How much progress is "appropriate?"  Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.

Post date: Feb 18, 2016 1:4:18 AM

Sometimes parents hear from school teams that it is unreasonable to expect a child with disabilities to progress more than a year in a year's time.  

A recent letter from the U.S. Department of Education says otherwise.

"In a situation where a child is performing significantly below the level of the grade in which the child is enrolled, an IEP Team should determine annual goals that are ambitious but achievable. In other words, the annual goals need not necessarily result in the child’s reaching grade-level within the year covered by the IEP, but the goals should be sufficiently ambitious to help close the gap."

The letter is attached to this post.