Should a Similar IEP Be Put In Place When a Student Is Retained?

For the majority of students with disabilities, the goals (and objectives if applicable) of an IEP should be written to target curriculum-based measures. The purpose is to provide access to the general curriculum. Furthermore, LEAs have been warned about the importance of writing IEPs that change over time as IEPs that are similar from year to year indicate a lack of progress. However, if a student repeats a grade it would substantiate having a very similar IEP with regard to goals as the student would be working on the same curriculum two years in a row. The important thing for teams to consider in this case is the documentation of progress from the previous year. If the student mastered some of the goals and objectives, they need to be replaced by ones that are more rigorous. However, if there are goals that were not mastered it would make sense to target them the following year if they were written based on a curriculum the student will be exposed to again.