1. Standards Aligned Individualized Education Programs
Introduction
NOTE TO TRAINERS:
This PowerPoint and the accompanying handout packet are meant to provide IEP teams with guidance as they develop standards aligned IEPs.
You may want to poll your audience to find out their current level of understanding with the standards and the standards aligned system. This will help you choose the appropriate activities throughout the course of this training.
The links and tools referred to in this presentation were current as of June If you are using these training materials after June 2011, please check to see if the information is still current, especially regarding any changes in laws/policy and the Standards Aligned System.
Any examples in this PowerPoint or the related handout packet are only examples. They are meant to provide guidance but are NOT meant to be examples that should be emulated, especially without consideration of individual student need.
For questions related to the development of the IEP, please consult the annotated IEP on the PaTTAN website (
For more in-depth questions related to Special Education regulations, please consult your Bureau of Special Education Single Point of Contact (SPoC).
For a brief synopsis of the content contained in this PowerPoint, please locate the publication, “Writing Standards Aligned IEPs: At a Glance.” This publication is located at the PaTTAN website and should be viewed after having learned the content in this PowerPoint.
Some of the standard and anchor coding has changed since the development of the examples and materials in this training. However, these materials and activities are meant to illustrate the process of developing a standards aligned IEP and not to provide examples to be used for real students without regard to individual need. Any decisions about a student’s measurable annual goals or methods of monitoring progress must be made on an individual basis.

2. PaTTAN’s Mission
The mission of the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) is to support the efforts and initiatives of the Bureau of Special Education, and to build the capacity of local educational agencies to serve students who receive special education services.

3. PDE’s Commitment to Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
Our goal for each child is to ensure Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams begin with the general education setting with the use of Supplementary Aids and Services before considering a more restrictive environment.

4. Changes to Training
This training was revised as of July Please be sure to read the trainer’s notes in order to ensure you are providing the most current information.
The following list describes many of the changes that were made for the revision of the Standards Aligned IEP PowerPoint training:
The PowerPoint is available in sections only. This training covers many areas, which increases its length. This is because the training you are conducting may not require you to cover each area, or you may determine that it is more feasible to present the material in sections.
Additional legal information is provided in the notes to ensure understanding that a SAIEP is still an IEP and must meet regulatory compliance. A link to the annotated IEP is also provided to help ensure that regulatory misconceptions are not made
Links to additional resources are provided throughout so that complete information can be obtained without greatly extending the length of the PowerPoint
It is made more clear that baseline student data is part of the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance
The Standards Aligned System and state assessment information was updated
Information regarding alignment to Alternate Achievement Standards and IEPs for students with complex support needs who are eligible to take the PASA was added throughout.
Trainer’s notes were made more explicit, especially for areas in which we’ve learned of misconceptions in the field (e.g., frequency of progress monitoring, how to measure progress toward Measurable Annual Goals (MAGs), not every MAG must be aligned to grade level standards, instructional and grade level information is needed in several sections of the SA IEP)
No suggested number of MAGs because there is no legal basis for how many MAGs a student should have. That is an IEP team decision made on an individual student basis
Revised some of the example MAGs and added notes to make it clear that they are only examples to be used for training purposes. All MAG decisions must be made by the IEP team based on the individual needs of the student
Added information about assistive technology considerations for students who have such a need
Added additional resources for writing SAIEPs in the Resource section of the PowerPoint.

5. Accessing the General Education Curriculum
What is meant by the general education curriculum?
The full range of courses, activities, lessons, and materials routinely used by the general population of a school.
What is meant by access?
Active engagement in learning the content and skills of the curriculum that is being taught to general education students.
What is meant by the general education curriculum?: the courses or subjects offered to all students; the lessons, activities and materials used to instruct all students.
This means that every member of the IEP team must be familiar with the state content standards and anchors, including the Curriculum Frameworks portion of SAS.
In the past special education teachers may have been excluded from professional development activities that centered around the general education curriculum. But all students must have access to the general education curriculum. All teachers and administrators are responsible for the learning of all students.
This means special educators are helping to writing goals that are based on grade level content standards and then monitoring progress towards those goals. It means that special educators need to have access to, become familiar with and understand the standards, anchors and curriculum frameworks and are able to include the data from a variety of assessments when developing an IEP as part of the IEP team. General educators must learn more about students with disabilities as well as the learning and behavioral strategies that offer access to learning for all students. The RTII process can be an opportunity to broaden the knowledge base of general educators towards this goal. 5 5 5

6. What is a Standards-Aligned IEP?
An IEP that connects a student’s learning to grade level Pennsylvania standards and evaluates their progress through the lens of the general education curriculum, standards, assessment anchors and curriculum frameworks.
A Standards Aligned IEP is STILL an IEP. Measurable Annual Goals (MAGs) must still be measurable. The big difference is that the grade level standards are driving the data, MAGs, and progress monitoring. However, instructional level information is also still needed.
The point is to remember that a standards aligned IEP is still an IEP and must still meet the compliance regulations outlined in Chapter 14.
Additional information on the required components of the IEP can be found at:

