When I first became a special education teacher, I had received NO instruction on how to write an IEP.  I asked another special education teacher how to write it and was told to mostly just copy what the previous year’s IEP said, just making the goals more advanced.

I was so clueless going into that first IEP meeting.

I cared DEEPLY about my students, and I wanted to do right by them.  

I wanted to provide every student with a really great education that would meet their needs and see them excel.

I felt that parents were an important part of the team, knowing more than I did about their student and best positioned to address and suggest certain parts of the IEP.

I did not feel well-positioned to make suggestions on the rest of it…

A few years later, after talking to more special education teachers, receiving a little training, and writing and holding over a hundred IEP meetings….

I was still inadequate.

I still cared.  I still wanted to do what was best.  And I still felt like there was a ton I didn’t know and needed to know in order to best serve my students.

Eventually, I got A LOT more training and feedback from experts on how to actually write effective IEP goals.

I had someone over my shoulder showing me what was right and what I needed to change to write effective goals.

I will forever be grateful to that person and the training I received which allowed me to finally be better at that aspect of my career.

And now that I’m not writing hundreds of IEP goals every year as a special education teacher, I want to help others know HOW to write and recognize good IEP goals

When the IEP team sends you a draft IEP goal, I want you to be able to look at it and determine for yourself if it is any good.

Send IEP documents you want free feedback on to: Kimberlynn@DecodingLearningDifferences.com