Developing Educationally Meaningful and Legally Sound IEPs: (Special Education Law, Policy, and Practice)

The purpose of this book is to assist readers to use better practices when developing educationally meaningful and legally sound Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Beginning with the history and purpose of IEPs, this book examines the context and reasons IEPs were first created. The core chapters address better practices in conducting assessments, developing present levels of academic achievement and functional performance statements, crafting measurable annual goals, determining special education services, and monitoring and reporting on students’ progress. The authors also discuss placing students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment (LRE) and provide forms and graphics to assist in developing students’ special education programs.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 A Brief History of Free Appropriate Public Education and Individualized Education Programs 2 The Courts and Free Appropriate Public Education 3 Foundations – IEP Development: Procedural, Substantive, and Implementation Requirements 4 The IEP Process and Components: Ensuring Meaningful Parental Participation and Conducting the IEP Meeting 5 The IEP Process and Components: Conducting Assessments and Crafting Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance 6 The IEP Process and Components: Developing Measurable Annual Goals and Monitoring Student Progress 7 The IEP Process and Components: Developing Special Education Services, Related Services, and Supplementary Aids and Services 8 Determining Placement Epilogue

About the Author :
MITCHELL L. YELL is the Fred and Francis Lester Palmetto Chair in Teacher Education and professor of special education at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Yell has published 134 journal articles, 6 textbooks, and 38 book chapters and has conducted numerous workshops on various aspects of special education law, classroom management, and progress monitoring. In 2020, he was named Researcher of the Year by the Council for Exceptional Children. DAVID F. BATEMAN is professor in the department of educational leadership and special education at Shippensburg University, where he teaches courses on special education law, assessment, and facilitating inclusion. Dr. Bateman recently coauthored A Principal’s Guide to Special Education, A Teacher’s Guide to Special Education, Special Education Law Case Studies, Special Education Leadership: Building Effective Programming in Schools, and Current Trends and Legal Issues in Special Education. JAMES G. SHRINER is associate professor in the department of special education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His work includes research on the effects of federal and state policies on the educational services provided to students with disabilities. He is the creator and developer of the IEP Quality Project Tutorial, a web-based decision-making support tool for IEP teams (Institute of Education Sciences awards, R324J06002; R324A120081, and Illinois State Board of Education, Part D awards).

Review :
Yell and Bateman provide a clear, practitioner-friendly guide to help educators improve the quality and impact of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) in alignment with the recent Endrew F. Supreme Court decision. This text offers guidance for setting goals, collecting meaningful student data, involving key stakeholders including families, and for evaluating student response and refocusing when response is insufficient. This text is an incredibly important tool that is easy to access. Educators will benefit from the wise guidance—and, more importantly, students with disabilities will benefit from more focused IEPs that are more rigorous and are more aligned with the intent of IDEA. Another hit out of the park for this brilliant author team. I was thrilled to read this book. It provides a solid grounding in IDEA’s requirements for IEPs, and then brings them alive by discussing how to develop IEPs that not only meet legal requirements but also are meaningful for each child’s education. This book provides the foundation for a pathway to better outcomes for individuals with disabilities.