Pursuing Academic and Functional Advancement: Goals, Services, and Measuring Progress

According to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School Board in order to meet it's educational benefit standard under the IDEA, school districts are obligated to “offer an IEP that is reasonably calculated to enable the child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances." It is through the present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP), annual goals, services, and methods to monitor student progress that special educators can ensure that their students’ IEPs are designed to enable them to make academic and functional progress. The purpose of this article is to assist IEP teams to (a) connect students’ starting points in areas of need as defined in the PLAAFP statements to the rest of the IEP, (b) write legally defensible IEP goals that are ambitious and meaningful, (c) develop special education and related services based on peer-reviewed research (PRR) and (d) monitor a student’s progress towards his or her goals.