The IEPThe IEP glossary.glossary.

The written legal plan for a child's special education.

A binding written plan the school and you develop together. It lists your child's present levels, annual goals, the services and accommodations the district will provide, and where those services happen. Once signed and in effect, the district must deliver what it says.

34 C.F.R. § 300.320

Your child's right to an education designed to meet their needs, at no cost to you.

The core promise of IDEA: special education and related services provided at public expense that meet state standards and are reasonably calculated to let your child make progress appropriate to their circumstances. "Appropriate" is the word that gets litigated — it is more than trivial progress.

34 C.F.R. § 300.101

The rule that your child is taught with non-disabled peers as much as possible.

Children with disabilities must be educated with children who are not disabled to the maximum extent appropriate. Pulling your child out of the general classroom is allowed only when the nature of the disability means they can't be served there even with supports — and the IEP has to explain why.

34 C.F.R. § 300.114

The starting-point snapshot of what your child can do right now.

The section that describes, with data, where your child is today — academically and functionally. Everything else in the IEP builds on it: a goal has no baseline to measure against if the present levels are vague or blank, which is why an empty PLAAFP is a serious defect.

34 C.F.R. § 300.320(a)(1)

What your child should achieve in a year, written so progress can be measured.

Each goal must be measurable: a baseline (where your child is), a target (where they should be by the annual review), and criteria (how you'll know). "Will improve reading" is not a goal — it commits the district to nothing and can't be enforced at the next review.

34 C.F.R. § 300.320(a)(2)

The support services that help your child benefit from special education.

Services like speech-language therapy, occupational or physical therapy, counseling, and transportation — anything a child needs to access their education. The IEP must state each one's frequency and duration; a service with no minutes attached is unenforceable.

34 C.F.R. § 300.34

Changes to how your child learns or is tested — not to what they're expected to learn.

Supports that change the how, not the what: extra time, a quiet room, text-to-speech, preferential seating. They level the playing field without lowering the bar. (Modifications, by contrast, change the expectation itself.) Vague accommodations like "as needed" are hard to enforce.

34 C.F.R. § 300.320(a)(4)

The plan to prepare an older student for life after high school.

Starting no later than the first IEP in effect when your child turns 16 (earlier in some states), the IEP must include measurable postsecondary goals — for training, education, employment, and independent living where appropriate — plus the services to reach them. Missing them is a common, serious defect for teenagers.

34 C.F.R. § 300.320(b)

The district's written explanation before it changes (or refuses to change) the plan.

A reasonable time before the district proposes or refuses to change your child's identification, evaluation, placement, or services, it must tell you in writing — what it's doing, why, and what information it relied on. PWN keeps decisions from being made in a hallway and later denied.

34 C.F.R. § 300.503

The written notice of all your legal rights in the special-education process.

A document the district must give you at least once a year (and at key moments) explaining every right you have — to records, to an independent evaluation, to mediation, to due process, and more. If you've never read yours, ask for it; it is the map of what you're entitled to.

34 C.F.R. § 300.504

An outside evaluation you can request — often at public expense — if you disagree with the district's.

If you disagree with the district's evaluation of your child, you can ask for an independent one by a qualified examiner not employed by the district. Once you request it at public expense, the district must either pay for it or file for a hearing to defend its own evaluation — it cannot simply say no.

34 C.F.R. § 300.502

A formal legal challenge to the district over your child's identification, evaluation, or placement.

The most formal dispute tool: a filing that triggers a resolution meeting, a possible mediation, and — if unresolved — a hearing before an impartial officer. There's a strict two-year window in most cases. It's powerful and adversarial; many disputes are better resolved with a state complaint or an IEP meeting first.

34 C.F.R. § 300.507

A written complaint to the state alleging the district violated IDEA.

You (or anyone) can file a signed written complaint with the state education agency alleging a specific IDEA violation within the past year. The state must investigate and issue a written decision, usually within 60 days, and can order corrective action. It's less adversarial and less costly than due process.

34 C.F.R. § 300.153

Special-education services provided beyond the normal school year, when your child needs them.

If your child would lose critical skills over a long break in a way they couldn't quickly recover (regression and recoupment), the IEP team must consider ESY services — often over the summer. It isn't automatic and isn't for everyone, but the team must actually consider it, not skip it.

34 C.F.R. § 300.106

A required review of whether misbehavior was caused by your child's disability, before certain discipline.

Before a school can remove your child for more than 10 school days, the team must meet to decide whether the behavior was caused by, or directly related to, the disability — or by the district's failure to implement the IEP. If it was, the child generally can't be disciplined the same way a non-disabled student would be.

34 C.F.R. § 300.530(e)

The at-least-every-three-years re-check of your child's eligibility and needs.

The district must reevaluate your child at least once every three years (and sooner if conditions warrant or you ask), unless you and the district agree in writing it's unnecessary. It's the checkpoint that keeps an IEP from running on outdated information for years.

34 C.F.R. § 300.303