INTERVIEW WITH OUR LEGAL ADVISOR

1. Could you help us identify the section of the law that describes the liability of the school system?

IDEA: Act 20 USC $1400 et. seq.
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/Policy/IDEA/the_law.html

2. Have you or any of your colleagues ever been involved in a lawsuit where the parent sued the school for not providing adequate special services to the child?
(Services as stated in the IEP)

Dr. Butler is currently involved in such a case. The lawsuit
is over a 'disagreement over identification of objectives.'
(Objectives must be measurable.)
Other areas of disagreement are in placement or progress.

3. Does this happen fairly often or is it something that the school boards don’t see as a problem?

There are cases all the time but often it is settled before
it goes to the court. Parents seek the services and schools
try to correct any problems. If it goes to court, parents
may inquire that the school pays their attorney fees,
they may also ask for compensation education (which is
beyond what normally students with disabilities receive).
In such a case, it may cost the school thousands of dollars
but it is very case specific. Schools do see it as a
problem and try to avoid it.

4. Do you think this project is feasible?  Do you think it could improve the current system, without introducing any additional legal problems for the schools?

The known problem with the computerized IEPs is that it
lacks individualization.
The IEP must include: measurable objectives, benchmarks, present level of performance (updated at least once per year), goals, and, of course, demographics.
The computerized IEPs tend to standardize the content.

A useful computerized IEP system should be able to measure
the data of present level of performance against the given
goals and provide some suggestions in case the results
suggest that the goals are not likely to be met.
Also, a tutorial explaining the parent rights would be helpful.


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INTERVIEW WITH A PARENT OF A CHILD WITH LEARNING DISABILITY

1. How often do you have to meet with the boards to reevaluate and update your child’s IEP?

Every year or sometimes often. IEPs have to be reviewed at
least annually. If child's performance calls for a reevaluation,
or if the parents feel that their child's IEP needs to be reviewed,
a meeting can be scheduled at any time.

2. How long does such meeting usually take?

Meetings usually take anywhere from an hour and a half to two
hours and a half.

3. How do you access your child's IEP information during the year to check on his progress?

Parents receive a copy right after the meeting where the IEP
is composed. Then, within 10 days parents receive the formal
version. The IEP is meant to be an open documentation so at
time during the year parents can make a request to have
any the progress report sent to them.

4. Have you ever had to remind a teacher that your child needs to be retested or have services provided?

Yes, every single time.

5. Has it ever happened that your child’s special needs were neglected?

Yes, quite often.

6. Do you have the feeling that the faculty in your child’s school has hard time to keep up with the special education documentation?  If so, where do the problems lie?

Yes, the main problem is in the management of IEPs.
The reason is the high turnover rate of special education
teachers. These teachers rarely stay and the new personnel
don't have the time to keep everything in the proper,
organized form. The documentation is inconsistent,
kept in different places and regular teachers don't normally
have access to the information unless they take the initiative
to get it themselves.

7. Would you like to be able to access you child’s IEP from the web any time you need or wish to view the progress?

It would be wonderful, however, the security is an issue here.
The IEP is a legal document and cannot be accessible
to the public to protect the children. So, if a proper
measurements are taken to ensure the privacy, it would be useful.

8. How could the current system be modified by computerized databases to improve the effectiveness of special education?

The idea of computerized IEP, with the tools that this product
is promising to provide, is very appealing.
Allowing all teachers, not just the special educators, to instantly
access the IEP information on every child in their classroom would
increase the awareness of the individualized needs that any child
requires.
However, it is important that this software is easy to use so that
even the computer-illiterate teachers would not have problems
using it effectively.


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INTERVIEW WITH A SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER

Ms. Kim:

1. How many hours a week do you spend teaching special education class, individual or a group?

Group (12-15 per class) life science and biology.
Kim teaches 3 classes per day, plus activity sessions.

2. How many special students are under your supervision?

11 students.

3. How often do you find yourself going through IEP forms to locate needed information? Are you always successful?

In the beginning of the year, very often; probably daily.
Once she gets familiar with the students, less often.
Kim sometimes needs to inquire about an individual student’s
IEP if he is under the supervision of another teacher.
This is mostly to clarify goal/needs.

4. How often do you meet to discuss your students’ IEP forms?

Depending on the student or parents, weekly.
lThis is not usually to discuss the forms, but progress.

5. How often do you meet to reevaluate your students’ IEP forms?

Again, depending on the student’s or parent’s needs.

6. How often do you meet to update your students’ IEP forms?

Could be a couple of times a year, or more if the requirements
or policies change.

7. How long do such meetings usually take?

30 minutes to an hour or more.

8. How do parents obtain information about their child’s IEP?

Through information requests, progress reports and copies of the IEP.

9. Has it ever happened that parents have complained that you don’t handle the special needs of their children as was expected and required by the IEP record?

Parents have inquired about certain issues, not really complaining.
She only knows of one issue where the information was incorrect on an IEP.

10. Would you welcome a computer tool that facilitates the record keeping tasks? What do you think it should do to help?

Yes, if it can track scheduling of IEP goals and give non-special
education teachers access to goals/objectives in addition
to “accommodations.”

11. Do you think it would help if the parents had access to the IEPs through the internet? What do you think it should do to help?

Yes, for reporting. This would save teacher’s time.
Kim sees problems with secure access for parents.

12. What kind of problems do you face due to maintaining of forms?

Too many, too many changes, too many copies.

13. What type of automated analysis would be useful?

Analysis of the process schedule or student data overall perhaps.

Additional interviewer's comments:
Kim’s big issues were basically the “volume” of IEP changes and requirements. This eases up later in the year once things get settled. Her other major gripe was the distribution of information to non-special education teachers. The currently have access to only a limited amount of information, but would serve students better if they could see “goals” and other fundamentals.

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