As schools and districts continue to navigate a changing legal landscape with respect to individual education programs, setting appropriate IEP goals as part of every student’s transition out of secondary education has become more crucial than ever.
Recent landmark cases have highlighted the importance of providing high-quality IEPs that lead to measurable progress. Moreover, legal experts have identified the transition planning process as a weak spot for many institutions leading to increased exposure to litigation for those who overlook this key step in special education.
To help ensure your transition plans provide the best possible outcomes for students and minimize the probability of legal action, we’ve consulted with Dr Hulett – an author and leading voice in special education.
In this article, Dr Hulett shares his blueprint for creating SMART goals that ensure transition services are compliant with the latest changes in IEP legislation and provide meaningful results for students.
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Endrew F. v. Douglas County Schools (2017) and Perez v. Sturgis (2023), substantive compliance has never been more important. Substantive compliance is essentially the responsibility of a school district to create and provide a quality IEP that results in measurable progress.
The Endrew F. case established that every child “must make progress in light of their unique circumstances … and “the child’s IEP must be reasonably ambitious.” In the Perez case, the High Court determined that parents do not need to exhaust administrative remedies prior to seeking financial damages via additional federal statutes (ADA, etc.). Dr Hulett comments that “the combined decisions have resulted in the raising of the bar for school districts with respect to providing a FAPE and that the parents can more easily and quickly sue districts for financial damages when FAPE violations occur. This is certainly not a good recipe for districts that are not ensuring high quality, individualized IEPs.”
He goes on to say: “In the past couple of years, we have observed an increase in transition planning-related due process filings and litigation. The general belief among special education law experts is that attorneys have identified transition planning as a weak area in the IEP process and are using this area as a trojan horse of sorts to initiate formal complaints and litigation.”
One of the most common legal issues with a non-compliant transition plan is often tracked back to the annual goals and objectives. “All too often annual IEP goals and objectives are not individualized, linked to the PLAAFP, measurable, and they do not have baselines.”
So, how do school districts protect themselves from litigation, due process filings, and ensure each child has a truly individualized transition plan in his or her IEP?
According to Dr Hulett: “The best way to create a truly individualized, compliant, and meaningful transition plan and IEP is to ensure each annual goal and objective is SMART.”