Page 11 - The Individual Education Plan (IEP) - A Resource Guide, 2004

THE IEP PROCESS
Regulation 181/98, subsec-
tion 6(8), as amended by Ontario Regulation 137/01, requires the principal, within 30 school days after placement of the pupil in the program, to ensure that the plan is com- pleted and a copy of it sent to a parent of the pupil and, where the pupil is 16 years of age or older, the pupil.
Under Regulation 181/98, the principal is responsible for ensuring that an IEP is developed for exceptional pupils.
Once a student has been identified as exceptional and placed in a special education program, successful practice suggests that the principal should assign to one teacher the responsibility for coordinating the development, implementation, and monitoring of the student’s IEP, employing a collabora- tive process. Planning a student’s educational program is best accomplished through the combined efforts of, and close communication among, the stu- dent, the student’s parents, the school, the community, and other profes- sionals involved with the student. The IEP provides an opportunity for all those involved with the student to work together to provide a program that will foster achievement and success.
Regardless who is coordinating the IEP process, decisions related to program planning (represented in the IEP template by the sections covering Current Level of Achievement, Annual Program Goals, Learning Expectations, Teaching Strategies, and Assessment Methods) should be made by the indi- vidual who teaches the student and prepares the report card – usually the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher is responsible for instructing the student and assessing the student’s knowledge and skills in relation to his or her learning expectations, including any modified or alternative expectations.
This guide recommends that a team approach should underlie the IEP process, and that the process should be curriculum-oriented; that is, it should focus on how the student is expected to progress through the Ontario cur- riculum, with or without modification of expectations, and on the provision of alternative programs not described in the Ontario curriculum.
The IEP process involves the following five phases:
1. Gather information
2. Set the direction
3. Develop the IEP as it relates to the student’s special education program and services
4. Implement the IEP
5. Review and update the IEP
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