(2019) | Useful to Parent Centers, schools, educators, families, and all stakeholders involved in writing student IEPs or training others about IEPs

The IRIS Center creates high-quality online training modules that schools, personnel preparation programs, inservice and professional development trainers, and others can use to learn in some depth about matters related to students with disabilities. Typically, these modules involve about 2 hours of training time, which can be taken self-paced or used in a class. This year, at the request of OSEP, at the U.S. Department of Education, the IRIS Center focused on creating detailed training modules on the IEP process. These two are currently available and highly recommended:

IEPs: Developing High-Quality Individualized Education Programs
This module details how to develop high-quality IEPs for students with disabilities. The module discusses the requirements for IEPs as outlined in IDEA, with implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. That court ruling substantially changed how IEP teams and others are to consider what constitutes an appropriate education for students with disabilities. The Supreme Court determined that, “[t]o meet its substantive obligation under the IDEA, a school must offer an IEP that is reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances.” The Court additionally emphasized the requirement that “every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives.” This training module from IRIS explicitly explores how IEP teams can meet the higher standard described for FAPE (free appropriate public education) into the IEPs they develop for a given student.

IEPs: How Administrators Can Support the Development and Implementation of High-Quality IEPs
Specifically designed with school administrators in mind, this second module offers guidance on how to support and facilitate the development and implementation of high-quality IEPs, including the monitoring of student progress.

A Professional Development Certificate is available on completion of each of these modules.

Visit the IRIS Center to access these and dozens of other training modules:
https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/