Standards-Based IEPs: Special Show Introduction

Arkansas is changing to standards-based IEPs with four districts testing the new forms this fall. Standard-based IEPs use the goals of the Arkansas curriculum framework rather than team-selected goals. The new IEP should help students with disabilities do better on benchmark exams and help general education teachers understand the IEP.

To introduce Arkansas educators to the standards-based IEP, Ms. Marla Holbrook of Alabama Department of Special Education gave a presentation on the topic during Special Show in July 2010. She will be conducting training around the state on the new IEP for school staff. Please contact her directly for more training information at marlaholbrook@gmail.com.

Beginning in the fall of 2012, all Arkansas school districts will have IEPs listing items from the curriculum framework as annual goals, or standards-based IEPs. These new IEPs will have annual goals that are aligned with grade-level content standards. Students who are on portfolio assessment or who are otherwise not taking benchmark exams are exempt from the standards-based IEP.

My article is based on what she presention but is not a word-for-word summary. I hope to show Arkansas parents how they can use the Arkansas curriculum framework to develop their IEPs for students with autism.

Arkansas Department of Education develops curriculum frameworks, or list of many tasks each student is supposed to master in each grade. Using this framework, Arkansas then creates its benchmark exams and approved school curriculums. For instance, here're the general categories of what Arkansas students are expected to master from Kindergarten to 8th grade in English Language Arts:

• Oral and Visual Communications
• Reading
• Writing
• Inquiring/Researching

Just this part of the framework is 80 pages long, and students are supposed to master prior material before moving onto the next grade level.

There are a couple of areas where looking at the Arkansas curriculum will help develop better IEPs for students for autism. For instance, the K-8th grade language arts curriculum begins with several pages of listening and speaking goals for students, such as second grade student mastery of:

• verbally introducing yourself to others(OV.1.2.4)
• giving 3 and 4-step directions (OV.1.2.8)
• asking and answering questions(OV.1.2.12)
• demonstrating active listening behaviors (i.e., asking relevant questions)(OV.2.2.1)

Looking at the much broader curriculum framework, with its expressive language and listening goals, students with autism now have a way to see if they're falling behind in these important skills.

The Arkansas curriculum framework also details the level of reading comprehension and writing skills that a child should master. Both of these areas can also be troublesome for students with autism.

My advice would be for parents should look closely at the Arkansas curriculum framework and see if their child has mastered the listed goals of the prior grade. If not, is it caused by the disability? Does the district need to do additional testing? Even a typical learner may not master every item on his or her grade's framework, but severe lags on the framework that don't match the child's cognitive/IQ level are a big sign of trouble.

It's also tough for parents transitioning from preschool, where there is no curriculum framework, into kindergarten. What skills are being worked on in preschool? Where is the student behind or ahead? Parents do not have an Arkansas framework in preschool.

For individuals interested in incorporating social skills into the IEP, the curriculum framework may be the easiest way for parents to determine when skills should have been mastered. Conference Presenter Ms. Holbrook suggested that the annual level of mastery should never be less than 80%.

All Arkansas curriculum frameworks for various subjects and grades can be found at the Department of Education website HERE. Arkansas has just agreed this summer to adopt the national curriculum standards, so state frameworks will be updated in the next couple of years.

Comments

[whole child advocate]

I want to be very caution about not throwing the baby out with the bath. In many cases the frameworks limit the education opportunities for students with disabilities. The issue has to be addressed are we meeting the needs of that specific child or are we preparing him/her just to be proficient on the state assessment. The "special" part of special education is being able to educate a child not only academically, but socially, emotionally and functionally. In reviewing frameworks the latter three areas are sorely missed and I believe this is a component of the reason that has been such an increase in behavioral and mental health issues with not only special education students but with the regular population. It is important to reading and compute but if you can't be socially or emotional appropriate in today's society the quality of one's life is non-existent. Deficits in these two areas have terrible outcomes, jail, institutions, homebound or sadly dead. As a community that is trying to advocate for children to be the best they can be, we have to respect their disabilities and support their development in all aspects of learning.

[Eye Contact Arkansas]

You are correct in that the weakness of standards-based IEPs is that the non-curriculum aspects of the child's education are ignored. I do think, though, that the curriculum framework will be of overall benefit to students with autism because it does contain social goals.

The purpose of IDEA as stated in the U.S. law is to "further education, employment and independent living." I agree it would be great to have this clause emphasized at IEP meetings. What I've seen so far in Arkansas, however, is that parents cannot get schools to meet these needs of "further education, employment, and independent living." The schools almost always reply that there needs to be an educational basis for the request.

My article on Standards-Based IEPs iis meant to be a tool for parents who are going into these school meetings with very little in the way of support. Arkansas suffers a severe lack of special education advocates, mental health professionals, and independent educational assessors. You must really assume that the IEP meetings are just the family and the school personnel.