An IEP must be in effect before special education and related services are provided to a student with a disability. At least annually for as long as a student is eligible for special education and related services, IEP teams must develop an IEP for every student between the ages of 3 through 21. IEPs shall conform with the content requirements of IDEA and Maryland law and regulations. The IEP must provide the child with FAPE. FAPE also includes ESY services if the IEP team determines, on an individual basis, that the services are necessary for the student. A public agency shall have an IEP in effect for a student with a disability at the beginning of a school year. IDEA requires specific information to be included in each IEP.
An initial IEP is the first IEP developed for a student upon (a) being found eligible for services under IDEA or (b) transferring into MCPS from another state and being found eligible under Maryland law and in conformance with IDEA. The initial IEP must be developed within 30 days of the initial special education eligibility determination. After the initial IEP, an IEP team shall implement an IEP as soon as possible after the meeting where the IEP is developed or revised, except when:
the meeting occurs during the summer or a vacation period; or
there are circumstances that require a short delay, such as working out transportation arrangements.
An annual review IEP team meeting is a meeting in which the team:
reviews the student’s IEP to determine whether the annual goals are being achieved;
revises the IEP as appropriate to address:
any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals and in the general curriculum where appropriate;
the results of any reevaluation or recent assessments conducted since the last IEP team meeting;
information provided to, or, by the parents/guardians;
the student’s anticipated needs; and
other matters related to the student’s IEP such as scheduling reevaluation planning or making decisions regarding district or state assessments to be held during the course of the new IEP.
Initial and annual review IEPs are effective for one year from the date of the meeting in which the IEP was drafted. Periodic reviews or amendment meetings may be held throughout the year to consider new information, discuss student progress, and make appropriate revisions to ensure students are receiving FAPE.
IDEA requires each IEP to include:
A statement of the student's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, including:
How the student's disability affects the student's involvement and progress in the general curriculum; or
For a preschool student, as appropriate, how the disability affects the student's participation in appropriate activities; and
Effective July 15, 2021, MSDE requires trend data, if applicable, to be added to academic present levels of performance.
Measurable academic and functional annual goals including benchmarks or short-term instructional objectives related to:
Meeting the student's needs that result from the student's disability to enable the student to be involved in and make progress in the general curriculum and meeting each of the student's other educational needs that result from the student's disability; or
For a preschool student, as appropriate, to participate in appropriate activities.
The special education and related services and supplementary aids and services, based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable, including staffing support to be provided to the student or on behalf of the student. If the IEP team determines that a student with a disability needs a particular device or service, including intervention, accommodations, or other program modifications, to receive FAPE, the student’s IEP shall include a statement to that effect.
Program modifications or supports for school personnel that will be provided for the student to enable the student to:
Advance appropriately toward attaining the annual goals;
Be involved in and make progress in the general curriculum;
Participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities; and
Be educated and participate with other students with disabilities and students without disabilities.
An explanation of the extent, if any, to which the student will not participate with students without disabilities in the regular class and activities.
A statement of any appropriate individual accommodations that are needed to measure the student's academic achievement and functional performance on statewide or districtwide assessments.
If the IEP team determines that a student may not participate in a particular statewide or districtwide assessment, documentation by the team of:
Why the assessment, or part of an assessment, is not appropriate for the student;
How the student will be assessed; and
Why a particular alternate assessment is appropriate.
The projected dates for initiation of services and modifications including the anticipated frequency, location, and duration.
A learning continuity plan to address the provision of FAPE during emergency conditions.
If a student requires ESY services, the IEP shall include the specific special education and related services to be provided beyond the regular school year.
Beginning not later than the first IEP to be in effect during the year in which a student turns age 14, (or younger if appropriate) and updated annually consistent with Education Article, §21-305, Annotated Code of Maryland, the student's IEP shall include:
The transition services including the course of study needed to assist the student in reaching those goals;
Appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based on age-appropriate transition assessments related to training, education, employment, and independent living, as appropriate; and
A statement of needed transition services including, if appropriate, a statement of a public agency's and a participating agency's responsibilities or linkages, or both, before the student leaves the secondary school setting.
A statement of how a parent is to be regularly informed of the student's progress toward the annual goal and the extent to which the progress is sufficient to enable the student to achieve the goals within a year.
In developing, reviewing, or revising an IEP, the IEP team must consider all of the following:
student’s strengths, academic, developmental, and functional needs;
parent/guardian input for enhancing the education of their child;
results of the initial or most recent evaluation of the student; and
results of the student’s performance on statewide, districtwide, or alternative assessment programs, as appropriate.
The following provisions are designed to foster the increased participation of children with disabilities in regular education environments or other less restrictive environments, not to serve as a basis for placing children with disabilities in more restrictive settings.
IEP teams shall consider for all students whether:
the student has communication needs, or
the student needs assistive technology and services.
In developing, reviewing, or revising an IEP, depending on the need of the student, the IEP team must consider if:
a student's behavior impedes the student's learning or the learning of others, the IEP team shall consider strategies, including positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports to address that behavior as appropriate.
a student is limited English proficient, the IEP team shall consider the language needs of the student as these needs relate to the student's IEP.
a student is blind or visually impaired, the IEP team shall provide for instruction in Braille and the use of Braille, including textbooks in Braille, unless the IEP team determines that instruction in Braille is not appropriate for the student.
a student is deaf or hard of hearing, the IEP team shall consider the student's
language and communication needs;
opportunities for direct communication with peers and professional personnel in the student's language and mode of communication; and
academic level and the full range of needs including opportunities for direct instruction in the student's language and mode of communication.
