Tip #4 for Developing an Appropriate IEP:

PROGRESS MONITORING

The fourth rule, or “Tip”, is Progress Monitoring. Most children with special needs require progress monitoring more often than quarterly report cards. Frequent progress monitoring – at least every few weeks – is essential in assessing areas of a student’s weaknesses, and the IEP should also reflect that whenever the student is not making adequate progress toward a specified grade (such as a “B”), the parents should be notified within 48 hours of that deficiency. Significantly, research shows that frequent progress monitoring has a positive impact in allowing a child to achieve meaningful benefit, as such monitoring allows the student, teachers, and parents to adjust instruction or programming which is not effective, and also provides an incentive to students and instructors to achieve measurable progress.