"How the student's disability affects his or her involvement and progress in the general curriculum."

During our Procedural Compliance review in 12-13 we learned that we need to be better at answering/addressing the following information in the Present Level of Performance. This continues to be an area of challenge for us in 13-14 as well as I review the student's IEPs. We will continue to work on this together and I can help support you as well with any questions.  

"How the student's disability affects his or her involvement and progress in the general curriculum."

DPI has described this section as: 

 

General education curriculum refers to what the student will be taught, not where the student will be taught. The general education curriculum is the common core of subjects and other curricular areas adopted by the district, or school within a district, for all students within each general age or grade grouping from preschool through secondary school. “Full time in the general curriculum” means the student’s instruction addresses the standards for nondisabled children in the student’s general age or grade grouping in all areas of the LEA’s curriculum. A student with a disability may participate in the general curriculum with or without accommodations. A student may participate in the general education curriculum even if the student receives instruction in a special education environment (e.g. resource room). 

Our DPI consultant also states this about this area: There is really no correct or incorrect way to write this statement. The statement must be sufficiently descriptive to provide information responsive to the prompt.  This statement should also serve as a starting point for the discussion of needed goals and services.  The  standards used for compliance self-assessment for this section of the IEP form is described at: http://sped.dpi.wi.gov/files/sped/pdf/sa-stand-dir-new-cycle.pdf (See Items IEP-4 and IEP-5).

DPI Writing Meaningful IEP Guide

DPI has also included 4 examples of how to write this section (and academic achievement/functional performance) in the Present Level of Performance. Here is a link to those examples: http://sped.dpi.wi.gov/files/sped/pdf/iepguide.pdf. This includes examples of an elementary student with a learning disability, four year old early childhood student, high school student with a cognitive disability, and middle school student with a learning disability. 

Writing IEPs is not always easy to put into words what we are trying to say and keeping in compliance with federal/state regulations.  Thank you for your time in writing these legal documents and all of your efforts not only in writing them, but also in delivering those services. 

Thank you, 

Joseph