7. Outcomes
Recognize the direct relationship between IEP development, implementation, and progress monitoring to the general education curriculum and the connections to Pennsylvania academic standards and anchors
Develop present levels of academic achievement that inform goal selection
Recognize and practice steps for writing goals that are aligned to PA standards
Determine specially designed instruction that is clear and effective
Explore methods to effectively monitor student progress
Recognize importance of providing opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and skills by incorporating Universal Design for Learning principles.
Generate next steps towards training teachers to write effective standards aligned IEP goals
It may be new for participants to develop a standards aligned IEP. It will be important to stress that the purpose of the training is to be able to understand how to develop an IEP that connects a student’s learning to the PA standards and evaluates their progress through the lens of the general education curriculum, standards, assessment anchors and curriculum frameworks.
This training will enable participants to develop an informative Present Levels of Academic Achievement , IEP goals and specially designed instruction with the use of the assessment data collected when utilizing a variety of data tools for the purpose of monitoring student progress.
Participants will be provided a sample excerpt of a student’s Present Levels of Academic Achievement that is detailed and includes the monitoring of progress towards a standards aligned curriculum (this sample is found in the handout packet). The sample demonstrates how the language used should be clearly stated so that all members of the IEP team and those involved in the implementation of the IEP will be able to understand and apply it.
This training shows how to link the SDI directly to student assessment and addresses the student’s needs across all school settings.
It promotes the importance of including all teachers who teach the student in the planning and implementation of SDI, and developing SDI that is not directly related to a specific curriculum or subject matter, but instead addresses the discrepancy between a student’s current grade level and his or her present achievement level and recommends practices that will address the student’s needs.
Provided in the training are samples of specially designed instruction that are descriptive on the IEP, so that it can be effectively implemented and student progress can be measured efficiently.
Through today’s presentation the message is that the IEP is not a lesson plan nor a curriculum but is a framework, outlining how to close the gap between a student’s present education levels and performance at grade level in the general education curriculum.
UDL Outcome: Throughout out the presentation, this symbol will illustrate opportunities for trainers to demonstrate or suggest the use of UDL as a tool for supporting diverse learners in academic achievement. More explanation comes later.
Also, a series of optional slides will enable trainers to include a somewhat deeper look at UDL in this or other trainings.

8. Traditional or Standards Aligned Classroom?
Write a ‘T’ if the statement depicts a traditional classroom. Write an ‘S” if the statement depicts a standards aligned classroom.
Whole class instruction dominates ____
Coverage of texts and curriculum drives instruction ____
Assessment is ongoing and used to make instruction
responsive to student need ____
Teacher tests and then moves on in the curriculum. ____
Lesson topic is selected based on standards ____
Lesson topic is selected based on curriculum and text. ____
The purpose of this activity is to get participants to think about the difference between a traditional classroom and one that is based on an alignment with the standards and the standards aligned system.
FYI, the answers are:
T, T, S,T, S, T
The handout referred to on the slide can be discussed in order to further clarify the responses to these statements.
Activity: UDL reference does not have to mentioned here, but this activity provides opportunity to refer back to these UDL ideas, which participants will have experienced. When UDL is described.
Provide choice to do as group/individual: (Options that increase individual choice and autonomy)
Then whole group with narration. ( Options that provide alternatives for auditory information)

9. PA Academic Standards What students need to know and be able to do.
Required by state regulation as basis for curriculum and instruction in PA schools.
Necessitate assessment, instruction, materials, strategies that are best suited to help all students achieve.
Should be reflected in IEPs.
We can’t talk about a standards aligned system, or standards–aligned anything without reminding ourselves about the purpose of academic standards
Pennsylvania academic standards describe what students need to know and be able to do as well as reflect the increasing complexity and sophistication that students are expected to achieve as they progress through school.
Ask for a show of hands in response to this question: How many of you are involved in schools that have graduation projects? Is there just one way to demonstrate the skills encompassed by that project?
State regulations require that schools use the standards as the basis for curriculum and instruction in Pennsylvania’s public schools.
Schools are charged with offering instruction using materials and strategies that are best suited to help students achieve.
“Special educators” are just that. They bring specialized skills and knowledge to that task.
IEPs reflect and operationalize that effort.

10. Standards first...
Ask: Which came first, the standards or your curriculum?
The standards or the test?
The standards or the unit of instruction?
A visual to remember it.
UDL: Representation: Options that support memory and transfer;

11. Academic Standards
Necessitate the selection and use of materials, methods and tools to enable students to achieve them.
Standards are WHAT, not HOW
Schools are charged with offering instruction using materials and strategies that are best suited to help students achieve.
UDL: that means recognizing and removing the barriers to achievement that some curriculum and materials may present, so our increasingly diverse student population can work toward common standards.
This is a very important point. Textbooks are an example of a barrier for some students.