Jennifer: The teacher stated at a high school open house, that she would likely change the IEPs to be the same, so everyone would be working on the same thing at the same time. Is this legal?
IEPs: TEACHER SAYS SHE WILL GIVE SAME IEPS FOR EACH STUDENT IN CLASS
Jennifer,
The teacher cannot just change the IEP to make it the same. Every child is different and has varying disabilities. How in the world can they work at the same thing at the same time? I get that teachers can sometimes feel overwhelmed but she needs to make sure that she has the proper supports in place to help her students. What I would do is request a meeting with the principal and the teacher to get to the bottom of what is going on. You can even request for the principal to have a talk with the teacher. Just keep going up the chain of command and if you get no where file a complaint with the state education agency.
1. Teacher can’t just cavalierly modify a legal document on a whim
2. What part of the word INDIVIDUAL in IEP did she fail to comprehend.
3 no. Just No, dammit.
The law does not permit a teacher to change her students’ IEPs. If a child’s IEP needs to be reviewed and revised because it isn’t meeting the child’s needs or because new evaluations are available, the child’s IEP team – which includes the parents – should meet to review the new info and revise the IEP as needed.
This topic came up the other day in a conversation. Some teachers feel overwhelmed trying to meet “all” the accommodations in an given class. One high school teacher, without an aide, realized that it was impossible to implement the IEPs in his class. He opted to treat the class (mixed class) in a way that would accommodate the IEPs. For example, everyone receives a study guide, some of the tests questions are read aloud, etc. Some have designated student notetakers in the classroom. This is unfortunate as the “individualized’ is taken out of the the IEP. Yet, some high school teachers seem to have a lot of freedom in this area. I think that some administrators also allow it. Parents and students are caught in a hard place.
Jennifer: Like Chuck says, “no,” this is not the intent in IDEA. That’s why it’s called an INDIVIDUALIZED program. He makes a good suggestion using the “I may have misunderstood” approach, but before you use it, make sure you’re up to speed.
20 USC 1414(d) starting on p. 99 in your Law Book. https://www.wrightslaw.com/store/selaw2.store.html
The special education law is based on the fact that children learn differently – not one size fits all programs for the whole class.
Or read more in Chapter 4, p. 29, Wrightslaw: All About IEPs. https://www.wrightslaw.com/store/aaieps.html
The IEP is the blueprint you use for a child’s INVIDIVUALIZED program. It all begins with the Present Levels for an individual child, not an entire class. https://www.wrightslaw.com/howey/10tips.placement.htm
Here’s a great checklist to use for Individualized IEPs. https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/iep.individ.chklist.htm
You’ll also find a lot of discussion about this in the comments on this post “Different Kids-Identical IEPs” at https://www.wrightslaw.com/blog/different-kids-identical-ieps-using-pull-down-menu-ieps/
Only if by some miracle the teacher is assigned to a group of students who are all at the exact same level, need to work on the exact same skill, need the same level of support and modifications, with the exact same materials, and all learn at the exact same rate!
NO. Bringing this to the attention of the principal &/or the special ed director should produce a change. I would suggest the approach of “I may have misunderstood, but I thought that they said something about modifying IEP goals”.