Student Information

The Bottom Line

The student information page is the first page of the IEP and captures several pieces of critical information about the student, including:

1. Student demographics

2. Parent/guardian contact information

3. IEP Information, including the student's case manager, identified disability, federal setting, progress reporting description, and IEP Team members

This page is updated annually or whenever notable changes occur.

The term “federal setting” refers to the percentage of time spent in the special education setting. Special education services provided in the general education environment (e.g., co-teaching, push-in instruction) do not count toward that percentage.

To calculate the percentage, divide the number of minutes the student spends in the special education setting by the total number of educational minutes (lapse time from the first bell to the last bell minus lunch period) in the school day and multiply by 100.

Example:

1. A student is in the special education resource room for 55 minutes each day. The school day begins at 8:35 and ends at 3:05. Students have a 25 minute lunch period.

2. Educational minutes in the day: 365 (8:35 to 3:05 is 390; minus 25 for lunch this is 365 minutes).

3. Percent: 55 divided by 365 is .1506. Multiplied by 100, this equals 15% or Federal Setting 1.

Kindergarten (including 5-year-olds) - 21:

Common codes; not all-inclusive.

• Setting 1: Up to 21% of school day

• Setting 2: 21 - 60% of school day

• Setting 3: More than 60%

• Setting 4: More than 50% and in separate facility

• Setting 8: Homebound/hospital/home-based setting

Southwest Metro sends home report cards four times per year, quarterly. I am determining my progress reporting schedule for the year and considering my options. My student's annual IEP meeting is coming up on December 10th. How do I want to report progress to parents this year?

Option 1: I could report progress in writing each time report cards are given out.

IEP Progress Reporting Statement would read: "Progress will be reported four times per year in writing, which is as often as progress is reported for general education peers."

Action I would need to take: If the annual IEP was held on December 10 and report cards were sent out on January 15, you would report on progress orally at the IEP meeting and send a progress report on January 15 as well as during the next regularly scheduled progress reporting times (i.e. quarterly).

Advantages: This option may enhance efficiency in that the same process can be used with all students on your caseload at the same time; you do not need to track IEP meeting dates and who got which progress report when. In addition, the Progress Report form in SpEd Forms provides prompts to help you remember what needs to be included.

Option 2: I could send out written progress reports for three of the report card periods and provide an oral progress report during the IEP meeting as the fourth report.

IEP Progress Reporting Statement would read: "Progress will be reported four times per year, which is as often as progress is reported for general education peers, with three written reports and once orally during the IEP meeting."

Action I would need to take:

• Option A (recommended): If the annual IEP was held on December 10, and report cards were sent out on January 15, you could document the progress discussed at the IEP meeting in each PLAAFP (see Progress Monitoring page) and would not send a progress report out on January 15. You would then need to send progress reports for the remaining three report card period covered by the annual IEP (i.e. two quarters this school year & once in the Fall next school year).

• Option B: Alternatively, you could document the progress reporting requirements in a Record of Team Meeting or IEP meeting agenda document and include it with the student’s IEP (see Progress Monitoring page) and would not need to send a progress report out on January 15. You would then need to send progress reports for the remaining three report card periods covered by the annual IEP (i.e. two quarters this school year & once in the Fall next school year).

Advantages: This option would eliminate the need to complete an additional document during the IEP annual review period. In addition, this option would ensure that some of the required PLAAFP information is included and rationale for changes to IEP goals would be clearly embedded within each PLAAFP section.