In the IEP team determines that instruction in orientation and mobility is not appropriate for the student, the IEP team shall order an orientation and mobility assessment, consistent with guidelines established by the Department, that:
Includes input from the student’s parent or guardian;
Includes input from the student’s classroom teacher; and
Takes into consideration the student’s age, current and future needs, ability to function in familiar and unfamiliar areas, and ability to function under various lighting conditions.
All students with disabilities, including students placed in interim alternative education settings or who have been suspended, must be included in statewide and districtwide assessments.
In Maryland, students with disabilities may participate (with or without accommodations) as appropriate, and as determined by the IEP team in the following assessments:
Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP)
High School Assessment (HSA) Government
Middle and High School Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA)
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) Alternate Assessment Science
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) Alternate Assessment English Language Arts
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) Alternate Assessment Mathematics
ACCESS for English Language Learners (ELLs) 2.0
Kindergarten ACCESS for ELLs
Alternate ACCESS for ELLs
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
In general, no student is exempt from participation in the Maryland Assessment Program; however, rare exceptions may be made by MSDE for significant medical emergencies. MSDE provides Maryland school systems with written guidance for selecting, administering, and evaluating the use of accommodations for instructing and assessing students with disabilities.
A student identified with a disability under IDEA also may qualify to receive related services as part of their IEP.
Related services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as may be required to assist a student with a disability to benefit from special education.
Related services include:
Speech-language pathology (for more information, contact Speech and Language Services)
Audiology (for more information, contact Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HOH) Program)
Interpreting services (for more information, contact D/HOH)
Psychological services (for more information, contact Psychological Services)
Physical and occupational therapy (for more information, contact Physical Disabilities Program)
Recreation, including therapeutic recreation (for more information about adaptive physical education (APE), refer to APE. For other therapeutic recreation, contact DPSPRS)
Early identification and assessment of disabilities in students (for more information, contact DSPSRS)
Counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling (for more information, contact School Counseling Services)
Orientation and mobility services (for more information, contact D/HOH)
Medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes (for more information, contact School Health Services)
School health services, including school nursing services (for more information, contact School Health Services)
Social work services in schools (for more information, contact Pupil Personnel and Attendance Services
Parent counseling and training (for more information, contact Student, Family, and School Services)
Specialized transportation (for more information, contact Transportation Support Services Unit)
A related service is required only when the IEP team determines the student requires the service to benefit from special education and has included the service on the student’s IEP.
Supplementary aids and services are provided in regular education classes, other educational settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate. Services may include consultation, which is defined as “services provided to a teacher, parents/guardians, or another service provider, regarding a specific student, designed to support and enhance the implementation of the student’s IEP."
ESY services are the individualized extension of specific special education and related services that are provided to a student with a disability beyond the normal school year, in accordance with the student’s IEP. When determining whether a student requires ESY services, the IEP team must consider the following factors:
Whether the student’s IEP includes annual goals related to critical life skills;
Whether there is a likelihood of substantial regression of critical life skills caused by the normal school break in the regular school year and a failure to recover those lost skills in a reasonable time;
The student’s degree of progress toward mastery of IEP goals related to critical life skills;
The presence of emerging skills or breakthrough opportunities;
Interfering behaviors;
The nature and severity of the disability; and
Special circumstances.
Following the consideration of the above-listed factors, the IEP team must determine whether the benefits gained by the student with a disability during the regular school year will be significantly jeopardized if that student is not provided with an educational program during a normal break in the regular school year.
The MCPS must ensure that meetings to determine a student’s need for extended school year services are conducted early enough in the school year to provide the parent the opportunity to request mediation or file a due process complaint
To the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities, including students in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with students who are not disabled. Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of students with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
Maryland regulations requires the following:
A public agency shall ensure that an IEP is in effect before special education and related services are provided to a student with a disability within its jurisdiction, including students with disabilities:
Placed in or referred to a nonpublic school by the public agency; or
Incarcerated in an adult correctional facility and in need of special education or related services from the local school system.
A public agency shall have an IEP in effect for a student with a disability at the beginning of a school year; or for students who are transitioning from Part C to B, beginning on their third birthday.
A public agency shall implement an IEP as soon as possible after the meeting where the IEP is developed or revised, except under the following conditions:
When the meeting occurs during the summer or a vacation period; or
When there are circumstances that require a short delay, such as working out transportation arrangements.
Each service provider responsible for the implementation of the IEP for a student with a disability shall:
Have access to the IEP; and
Be informed of the service provider's specific responsibilities, accommodations, modifications, and supports that shall be provided for the student in accordance with the student's IEP.
Each IEP shall include a learning continuity plan to ensure the provision of FAPE during emergency conditions.
The learning continuity plan shall:
Describe the methods through which the IEP services will be delivered during emergency conditions; and
Be reviewed and updated, as appropriate, at least annually.
The following sections of the IEP shall include planning for emergency conditions:
Instructional and Assessment Accommodations;
Supplementary Aids, Services, Program Modifications and Supports;
Secondary Transition Activities;
IEP Goals;
Services; and
ESY Services.
Notification of Emergency Conditions.
Within 10 days of the local school system, public agency, or school determining that emergency conditions exist, a member of the IEP team shall make a documented reasonable attempt to notify the parent/guardian of a child that the plan for emergency conditions is in place.
In contacting the parent/guardian, a member of the IEP team shall ensure the developed plan is still appropriate and discuss how it will best operate during the emergency conditions.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provision of services under a learning continuity plan during emergency conditions does not alter the child's educational placement for purposes of a due process complaint.
Legal Authority:
COMAR 13A.05.01.09; COMAR 13A.05.01.10; COMAR 13A.05.01.03;34 CFR §300.324(a)(2)(iii), Education Article, §8-408; COMAR 13A.06.05.01