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(1.19) How do the rulings in Endrew F. affect how the school district develops my child’s IEP?

(1.19) How do the rulings in Endrew F. affect how the school district develops my child’s IEP?

Under Endrew F., the school district must offer FAPE that is designed so that your child has the opportunity to make meaningful educational progress in light of his individual circumstances. The school district must draft challenging academic and/or functional goals regardless of the child’s disability and implement services that will enable the student to meet those goals.

The school district must take affirmative and documented steps to ensure that the IEP is designed to enable the child to make meaningful progress through annual goals. The goals outlined in the IEP should be both ambitious and challenging for the child and should be constructed only after careful consideration of the child’s present levels of achievement, disability, and potential for growth. [See Endrew F. at 999.]

The focus of the IEP must always be on the individual child and her specific needs. What is appropriate progress and how it is described in an IEP can be different for each child. If there is a repetition of goals on consecutive IEPs or there is a lack of meaningful progress on goals, the IEP team should seriously question the substantive adequacy of the IEP per the ruling in Endrew F.

In addition, when parents raise a concern about their child’s lack of progress, the school district must be able to offer a clear and logical response to explain their decisions on how the goals of the child outlined in the IEP would assist the child in making appropriate progress in light of her circumstances. If District is unable to offer a logical explanation, the IEP team must reexamine the IEP through new assessments and observations, and draft new goals and services that would provide the child with the opportunity to achieve substantive and meaningful educational benefits. [Endrew F. at 999.]