What is an Individualized Education Program (IEP)?

The Individual’s with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) was enacted to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.

Once a child or youth has been identified as a child in need of special education services, the service provider is obligated to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for that student. Each IEP must be developed based upon the unique needs of the student and must be an individualized document.  

The IEP describes the educational plan for a student with a disability. The IEP includes information about

• current functioning
• the types of skills that need to be learned
• the student’s areas of strength and weakness
• services and accommodations that will be provided 
• the type of environment the child or youth’s learning will take place

The Role of the IEP in Job Corps

Job Corps Centers primarily fall under the obligations and requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the American’s with Disabilities Act, with a few exceptions;  thus, the majority of centers are not required to maintain a current IEP for each qualified student with a disability.  Job Corps Centers are obligated, however, to develop an accommodation plan for qualified individuals with disabilities who are in need of reasonable accommodation. 

The IEP as a Tool

The IEP is a valuable document and serves as one tool for the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) to use in assisting the applicant or student in determining the types of reasonable accommodations he or she may need.  The IEP

• provides documentation of an individual’s disability
• provides present levels of functioning [at the time of the writing of the IEP]
• indicates the accommodations and supports provided in the public school setting
• usually identifies the diploma type the applicant is seeking
• usually identifies the assessment track in which the applicant is participating

The accommodations listed on the IEP may or may not be appropriate for the student in the Job Corps setting.  The IDT should talk to the applicant or student and ask what types of accommodations that he or she feels are needed to be successful in the program.  The applicant or the student may not know what he or she needs but could perhaps share more information about things that are difficult for them.  This information along with a review of the IEP should assist the interdisciplinary team [which is inclusive of the student] in developing an appropriate accommodation plan. 

Click here for a Job Corps Center IEP process flowcart.

Components of the IEP*

By law (IDEA), the IEP must include certain information about the child and/or youth and the educational program designed to meet his or her unique needs. Below is a list of the components of the IEP as well as some suggestions for how this information may be useful to Job Corps Interdisciplinary Teams.  Please keep in mind that the IEP is one tool that the IDT uses to document and/or assist in the determination of the applicant or student’s accommodation needs.  Interaction with the applicant/student is required and the team must consider the accommodation needs of the student in all areas of the program (i.e., academic, vocational, residential, recreation, etc.).  The IEP may not have information related to all of those areas; therefore it is incumbent upon the IDT team to assess the need for accommodation in all Job Corps program areas.

Current performance.

IDEA Requirement:  The IEP must state how the child is currently doing in school also known as present levels of educational performance (PLOP). This information usually comes from the evaluation results such as classroom tests and assignments, individual tests given to decide eligibility for services or during reevaluation, and observations made by parents, teachers, related service providers, and other school staff. The statement about "current performance" includes how the child's disability affects his or her involvement and progress in the general curriculum.

Job Corps Consideration(s): The PLOP is useful to the IDT in developing a picture of the student’s “current” skill set if the IEP is a recent one.  PLOPs from older IEPs (more than a year old) have limited benefit as the student may have gained additional skills during that time.  If multiple IEPs for that applicant or student are available, the PLOPs can be used to identify or track the individual’s pattern of skill development over a period of time (i.e., where the ongoing difficulties are, how long it took to master a particular skill area, etc.)

Annual goals.

IDEA Requirement:  These are goals that the child or youth can reasonably accomplish in a year. The goals are broken down into short-term objectives or benchmarks. Goals may be academic, address social or behavioral needs, relate to physical needs, or address other educational needs. The goals must be measurable-meaning that it must be possible to measure whether the student has achieved the goals.

NOTE: With the passage of IDEA 2004, schools are no longer obligated to include short term goals or benchmarks in the IEP unless the child or youth is on an alternate assessment track.  The IEP team may still use them but would not be required to do so.  The use of short term goals or benchmarks is not an automatic indicator that the youth is on an alternate assessment track as there use is optional by the IEP team.  Typically there is a section towards the end of the IEP that will indicate whether or not the student is on an alternate or standard assessment track.

Job Corps Consideration(s):  The goals will pinpoint specific individualized areas of need in which the student required special education services and/or supports.  With the passage of IDEA 2004, the goals included in the IEP should not be reflective of the core standards being presented in the general education classroom.  The goals are to assist the student in acquiring the skills necessary to access the general education curriculum. 

For example, if the class is going to be reading novels in the upcoming year and the student has significant decoding difficulties, then a goal for improving the student’s decoding would be appropriate.  Most likely this student will also need accommodations to access the curriculum while he is working on remediating this skill.  Another very simple example might be that the class is going to learn to tell time, however, the student cannot count by 5’s or 10’s.  In order to learn to tell time effectively, this student will need an IEP goal focused on learning to count by 5’s and 10’s.  A goal for learning to tell time would not be added as the student is going to be learning this through general education content provided in class.  The supporting skill however must be remediated first.

Special education and related services.

IDEA Requirement:  The IEP must list the special education and related services to be provided to the child or on behalf of the child. This includes supplementary aids and services that the child needs. It also includes modifications (changes) to the program or supports for school personnel-such as training or professional development-that will be provided to assist the child.

Job Corps Consideration(s):  Most IEPs will contain a “services” page that states the type of special education services that a student is receiving and where those services are provided.  Services may include occupational, physical, speech, or vision therapy, resource or pullout support, special education support within the general education classroom, assignment of a 1:1 paraprofessional, etc. 

The frequency and duration of the services can provide some general information as to the level of support that the student required in school.  If there are multiple IEPs within the student’s file, the IDT can review to see which services have been long-standing and which supports which were dropped over time.  This will give the team a sense of where the student may continue to need support. 

NOTE:  Students who received instruction in a resource room, via pullout services or in the general education classroom with special education support in their public school environments are routinely served in the Job Corps program with appropriate accommodations.

Participation with nondisabled children.

IDEA Requirement:  The IEP must explain the extent (if any) to which the child will not participate with nondisabled children in the regular class and other school activities.

Job Corps Consideration(s):  This information provides the IDT with an explanation as to why a student was not educated in an inclusive environment (i.e., general education) or had minimal exposure to the general education environment (i.e., student is highly distractible, needs small group instruction to remediate a skill deficit, etc.).  Other considerations might include whether or not the student was receiving his education in a highly structured residential programs with high levels of supervision.  Was it a therapeutic environment?  Why did the IEP team believe that this was the most appropriate environment for the student?  Likewise, if a student is in a self-contained class in the public school, does the IEP clearly state why the team believed that this was an appropriate environment for the student?  Most importantly, interact with the applicant or student to determine and/or confirm current needs for accommodation.

Participation in state and district-wide tests.

IDEA Requirement:  Most states and districts give achievement tests to children in certain grades or age groups. The IEP must state what modifications in the administration of these tests the child will need. If a test is not appropriate for the child, the IEP must state why the test is not appropriate and how the child will be tested instead.

Job Corps Consideration(s): This information can be very useful to IDT Teams in developing appropriate accommodation plans for a student.  This section will provide information as to whether the student is participating in standard assessments or alternative assessments.  It is important to review the alternate assessment requirements for the state in which the IEP was written so that there can be an appropriate understanding of what an alternate assessment “means” for that state.  Test accommodations that are listed may be accommodations that the student still needs and this should be reviewed with him/her during the interactive process.  Accommodations provided to a student in the testing environment should be applied in the academic and/or career technical environment.  It is usually not appropriate to accommodate a student in a test situation only. 

Dates and places.

IDEA Requirement:  The IEP must state when services will begin, how often they will be provided, where they will be provided, and how long they will last.

Job Corps Consideration(s): The frequency and duration of services can provide some insight as to the level of support needed for a student.  Accommodations that could assist the student in gaining access to and allowing participation in the Job Corps program in all areas must be considered.  Some students with disabilities receive special education services in an effort to remediate or automate a skill deficit.  If those services are unsuccessful, accommodations may and most often do allow the individual appropriate means with which to access the Job Corps program.

Transition service needs.

IDEA Requirement:  Beginning when the student is age 16 (or younger, if appropriate), the IEP must state what transition services are needed to help him/her prepare for leaving school. 

Transition services means a coordinated set of activities for a  child with a disability that

1. Is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the child with a disability to facilitate the child's movement from school to post-school activities, including postsecondary education, vocational education, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation;
2. Is based on the individual child's needs, taking into account the child's strengths, preferences, and interests; and includes

• Instruction,
• Related services,
• Community experiences,
• The development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives, and
• If appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and provision of a functional vocational evaluation.

Transition services for children with disabilities may be special education, if provided as specially designed instruction, or a related service, if required to assist a child with a disability to
benefit from special education.

Job Corps Consideration(s):  A well developed transition plan should include a list of the student’s employment goals, outside service providers that are being contacted to assist, (which often includes the Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS) or better known as Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), employment experiences, and any supports necessary for those employment experiences.  This information can provide the IDT team with information about a student’s previous or current career technical interests, types of work experiences that he/she participated in, and what type of supports and training was necessary in order for the student to be successful in these opportunities. 

Age of majority.

IDEA Requirement:  Beginning at least one year before the child reaches the age of majority, the IEP must include a statement that the student has been told of any rights that will transfer to him or her at the age of majority. (This statement is needed only in states that transfer rights at the age of majority.)

"In a State that transfers rights at the age majority, beginning at least one year before a student reaches the age of majority under State law, the student's IEP must include a statement that the student has been informed of his or her rights under Part B of the Act, if any, that will transfer to the student on reaching the age of majority, consistent with 34 CFR §300.517."

Job Corps Consideration(s):  This section will indicate whether or not a student has reached the age of majority and has assumed the authority to make decisions about his or her special education services and supports.  States must provide guidelines for those students who have reached the age of majority but has not been determined to be incompetent and who can be determined not to have the ability to provide informed consent with respect to his/her educational program. 

Measuring progress.

IDEA Requirement:  The IEP must state how the child's progress will be measured and how parents will be informed of that progress.

Job Corps Consideration(s): The law requires that school divisions provide updates of progress at least as often as it is provided to that of other students.  Most often progress reports will be sent home with report cards.  If the student has granted permission for you to obtain his/her special education records, include copies of the IEP Progress Notes in your request.  These may or may not be readily available dependent upon the school district.

Other content that may be discussed and included on the IEP

• Parents may provide input on the child’s strengths and areas of concern.
• Parental input for enhancing their child's education
• The results of recent evaluations or reevaluations
• How the child has performed on state and district-wide tests.

 *[USDOE, http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html]