IEP Decision Making:
Teaching the General Education Curriculum to Students with Disabilities
From an article by Peggy Thorpe O’Reilly and Bonnie A. Merkel, Common Ground, September 1999
In order to make good IEP decisions about individual students, you need to know a lot about two things. First, you need to know about the general education curriculum and how typical peers are expected to function in the general education curriculum. For example, what are the learning objectives for each subject area by grade level? What are the standards of performance expected of typical peers in the general education curriculum? What are the learning activities, instructional methods, materials and assessment strategies used in general education classes to teach these objectives? What strategies are provided in general education classes that accommodate the needs of diverse learners (e.g. cooperative learning, peer tutoring, flexible instructional grouping)?
Second, you also need to know a lot about the individual student and his/her current performance relative to the general education curriculum and chronological age peers. What are the student’s individual’s learning needs relative to the general education curriculum? What other needs does the student have that are not directly addressed in this curriculum? What supports does the student need to help him/her learn? These questions and others need to be explored in depth as the IEP team develops plans for individual student programs.
Information Sources
The new regulations emphasize that IEPs should be developed based on recent information from a variety of sources which might include: result of student participation in state standardized assessments, recent child study team assessments, teachers’ classroom-based assessments such as work samples, taped recordings of oral readings, teacher-student conferences, student presentations, anecdotal observations, or student self assessments; as well as information supplied by parents.
Present Level of
Educational PerformanceOnce this information is compiled, the IEP team is ready to discuss the following questions which will lead to the development of a sound description of a student’s present level of educational performance upon which the rest of the IEP will be built. This description should provide information about the students’ current performance and educational needs relative to each relevant subject area of the general education curriculum as well as other educational needs the student may have.
General questions to address include:
1. What are the student’s strengths and interests?
2. What are the parents’ specific concerns?
Goals and Objectives
The IEP team is now ready to determine what goals and objectives are appropriate for the coming year. Goals and objectives are not needed for particular subject area when the student’s learning objectives are the same as chronological age peers. IEPs should indicate, however, when a student’s learning objectives are the same as grade level peers, so that all involved with the student’s program can have a common understanding.
Goals and objectives are needed when the student’s learning objectives are different from chronological age peers. When goals and objectives are needed, this is considered, in most cases, as modifying the content of the general education curriculum. A student may need goals and objectives for number of reasons. A student may need to work on some or all subject area competencies on a lower-level than chronological peers due to factors such as rate or level of learning; or, a student may need to learn prerequisite or enabling skills that will help them to learn the general education curriculum.
Additionally, a student may need to learn other competencies not necessarily specifically taught in the general education curriculum such as, study skills, learning strategies, social personal skills, or daily life skills.
Whenever a student needs to learn something different from age peers, goals and objectives should be written using the general education curriculum of his/per peers as the starting point for determining individual learning goals and objectives. This does not mean that all students with disabilities must work in grade level curriculum. This means the grade level curriculum should be considered first, along with the student’s current level of functioning and priority learning needs. From these considerations, decisions can then be made whether to address learning objectives at lower levels.
For students with significant cognitive or multiple disabilities, alternate indicators addressing basic life skills will typically serve as the basis for generating IEP
goals and objectives. However, among this population, there may be certain students who may work on a combination of alternate indicators and objectives drawn from the general education curriculum.
In making decisions about goals and objectives, the following questions should be raised for each subject area in the general education curriculum:
1. What is the student’s current level of performance in this area?
2. What can the student learn that is the same as chronological age peers?
3. Does the student need to learn something different? If so what does the student need to learn and to what level of proficiency?
4. What can the student reasonably be expected to learn within a year’s time?
Modifications to Program and Instruction
To help children learn the general education curriculum, modifications can be made not only to learning objectives, but also to methods and materials for instruction and assessment. While modifications are determined according to individual student needs, and used only when essential to a student’s learning, these changes are often beneficial to many students, and at times, can be incorporated into classroom strategies.
Modifications can include the way new concepts are information are presented to students, such as the use of multiple modalities (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) in designing learning activities; classroom organization and management strategies, such as the use of cooperative group structures; specialized materials and equipment, such as the use of study guides, supplementary lower readability materials, word processes or augmentative communication devices; monitoring and feedback strategies such as training students in methods of self checking; and alternate response options, such as extended time or oral responses. A good resource for instructional modifications can be found in the Core Curriculum Content Frameworks documents for each content area developed by the New Jersey State Department of Education. As these documents are completed, they will be available within each district as well as on the New Jersey Home page.
When making decisions about modifications needed to support student’s learning of the general education curriculum, the IEP team should first determine whether these modifications, as well as other supplementary aides and services, would enable the student to benefit from participation in regular classes. If the answer to this question is no, the IP team should then determine what modifications, supplementary aids and services a student needs to learn the general curriculum in a special education resource or class setting.
Support for School Personnel
Because of the increasing numbers of students with disabilities in general education programs, general education teachers, support staff and special area teachers require assistance to learn about the needs of students with disabilities and how to implement IEP designated strategies and modifications within their programs. Support for staff may include participation in training activities, short-term consultation and/or ongoing collaboration with designed staff knowledgeable about the student and essential strategies.
Peggy Thorpe O’Reilly and Bonnie A. Merkel are employed by the New Jersey Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. Peggy is the Special Education Consultant at the Learning Resource Center- Central in Aberdeen, NJ. Bonnie is the Special Education Consultant at the Learning Resource Center-North satellite in Morris Plains, NJ.