Committee reviews IEP development process and progress-monitoring practices

Katie Cole presented an overview of the Germantown School District’s individualized education program (IEP) process on Jan. 13, explaining how teams use baseline academic and functional data to set SMART goals and align services.

"The focus or the purpose of an IEP is to make sure that students have access to general curriculum," Cole told the Teaching and Learning Committee, describing a five-step cyclical process that begins with benchmarking students against grade-level standards and includes regular progress monitoring and annual review.

Cole said teams use a mix of data — district MAP and Forward data when applicable, classroom performance and other progress monitoring — to inform baseline decisions and goal writing. She emphasized the role of regular education teachers as content experts on IEP teams and said goals should be ambitious but achievable and tied to measurable progress monitoring. For reading and math, the district uses AIMSweb for frequent checks; for other goals staff may use rubrics or checklists depending on the skill targeted.

Cole described how services such as specially designed instruction and related services (occupational, physical and speech therapy) are matched to goals and reiterated that parents and staff can request a review or revise meeting at any time if a student’s needs change. She also noted district compliance work, including an August 2024 three-hour training for special education staff and monthly building-based follow-up professional development and goal review.

Committee members asked whether trends were consistent across buildings; Cole said common themes emerged and the district is using those trends to tailor monthly building PD, while pulling exemplars and monitoring goal progress across schools. The IEP update was informational only and no committee action was taken at the meeting.