Achieving special education compliance can be difficult due to extensive documentation, multiple stakeholders, and time constraints. See how you can be proactive in your practices while ensuring your school or district is audit‑ready with hard‑won, real‑world tips!
7 Secrets of Compliance
Ensure teachers, therapists, caregivers, administrators, and students are heard and included. These tips and best practices will help you achieve and maintain compliance year‑round!
1. Support and Retain Teachers
Encourage collaboration and pair mentors with new teachers. Offer meaningful training and support to the entire school to help maintain compliance.
2. Make Planning Time Purposeful
Bring together case managers and teachers to draft elements of the IEP well in advance. Provide an “IEP at a glance” one‑pager to help everyone involved!
3. Stay Organized
Keep a calendar of due dates and deliverables. Collect work samples, consult with other teachers, and invite parental input throughout the year.
4. Place the Student in the LRE
The least restricted environment (LRE) is mandated by IDEA, and placement must be individualized for each student. Consider opportunities for inclusion at specials, lunch, assemblies, and field trips. Special education teachers should not be the only ones finding ways to include students with their peers!
5. Write and Implement Quality Goals
Assess student needs, design goals, and align them to state standards! Ensure materials are provided at age‐ and grade‑appropriate levels.
6. Collect Data
Data collection helps to advise present levels, drive IEP goals, inform instruction, and monitor student progress. Invite multiple stakeholders to give feedback on the student’s progress. It doesn’t have to be about tests and clipboards, direct observation is data collection—take a photo of that awesome block tower!
7. Prepare and Plan Proactively
Have a peer review your work, and then conduct a pre‑audit. Use checklists to ensure components of the IEP are present and correct to support compliance! You’re golden!
