How to help students with IEP?

 1. What is IEP?

       According to Allen (2018), an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a legal/educational document that must be developed at public schools for each child who requires special education services. Siegel (2020) states federal law guarantees every child a free appropriate education, and the goal of the IEP is to assure that every child with special needs receives what the law promises. According to the U.S. Department of Education (2020), each public school child who receives special education and related services  must have an IEP. The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities. 

       The following video "Principles of IDEA: The IEP" is a general introduction of IEP. 

2. Who are affected by IEP?

       My school district is in compliance with the IEP policy. All students who qualify for Special Education services receive an IEP that outlines how our schools will meet each student’s individual needs. The information of the IEP in my district can be found in Special Education, Child Find, and Understanding IEP on the school district’s website. The district implements the IEP policy by communicating with the school administrators, parents, and related personnel. My district’s website states that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that students with special needs be provided with a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) that is appropriate to each student's needs. This includes early intervention services for infants and toddlers, preschool for students starting at age three, services for school age children in grades K-12, and transition services for eligible students up to age 22. The school administrator, case manager, special education teacher, parent/legal guardian, and other professional personnel work together by having the IEP meeting to help students with disabilities to attend the least restrictive classes with support and make progress academically.       

3. How to help students with IEP? 

       Freedman (2020) states that IEP provides the rights to both the student and parents through the IDEA’s two prongs of rights- for students and for parents. He points out for the student, the IEP team’s job is to develop an IEP that provides a FAPE. For the parents, the IEP team provides them with the opportunity to practice meaningfully in the development of the IEP.  However, it can be a failure especially in low socio-economic and low performing school districts. There are many cases where students are not properly evaluated. One of my students’ parent told me “I disagree with how the school evaluated my son. The services are generically not individualized as state and federal intended for my son.” She also complained that teachers most of the time do not read or review the IEP therefore do not provide the services. Her opinion reflected “Properly certified teachers are often ‘improperly prepared’ to deliver effective instruction” (Georgette Dickman, 2003). In addition, sometimes parents are left out of the decision process as Chen (2020) expresses that parent of special education students who are frustrated with the lack of support in the public school system are taking matters into their own hands.      The way the federal and state law of IEP is written is fair. However, the lack of proper implementation at the district, school, and classroom causes unfairness sometimes. 

       From my personal experience as a Chinese immigrant and communication with many Chinese parents, I sensed the difference of perspective of special education influenced by the culture. Most Chinese parents are reluctant to talk about their children’s disabilities. Without parental contribution, school faculty may be unaware of important information, which should inform IEP planning (Counts, Katsiyannis, & Whitford, 2018). However, when parents have language or cultural barriers, participation in the IEP may be less meaningful, which could result in worse outcomes for students (Higgs, 2020).

       The vision of my school is within a school culture of pride and ownership, prepare students to be successful at a four-year college or university. In order to achieve this vision, 

·       teachers should grow professionally, align teaching to state standards, provide appropriate and challenging learning opportunities to diverse students, provide accommodation to students with IEP, collaborate reflectively in professional learning communities, and celebrate small, progressive gains regularly. Students with IEP need more individualized plans and supportive service. 

·       parents should communicate collaboratively with the school and support its vision and mission, be aware of their child's progress, graduation, and higher education requirements, and get involved in the functions, committees, and volunteer opportunities of the school. 

·       administrators should sincerely communicate with the case manager, psychologist, teachers, parent/legal guardian, and other personnel to evaluate, monitor, and support students with IEP. 

·       students with IEP need more sufficient materials and resources from school to support their learning and monitor their progress. When their needs are truly met, their academic potential will be really developed. Till then they can more than likely graduate and thrive in life. 

     "A Guide to the Individualized Education Program" is very informative and educational. The link is https://www2.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html 

      Thank you for reading. Please feel free to leave comment in below to share your thoughts about IEP. 

                                                                 References:

Allen, S. 2018. Understanding IEP Laws and Regulations. 

       https://www.sjallenlaw.com/blog/iep-laws-regulations/

Chen, G. 2020. When Public Schools Fail Special Education Students: What Parents Can  Do.   

       Public School Review.            

       https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/when-public-schools-fail-special-education-students-what-parents-can-do

Counts, J., Katsiyannis, A., & Whitford, D. K. 2018. Culturally and Linguistically Diverse        

        Learners in Special Education: English Learners. NASSP Bulletin

 Freedman, M. 2020. IEP and Section 504 Team Meetings. CORWIN A SAGE Publishing  

         Company.

 Higgs, J. 2020. The Experiences of Chinese Parents in IEP Meetings Whose First Language is   

       not English. Texas Tech University. 

       https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2346/86562/HIGGS-DISSERTATION-2020.pdf?sequence=1

 Lynwood Unified School District Special Education.     

       https://www.mylusd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=382760&type=d&pREC_ID=1902623

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services U.S. Department of Education. 2020. A  Guide to the Individualized Education Program. 

       https://www2.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/iepguide.pdf

 Siegel, L. 2020. The Complete IEP Guide How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child. NOLO    

        Law for All.

My action plant to improve students' cultural awareness (part 2)

 

       In week 5, staff will discuss the pedagogy of cultural responsiveness,  such as cultural academic vocabulary, literacy, language, body gesture, eye contact, celebrations we can include in our teaching, how to create and maintain a mutually respectful learning environment. Some guided questions can be (Hollie, 2018) : What activities we use that could be described as culturally responsive? Are these activities effective? Why? What culturally responsive vocabulary, language and literacy do we use in teaching? How do we create and maintain the culturally responsive environment?  Hollie (2018) mentions the focus of vocabulary development is building on words that represent concepts that students bring to the classroom. Many of these words come from their cultural backgrounds and their lives at home and communities.  Teachers may encourage students to freely express themselves, be proud of their root, and maybe share some vocabulary in multiple languages. It is also helpful to invite each student to teach the class and the teacher how to pronounce his/her name, share the story or origin of his/her name, and create art works of the name.

