Page 6 - The Individual Education Plan (IEP) - A Resource Guide, 2004

INTRODUCTION
This revised resource guide replaces Part E, ”The Individual Education Plan (IEP)”, of the ministry document Special Education: A Guide for Educators, 2001 (pages dated October 21), as well as the 1998 publication Individual Education Plan (IEP): Resource Guide. The present guide is intended to assist school boards in complying with the requirements for IEPs that are set out in Regulation 181/98 and implement- ing the policies set out in Individual Education Plans: Standards for Development, Program Planning, and Implementation, 2000.
This guide is intended to help teachers and others working with students with special needs to develop, implement, and monitor high-quality IEPs. A five-step process is recommended. Suggestions and examples are provided, but IEPs, by their very nature, will be individualized on the basis of the particular requirements of the student.
Section 1 of the Education Act defines a special education program as “an educational program that is based on and modified by the results of continu- ous assessment and evaluation and that includes a plan containing specific objectives and an outline of educational services that meets the needs of the exceptional pupil”. The term “special education services” is defined as “facil- ities and resources, including support personnel and equipment, necessary for developing and implementing a special education program”.
Under Regulation 181/98, “Identification and Placement of Exceptional Pupils”, principals are required to ensure that an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is developed for each student who has been identified as exceptional by an Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC), within 30 school days of the student’s placement in a special education program (see excerpts from the regulation on page 5). School boards also have the discretion to pre- pare an IEP for a student who is receiving a special education program and/or related services but who has not been formally identified as exceptional.
The Human Rights Code provides for the right to equal treatment with respect to services, without discrimination on the basis of a number of grounds, including disability. Education is considered to be a service under the code, and service providers have an obligation to accommodate a person’s needs, unless doing so causes "undue hardship” for the provider, “considering cost, outside sources of funding, if any, and health and safety requirements, if any” (Ontario Human Rights Code, s. 17(2)). Persons with disabilities should be considered, assessed, and accommodated on an individual basis.
In September 2000, the Ministry of Education released the policy document
Individual Education Plans: Standards for Development, Program Planning, and Implementation (referred to hereafter as the IEP Standards document). The purpose of the standards is to improve the consistency and quality of program
4
The Individual Education Plan (IEP): A Resource Guide