The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): Paperwork in Special Education
Released: 2003-12-18T00:00:00

RS21226 -- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): Paperwork in Special Education

Updated December 18, 2003

Introduction

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (1) both authorizes federal funding for special education and related services(for example, physical therapy) and, for states that accept these funds, (2) sets out principles under which special education and relatedservices are to be provided. The requirements are detailed, especially when the regulatory interpretations areconsidered. The majorprinciples include requiring that:

States and school districts make available a free appropriate public education (FAPE) (3) to all children withdisabilities, generally between the ages of 3 and 21; states and school districts identify, locate, andevaluate all children withdisabilities, regardless of the severity of their disability, to determine which children are eligible for specialeducation and relatedservices;

Each child receiving services has an individual education program (IEP) delineatingthe specific specialeducation and related services to be provided to meet his or her needs; the parent must be a partner in planning andoverseeing thechild's special education and related services as a member of the IEP team ;

"To the maximum extent appropriate," children with disabilities must be educated withchildren who are notdisabled ; and states and school districts must provide procedural safeguards to childrenwith disabilities and their parents, includinga right to a due process hearing, the right to appeal to federal district court and, in some cases, the right to receiveattorneys'fees.

Although paperwork (4) is required to implement many of these statutory provisions, the area that has attracted the most discussionregarding paperwork is that relating to the IEP. The IEP is described by the Department of Education (ED) as the"cornerstone of aquality education of each child with a disability." (5) It "creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, relatedservices personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for childrenwith disabilities." (6) Once a child is identified as a child with a disability, an IEP meeting is scheduled to discuss the child's needs andwrite an IEP. School staff are required to contact the participants, including the parents, and to provide the parents with certaininformationincluding the purpose, time and location of the meeting, and who will be attending. The IEP must contain certaininformation:

how the child is currently performing in school (usually gleaned from evaluation of tests); (7)

annual goals; (8)

the special education and related services to be provided to the child, and the extent (if any) to whichthe childwill not participate with children without disabilities in the regular classroom; (9)

any modifications in state or district wide testing; (10)

when services will begin, how often they will be provided and how long they will last; (11)

beginning at age 14 the IEP must address the courses the child needs to take to reach his or herpost-schoolgoals; (12)

what transition services are necessary; (13)

changes in rights at the age of majority; (14) and

how the child's progress is to be measured and how the parents are to be informed of theprogress. (15)

The IEP team may also need to consider certain special facts such as behavior management strategies, needs related to limited Englishproficiency, communication needs, needs for braille materials, and needs for assistive technology devices orservices. (16)

Although some teachers have noted that the IEP requirements may necessitate a voluminous IEP, (17) the Department of Education'ssample IEP form is five pages. (18) The Departmenthas also responded to an inquiry regarding the paperwork requirements of IDEAnoting that it is "constantly reviewing its regulations to ensure that paperwork burdens on States and local schooldistricts areminimized." (19) State educational agencies are alsorequired to review their state requirements to minimize paperwork. ED also notedthat the IDEA Amendments of 1997 reduced paperwork in several ways by, for example, permitting initialevaluations andrevaluations to be based on existing evaluation data and reports. (20)

Time Spent on Paperwork

The most recent data on paperwork is a study by Westat for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). (21) This study, which was basedon a nationally representative telephone survey of special education teachers, found that "53 percent of elementaryand secondaryspecial education teachers reported that routine duties and paperwork interfered with their job of teaching to a great extent " and theseteachers "typically spend over 10 percent of their time [5 hours per week] completing forms and doingadministrative paperwork." (22) Among the most time consuming activities were completing and revising the individualized education program(IEP) (on average, 2hours are spent on each IEP) and IEP meetings (on average, each meeting takes 1� hours). (23) Although only 35% of specialeducation teachers conduct evaluations of children with disabilities, those who do spend nearly 12 hours per monthconductingassessments and reviewing assessment information. (24)

Provisions in H.R.1350 and S. 1248 Related to Paperwork Reduction

Both the House and Senate committee reports (25) accompanying their respective bills note that reducing paperwork is an important aimof the legislation. In its concluding remarks on the bill, the House report states that the bill centers on the"Committee's principles forreform," which among other things includes reducing paperwork. (26) The Senate report notes that one of the ways S. 1248 would improve IDEA is to "reduce bureaucratic paperwork for teachers." (27) More specifically, both reports point to provisionsin their respective bills aimed at reducing paperwork and administrative burden. The following are some examplescited in thereports:

Both bills would require the General Account Office (GAO) to study and report on special education paperwork( H.R. 1350 Section 104 and S. 1248 Section 609).

Both bills change the general eligibility provision for states (Sec. 612(a)) and local educational agencies(LEAs)(Sec. 613(a)) to require states and LEAs to "reasonably demonstrate" (House bill) or "provide assurances" (Senatebill) that requiredpolicies and procedures are in effect. (28)

Both bills would permit states to use IDEA Part B grants-to-state funds for paperwork reductionactivities,including the use of technology ( H.R. 1350 Section 611(e)(4)(F) and S. 1248 Section611(e)(2)(C)(ii)).

Both bills would permit local educational agencies (LEAs) to use Part B funds for technology relatedto casemanagement activities, such as record keeping and data collection ( H.R. 1350 Section 613(a)(4)(D) and S. 1248 Section 613(a)(4)(B)). (29)

Both bills would eliminate school-based improvement plans (Section 613(g) in currentlaw). (30)

Both bills would eliminate the requirement that IEPs contain benchmarks or short-term goals (Sec.614(d)(1)(A)(ii) of current law). (31)

Both bills include language to prevent the addition of requirements for information in the IEP that arenotexplicitly required in Section 614 (Section 614(d)(1)(A)(ii) in both bills).

Both bills would permit multi-year IEPs, although the Senate bill limits these IEPs to children withdisabilitieswho are 18 years of age or older (Section 614(d)(5) in both bills).

Both bills would limit the time period during which complaints under the procedural safeguards ofIDEA can bemade ( H.R. 1350 Section 615(b)(6)(B) and S. 1248 Section 615(f)(3)(D)). (32)

The House bill authorizes the Secretary of Education to institute a pilot program that would permit upto tenstates to submit plans to waive requirements of the Act to reduce paperwork ( H.R. 1350 Section617(e)). (33)

Both bills would require the Secretary to create and disseminate model IEPs and other forms to promoteconsistency across states ( H.R. 1350 Section 617(g) and S. 1248 Section 617(d)). (34)