NICHCY: National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilitites

Locate organizations and agencies within your state that address disability-related issues.

This checklist is included as a Resource for Trainers in Theme D of NICHCY's Building the Legacy training curriculum on IDEA. It was adapted from the Nebraska Department of Education’s Nebraska IEP Technical Assistance Guide (1998, September), available online at: http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SPED/iepproj/factors/lep.html

Developing the IEP

In developing an IEP for a student with limited English proficiency, the IEP Team must consider the student’s level of English language proficiency. It’s important to know that second language conversational skills are acquired in one to two years, but academic language proficiency is acquired over a longer period of time of five to seven years. Therefore, the IEP Team must consider the student’s level of English language proficiency to support and strengthen implementation of the IEP goals.

The IEP Team may find it helpful to ask the followg framing questions:

1. Has the dominant language in the home been considered?                                                         

      __ Yes     __ No               

2. Has the child’s primary language of communication been considered?                          

      __ Yes     __ No                           

3.  Have the cultural values and beliefs of the parents been considered in planning for the child’s education?                                   

      __ Yes     __ No                                       

4. Does the instructional plan incorporate a variety of instructional strategies?      

      __ Yes     __ No   

5. Is there a member of the IEP Team who has expertise regarding the student and understands how language develops as well as strategies that can be used when educating a student with English as a second language?      

      __ Yes     __ No

6. Does the IEP Team have access to assessment data that is accurate and unbiased?       

      __ Yes     __ No                           

7. Does the assessment information use a variety of methods and environments?             

      __ Yes     __ No   

8. Does the “present levels” statement in the IEP address both how the student uses his or her native language and how the student uses English?                                   

      __ Yes     __ No   

9. Do progress monitoring activities measure progress toward the mastery of English?     

      __ Yes     __ No   

10.  Do the goals delineate in which language they will be addressed and who will be responsible for measuring the outcomes?                  

      __ Yes     __ No

11. Is there collaboration between general and special education as well as English as a Second Language and bilingual education if appropriate?                            

      __ Yes     __ No               

12. Is an interpreter for the parents and the student present at the IEP meeting?    

      __ Yes     __ No   

13. Are the IEP Team members trained in how to use an interpreter?                                  

      __ Yes     __ No   

14. Is the evaluation process that will be used carefully defined in the native language and in English during the reviews and reevaluations?                            

      __ Yes     __ No               

15. Are the behaviors that are being measured carefully defined in the native language and in English during the reviews and reevaluations?                            

      __ Yes     __ No   

16. Is the setting that the language is being measured in defined?                           

      __ Yes     __ No

17. Is the type of language that is being measured defined?

      __ Yes     __ No