Claremont Graduate University Teacher Education Special Education Seminars Dr. Phyllis B. Harris, Executive Director Oakland Unified School District Programs for Exceptional Children Educational Benefit Reviews Educational Benefit Reviews

2 Key Terms What do they mean? Educational Benefit Reasonably Calculated

3 “Congress did not impose upon the states any greater substantive educational standard than general education. Indeed,…Congress expressly recognized…the process of providing special education and related services … is not guaranteed to produce any particular outcome.” “It would do little good for Congress to spend millions of dollars in providing access to public education only to have the …child (with a disability receive no benefit from that education.” Balance Struck in Rowley

4 Balance Struck in Rowley, cont’d “Such instruction…if the child is being educated in the regular classrooms of the public education system, should be reasonably calculated to enable the child to achieve passing marks and advance from grade to grade” Justice Rhenquist

5 Reasonable Calculation Is based on procedural requirements of IDEA and means: The assessment was complete The IEP team identified needs related to: The child’s disability Involvement and progress in the general curriculum Goals and objectives were established in each need area Services were planned to support: Progress toward all goals Progress in the general curriculum Participation in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities Education with other disabled and non-disabled children The IEP Team reviewed the child’s progress and adjusted the child’s IEP if progress was not made or to address anticipated needs

6 Educational Benefit Review Determine if modifications to goals and services were made based on progress or lack of progress if information is sufficient Discuss Educational Benefit (9) Questions for each student to determine if services were reasonably planned to result in educational benefit Educational Benefit Activity for 15 minutes With a partner, review the 9 questions on the next slide Make a joint decision on the IEPs in question

7 Educational Benefit Questions 1. Is the assessment complete and does it identify the student’s needs? 2. Does the present performance include all of the needs identified in the assessment? (Don’t forget CELDT, STAR etc.) 3. Are all of the student’s educational needs addressed by appropriate goals and objectives? 4. Do the services support goals and objectives? 5. Did the student make yearly progress? 6. If the student did not make progress, were the goals and objectives changed in the next IEP to assist the student to make progress? 7. If the student did not make progress, were the services changed in the next IEP to assist the student to make progress? 8. Were enough services provided to ensure that the student would make progress? 9. To assess for overall compliance, considering the answers in each of the above, was the IEP reasonably calculated to result in educational benefit?