IEPs in high schools

Case Study 1

This school had not catered for a student on the Register of Students with Severe Disabilities before 2006. The student’s enrolment at the school provided an opportunity to trial and implement practices for developing an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and establishing collaborative structures that support inclusion.

The enrolment of a student on the Register of Students with Severe Disabilities at this school coincided with the publication of the Department of Education’s Guidelines for Individual Education Planning. Staff from the school took the opportunity to attend statewide professional learning relating to IEPs as a start point for guiding their thinking about the IEP process and documentation at their school.

Ideally, everyone involved with a student should play some role in contributing to and developing the IEP but with so many people involved at this school, the task of managing the IEP process initially appeared quite large and unwieldy.

Clearly, it was impractical for so many people to meet physically with the frequency required to develop an effective IEP. The school leadership team invited expressions of interest from staff to take on the role of IEP coordinators. Two teachers offered to share the role.

In this beginning year of having a student on the Register, the coordinators actually took on two roles. One was to develop the IEP for the new Year 7 student, the other was to problem solve and document the process so that the school had established guidelines for future reference.

IEP Co-ordinator’s reflection

‘At the start, the enormity of the task was very daunting, there are over fifteen people involved with the student at this school, so the task was a bit overwhelming. We worked to really try and sort it out so that it was a much simpler process.’

Early in the year, and through the transition process, senior staff and the Teacher Learning Support Leader (TLSL) discussed with the family their goals and aspirations for their daughter.

At the beginning of March, all staff who had contact and responsibility for the student met to identify Key Outcomes for the student. These were discussed in light of family priorities. There were challenges in organising a meeting for so many people however it was critical in order to develop some shared understandings about the requirements of an IEP and collaboratively identify key learning areas for the student. It was at this stage that the IEP coordinators took over the IEP development process. They were supported by the Assistant Principal and cluster support staff.

From the beginning, it was decided that all subject teachers had a role in contributing to the development of the IEP in order to encourage a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for the document and the educational outcomes of the student. The challenge was how to do this when whole-group meetings were so difficult to organise. The coordinators decided that a well-established school communication channel could be utilised. Communication between staff through email and Staff Share was already a well established routine, so this became the key method of inviting feedback and contributions to the IEP.

The IEP was completed in two stages. The first stage involved the coordinators collating the supports and accommodations section of the IEP, with the support of the TLSL. The combined template available at the top of the IEP Guidelines web page was used for this purpose. This was then emailed as a draft to all staff for comment. In light of feedback, modifications to the content were made.

The second stage involved looking at how to frame the IEP document so that all staff could develop subject-specific understanding goals and short term objectives that addressed the three Key Outcomes. The IEP coordinators drafted a proforma for this purpose, which was sent to subject teachers for filling in. Cluster support for writing goals and short-term objectives was offered.

The IEP coordinators then collated staff contributions and the draft IEP was shared with the family.

Family’s reflection

The nature of the relationship between the family and the school meant that IEP key outcomes were closely aligned with parents’ own goals for their daughter. From the beginning of the process, they were asked to share these goals and priorities. As the final IEP was drafted, the parents were given the opportunity to review it and make comments and suggestions. These were taken on board and incorporated to the final document.

The family commented on the positive tone of the IEP developed by the school. They were impressed that it focused on what their daughter could do and outlined logical next steps in learning as well as highlighting the most important things to focus on.
They valued the fact that each teacher had obviously contributed to the development of the IEP in a meaningful way.

Finally, the completed IEP was posted on Staff Share as a master copy. By maintaining a master copy of the IEP in Staff Share, all teachers can update and make observations or assessments that can be seen by all other teachers working with the student. This helps build collective understanding of her progress, informs practice and enhances a sense of shared responsibility.

Teachers’ reflections

‘We worked to really try and sort it out so that it was a much simpler process. In the end having two leaders who drafted copies and then got others to contribute was the best way to go about it. Using email to disseminate information and contribute was the simplest process. With our IEP, we designed it so that it was relevant to our school environment and so that information can then be put straight into our reports.’
‘The process of going through the IEP was a valuable one for reflecting on what I need to do for this student. Her goals easily fit in with those that I have for the whole group.’
‘Developing an Individual Education Plan has enhanced my practice in the classroom through being able to gain a very clear understanding of the student’s needs and also her past education and what her experiences have been, also looking at what other teachers have been doing with her and observed of the student has informed my practice by gaining knowledge of her in other areas.’

Ongoing benefit

Determined to make the most of the learning and hard work that the teachers had undergone this year, the senior staff allocated time to ensure that the process for developing and implementing an IEP in their high school setting was documented. This has led to the development of a school IEP guidelines document that clearly defines the expectations for the development and implementation of an IEP for any future student who needs this framework for their learning.

School IEP guidelines [Word 85KB]