On November 16, 2015, the United States Department Of Education Office Of Special Education And Rehabilitative Services issued a "Dear Colleague" letter regarding high expectations for students with disabilities:

Ensuring that all children, including children with disabilities, are held to rigorous academic standards and high expectations is a shared responsibility for all of us. To help make certain that children with disabilities are held to high expectations and have meaningful access to a State’s academic content standards, we write to clarify that an individualized education program (IEP) for an eligible child with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) must be aligned with the State’s academic content standards for the grade in which the child is enrolled. Research has demonstrated that children with disabilities who struggle in reading and mathematics can successfully learn grade-level content and make significant academic progress when appropriate instruction, services, and supports are provided. Conversely, low expectations can lead to children with disabilities receiving less challenging instruction that reflects below grade-level content standards, and thereby not learning what they need to succeed at the grade in which they are enrolled.

Please note that the IEP must be aligned to the content standards. This does not mean that goals become a restatement of grade-level content standards but rather IEP goals and specially designed supports (SDS) are to be designed to allow the child to access and progress in the general curriculum (as stated in IDEA). A standards-based IEP is built on the belief that students with disabilities are capable of achieving grade-level proficiency if given appropriate instruction and supports, and by doing so, teams are ultimately preparing students to earn a regular high school diploma and succeed after graduation.

In order to write IEP goals that are aligned to grade-level content standards, the team should consider the following questions as they design the goals and SDS for each child:

• Which academic standards are most affected by the student’s disability?

  • from the ETR and the PLOP

• What access skills are required for every student to access the grade-level standard?

  • what are the barriers to accessing the gen ed content?

• What access skills will this student require to access the General Education curriculum?

  • unpack the standards in collaboration with general educators

• What services or supports may be provided to the student to increase access to the general education curriculum?

  • accommodations

• In what ways must the general education curriculum be changed for this student to access the content?

  • modifications