4.3.1 The Individualized Education Program

The primary method of delivering a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to special education students is through the development and implementation of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that meets the student’s unique needs. Ultimately, “the essential function of an IEP is to set out a plan for pursuing academic and functional advancement.”1  Accordingly, students with disabilities must receive special education and related services that “[a]re provided in conformity with” an IEP developed pursuant to the requirements established in special education regulations.2  On a more substantive level, “a school must offer an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances.”3  The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that an IEP is reasonably calculated to provide meaningful educational benefit if a multi-factor analysis indicates: “(1) the program is individualized on the basis of the student's assessment and performance; (2) the program is administered in the least restrictive environment; (3) the services are provided in a coordinated and collaborative manner by the key ‘stakeholders’; and (4) positive academic and non-academic benefits are demonstrated.”4  An IEP that meets these four prongs should provide the academic and functional advancement that is central to FAPE.

Because not all children are capable of the same level of advancement, it can be a challenge to define appropriate progress in light of a child’s individual circumstances. In Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, the Supreme Court recognized that while advancement from grade to grade is appropriately ambitious for most children in regular education, this may not always be the case for students in special education.5  Students in special education are nevertheless entitled to an appropriately ambitious educational program in light of their individual circumstances that grant them the opportunity “to meet challenging objectives” rather than simply to make de minimis progress.6  Thus, an IEP is appropriate only when the services and modifications allow for meaningful progress and educational benefit that is commensurate with a student’s capabilities.

In keeping with these requirements, an IEP has numerous components that must be developed, reviewed, and revised at least once a year at an IEP meeting in order to ensure the IEP is meeting a student’s unique needs.7  These key components are discussed in the following sections.

• 1Endrew F. v. Douglas Cnty. Sch. Dist. RE-1, 137 S. Ct. 988, 999 (2017).
• 234 C.F.R. § 300.17; La. Bulletin 1706 § 905 (definition of Free Appropriate Public Education).
• 3Endrew F., 137 S. Ct. at 999.
• 4Cypress-Fairbanks Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Michael F., 118 F.3d 245, 253 (5th Cir. 1997).
• 5Endrew F., 137 S. Ct. at 1000.
• 6Id.
• 7For a blank IEP template, see La. Dep’t of Educ., Individualized Education Program Form.