As Wendell Berry said, “Once precision is abandoned as a linguistic or literary virtue, vague generalization is one of the two remaining possibilities, gibberish being the second.” Such language is open to guessing, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation. Look at these examples from a composite of IEPs.
Present Levels. “Juan has trouble with reading. He needs to improve his comprehension.” Ask yourself: How far below grade level is he reading? In addition to comprehension problems, does he have trouble with sight vocabulary, decoding, and fluency? Does he have trouble with listening vocabulary and listening comprehension? Without this information, teachers (and parents) don’t know what to teach him, how to measure his progress, and, because his instructional levels are not listed, at what levels to start instruction.
Goals and Objectives. “Juan will improve his reading.” Ask yourself: If by June he achieves a 3.2 grade equivalent on a standardized test, will it be an improvement? If so, how much? If he learns only 3 new words, will that be sufficient to say his reading has improved? If his teacher thinks he’s doing a little better understanding stories, but not textbook-like materials, has he achieved his goal? How much confidence can you have in a teacher’s opinion (or that of a surgeon or a physicist) if it’s not supported by relevant, objective data?
Measuring Progress. “Juan will improve his reading by 80%. This will be measured by teacher observations and report cards.” Ask yourself: What aspects of reading will be measured? Will it be phonemic awareness? Decoding? Sight vocabulary? Listening vocabulary? Oral reading fluency? Silent reading fluency? Comprehension of stories? Comprehension of textbook-like materials? All of these? If Juan’s baseline or instructional level is unknown, how can the teacher measure an 80% improvement? If he takes a test and gets 35% right, then re-takes it a week later and gets 70% right, has he surpassed the 80% criterion?
And so it goes: If an IEP is not complete and explicit, teachers don’t know what to teach to meet the child’s unique needs, no one knows how to measure his progress, and instruction is based on ignorance. Frequent outcomes include poor progress and parent-school conflict.
So, you must do whatever is ethical to ensure that your child’s IEP is complete and explicit. If it’s not, misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and misdirected instruction decrease his odds of becoming a highly motivated, proficient reader.
An IEP is not a contract; it’s a blueprint. As such, clarity and specificity are critical aspects for developing a meaningful and usable program for a youngster. Goals, objectives and other desired outcomes must always be explicit and measurable. A developer could never build a house with a blueprint lacking precision. This is an excellent piece that reminds IEP developers of the very basics.
Rather interesting. Has few times re-read for this purpose to remember. Thanks for interesting article. Waiting for trackback
Thanks for your kind words.