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Text Box: June 2005

Text Box: The Promise within IDEA 2004 Submitted by ZoAnn Torrey, State Director of Special Education   The revisions of IDEA 2004 hold promise for higher expectations and improved results for children with disabilities.  Our attitude about implementing these changes will either help our children get the most from it or freeze us in time.  Although there are areas that may concern us, we should embrace the promise these changes provide.    There are several changes affecting IEPs. Frequent concerns are expressed about the elimination of short term objectives for the majority of students.  However, if quality, MEASURABLE goals are written for students, the elimination of objectives should not be a concern.  For example, we frequently see students who have met all of their reading objectives but have made limited improvement toward the act of reading.  The steps to get to the goal are of little importance if we don’t move any closer to the goal.  In establishing measurable goals, the important thing is, we must have data.  We must know the starting point and the expected end point.  As long as we are clear on these two data points, we will be able to successfully monitor the student’s progress over the course of the IEP.  In addition, reporting of progress to parents was further defined in IDEA 2004.  It is essential to the success of measurable goals that progress reporting occurs and parents are given this information in a timely manner.    The flexibility of making minor changes to an IEP outside of an IEP meeting sounds appealing.  At the same time, it is critical that parameters be established for this practice.  Parents and administrators are both concerned about managing this flexibility.  We are encouraging everyone to “wait.”  We need to see the proposed federal regulations and hear the comments before establishing parameters.    As for the increased flexibility that has been added for IEP team attendance, it will be interesting to see how the regulations clarify this new law.  In one way, the changes give us permission to reduce the number of people, especially related service providers, in attendance at some IEP meetings.  Then again, I will be concerned if the flexibility is aimed primarily at decreasing the attendance of general education teachers.  We will need to provide clear guidance on the intent of these changes as soon as possible.    As you know, Kansas maintained the requirement that secondary transition planning begins at age 14.  The requirement for measurable post-school goals should encourage teams to think beyond completion of high school.  We must ensure we make transition planning meaningful.  Many of us are discouraged by the impact that excessive caseloads and shortages in other state programs has had on meaningful interagency transition planning.  IDEA 2004 gives us the opportunity to strengthen our interagency agreements, ensuring students receive the support and services they need.

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