- The fundamental questions to be addressed in the IEP are: (a) What are this child's needs? (b) What services will we provide to meet these needs? (c) What will the child be able to do if our services are effective?
- The IEP statement of present levels of performance (PLOPs) is derived from the evaluation of the child's needs and is the starting point for IEP development.
- The PLOPs must be measurable (and measured)!
- There must be a direct relationship from (a) PLOPs (needs) to (b) services to (c) goals and objectives. See Note 1 above.
- A PLOP, its short-term objectives (or benchmarks) and its goals must all be in the same unit of measurement, so progress can be observed directly.
- PLOPs must deal with performances affected by the disability, be measurable and linked to services and goals.
- Short-term objectives or benchmarks should correspond to regular education grading periods and the annual goal is then the final objective to be reached by the end of the final grading period.
- The statement of needed services is to be a statement, not a checkmark.
- Brainstorming creative and flexible approaches to services can be more productive, effective, and economical than a traditional, routine assignment of a limited number of related services.
- The 1997 IDEA puts great emphasis on measuring the effectiveness of services to a child.
- Monitoring a child's progress from PLOPs to annual goals is done by assessing whether the short-term objectives along the way have been accomplished. If not, services must be changed.
- Many IEPs contain totally unreal goals and objectives which cannot possibly be measured.
- A major misconception is the false belief that including a percentage makes an objective measurable, e.g., "John will dress himself with 85% accuracy", or "Joan will improve her behavior 90% of the time."
- A measurable goal or objective has (a) an observable learner performance, (b) a criterion such as speed or accuracy or both, and (c) if needed, a condition such as "given access to the internet."
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