IEP goals and objectives. Reviewing this information along with their report card will let you know if your child is on track to meet their IEP goals in addition to classroom academic performance.
Dr. Brandi Tanner is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and former special educator with over 15 years of experience in her fields. She founded Your IEP Source to guide parents through the IEP journey and to empower them to become better advocates for their children.