       In my school, teachers connect with parents/guardians through Aeries Communication, Email, Google Classroom, phone calls, text message, letters, progress report, home visit, and Parent Center.  In my interview, however, parents/guardians expressed the need for closer communication from school. Therefore, in week 6, we will reflect on how to better communicate with parents. Morris (2019) states there are various ways to connect with parents/guardians: the teacher can create a blog to provide parents a virtual window to know about each class their child/children take. If the teacher can open a podcast, then parents/guardians and students can listen on-the-go and learn a lot from the process. She also advocates to utilize social media to connect with parents/guardians. Many parents use social media daily and it is becoming more common for teachers and schools to communicate in this way.

       In the last week of this action plan we can invite stakeholders to discuss and share their opinions of this program. It will be helpful for school to discover the strengths and areas that need to improve. It also shows our dedication to collaborate with stakeholders to promote a more successful culturally-diverse school climate. 

       Even though it is the end of this action plan, it should become part of school culture and continuously implemented for a more successful school climate. This action plan includes the following components. First, consistent communication with stakeholders is the foundation. Second, encourage collaboration among staff through staff meetings, leadership meetings,  and department meetings. Fostering the Professional Learning Community is essential to staff because it offers the opportunity for teachers to work collaboratively and learn from each other. The collaborative environment helps teachers feel comfortable to share their ideas and experience of communicating with students and their parents/guardians to find out their learning needs and hardship of life, embedding students’ culture to the lesson to increase and motivate students to learn.  The third core is collectively providing students access to a rich cultural learning environment and school climate through building the relationship with them. It is crucial to connect with the families via Parents Center, Parents Portal, Coffee with the Principal,  and social media. Last but not least, the school should  invite and appreciate all the stakeholder’s efforts and contributions to foster a more successful culturally-diverse school climate.

 Resources:

2019-2020 School Accountability Report Card

Morris, K. (2019). 8 Ways Teachers And Schools Can Communicate With Parents In 2020. http://www.kathleenamorris.com/2019/01/15/communicate-parents-2019/

Hollie, S. 2018. Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning. Shell Education

PBIS Assessment, https://www.pbisassessment.org/Anon/WVy102VSXu0

My action plant to improve students' cultural awareness (part 1)

The action plan I want to create and implement is to communicate with stakeholders to

jointly increase students’ cultural awareness. The steps, process, and timeline is shown in the

following chart. 

The action plan: Communicate with stakeholders to jointly increase students’ cultural awareness Personnel: Administrator  Instructional lead  Staff Myself Stakeholders  Weekly focus:  Week 1: Discuss with staff own cultural awareness and students’ cultural awareness Week 2: Conduct school climate survey to students, staff, and parents/guardians  Week 3: Analyze and discuss the data with staff and parents/guardians Week 4: Promote the Associated Student Body (ASB)’s cultural activities  Week 5:  Discuss the pedagogy of cultural responsiveness Week 6:  Reflect on how to communicate with parents culturally responsive Week 7:  Share their culturally responsive experience

       As a future administrator, the action plan promotes a successful culturally-diverse school climate through the above timeline. In the first week staff meeting,  I will introduce the concept of cultural responsiveness which is a way to validate students who they are culturally. Hollie (2018) states that the recognition of cultural responsiveness will keep you (teachers) focused on the overall goals: better academic outcomes for all students and a deeper understanding of their cultural background like age, gender, race, and social class,  in the school culture and mainstream culture.  He also points out the importance of acknowledging students’ home language and traditions. A school climate survey to students, staff, and parents/guardians will be sent in the second week. 

       This survey will be used to collect data from personnel about experiences with the overall school environment, which will then be analyzed to help foster improvements in school climate. It examines your attitudes and experiences with different aspects of the educational environment, including staff connectedness, structure for learning, school safety, the physical environment, peer and adult relations, and parent involvement. Your responses will provide us with important information to make the school even better (PBIS Assessment). In the following week, staff will analyze and discuss the data of the survey to discover the strengths and areas that need to improve in our school. 

       In my school, the Associated Student Body (ASB) represents the interests of students. It creates various activities to promote kindness, mental health, sports, clubs, dances, food, Homecoming, spirit week, and diverse cultures. The ASB teacher and students make efforts to foster a positive atmosphere during the school day where students feel wanted and accepted is critical to their success. In week 4, we will discuss how to better link ASB with stakeholders by providing more engaging activities to increase students’ awareness and respect of cultural diversity. As the student in the interview expressed, students like to see the posters and flyers in school. The administrators may send surveys to stakeholders to collect the cultural activities they would like to have ASB to organize and conduct, such as create and post posters of welcome everyone in multiple languages, anti-discriminations, physical and mental health. They can also provide students with flyers and post on social media about the events to encourage all stakeholders to participate. For example,  make announcements of the schedule of Heritage Months, which helps students better understand the various cultural celebrations and enhance cultural diversity. 

January	Welcome Back from Winter Break
February	Black History Month
March	Women’s History Month
May	Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
September	Welcome Back from Summer Break
October	Hispanic Heritage Month
November	Native American Heritage Month
December	Christmas

             ASB also may collect and post excellent students’ work from different subjects, in the hallway, cafeteria, office,  to show and share the cultural differences and similarities.  Various activities provide great opportunities for students and staff to increase cultural awareness, learn about other cultures, feel proud about their own culture, and foster mutual respect. All students and staff should be encouraged to participate in school's activities.