FTCE ESE IEP Development and Implementation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Extended School Year (ESY) services must be provided when:
- All students with IEPs request them
- The IEP team determines the student would experience significant regression without services during extended breaks (Correct answer)
- The school district has available funding and staffing
- A student failed to meet any IEP goals during the school year
Correct answer: The IEP team determines the student would experience significant regression without services during extended breaks
ESY services are required when the IEP team determines, based on data, that a student would experience significant regression during school breaks that would take an unreasonable time to recoup.
Question 2: A student's IEP specifies 'resource room support for 45 minutes daily.' If the general education teacher refuses to allow the student to leave for resource support, the ESE teacher should:
- Cancel the resource support to avoid conflict with the general educator
- Implement the IEP as written and involve administration if the teacher refuses to follow it (Correct answer)
- Modify the IEP to eliminate the resource room support without a team meeting
- Ask the student to choose whether to attend resource support
Correct answer: Implement the IEP as written and involve administration if the teacher refuses to follow it
An IEP is a legally binding document — all school staff are required to implement it as written, and the ESE teacher must involve administration when staff refuse to follow IEP mandates.
Question 3: Which of the following best describes 'specially designed instruction' (SDI) as required by IDEA?
- Any instruction provided to a student in a separate classroom setting
- Adapting content, methodology, or delivery to address the unique needs of a student with a disability to ensure access to the general curriculum (Correct answer)
- The use of assistive technology during all instructional activities
- Providing a student with modified standards that are below grade level
Correct answer: Adapting content, methodology, or delivery to address the unique needs of a student with a disability to ensure access to the general curriculum
Specially designed instruction means adapting the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to meet the unique needs of a student and ensure access to the general curriculum.
Question 4: Progress monitoring for IEP goals should occur:
- Only at the annual IEP meeting
- At the same frequency as regular report cards are issued
- Regularly throughout the year, with parents notified at least as often as non-disabled peers receive progress reports (Correct answer)
- Only when the student demonstrates significant regression
Correct answer: Regularly throughout the year, with parents notified at least as often as non-disabled peers receive progress reports
IDEA requires that parents of students with disabilities receive progress reports on IEP goals at least as frequently as parents of students without disabilities receive regular report cards.
Question 5: The 'continuum of alternative placements' required by IDEA means that school districts must have available:
- Only inclusive general education settings as the default for all students with disabilities
- A range of placement options from general education to residential facilities, with placement based on individual student needs (Correct answer)
- Self-contained classrooms as the primary option to maximize academic support
- Private school options as the default for students with severe disabilities
Correct answer: A range of placement options from general education to residential facilities, with placement based on individual student needs
IDEA requires districts to maintain a continuum of placement options — from general education with supports through resource rooms, self-contained classes, and more restrictive settings — to match each student's individual needs.
Question 6: When a student with a disability is removed from general education for specialized services, which must be documented in the IEP?
- An explanation of why the student chose to attend special education
- A justification for why the student cannot receive appropriate services in the general education setting (Correct answer)
- Proof that the general education teacher agreed to the placement
- Evidence that the student's academic performance improved in a segregated setting
Correct answer: A justification for why the student cannot receive appropriate services in the general education setting
IDEA requires IEPs to include an explanation of the extent to which the student will not participate in regular education — the presumption is inclusion, and removal must be justified.
FTCE ESE IEP Development and Implementation 2
Extended School Year (ESY) services must be provided when: