Individual Education Plans

The primary responsibility of the IEP Coordinator is organizing, scheduling and coordinating Annual, Triennial, Assessment and related service IEPs, as well as those IEP meetings requested by adult students, LEAs or parents.

The legal foundation of the IEP process is contained in the federal law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA ’04). This law requires that every school-aged child who has a disability and who qualifies for Special Education  services, must have a written plan for their education. This plan is called an Individual Education Program (IEP).

Each child who receives special education services is entitled to a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE), and the IEP is the tool through which FAPE is provided. The IEP meeting is a setting where parents, teachers, and other school personnel can participate together, can communicate openly, and can make decisions as a team in order to develop an IEP that is appropriate for that child.

The Annual IEP is written/reviewed at least once a year. There are also many other types of IEP meetings held for various reasons: Triennial IEP, Special Assessment IEP, Behavior Services IEP, Progress Review IEP, Placement Review IEP, etc.

Most IEP Teams at CSD include the parent of the child, a special education teacher representative, a representative of the local educational agency (LEA), the student (if appropriate) and an IEP Coordinator. Depending on the purpose of the meeting, the school psychologist, the diagnostic teacher, the guidance counselor, the career counselor, related services providers, or other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child may also be included.