Help me understand the obsession with IEPs

[soon2bexteach]

I’m a SPED resource teacher at the elementary level, have been for the past 8 years. We are an extremely low performing school overall (very low SES school in Oregon, with high trauma), and my caseload is at fifty (yes, 50) students. I’m responsible for writing all of the IEPs, evaluations, reports, pull out services, full inclusion services, scheduling, meeting facilitation, push in services, responding to behavior crises, developing behavior plans, accommodations, planning lessons for aides (they each see 8-10 groups a day, so that’s 16-20 lessons a day I need to prep) and ongoing training for aides. I’m burnt the eff out due to the ever increasing workload, and fully intend to leave the profession ASAP…but that’s neither here nor there.

Most of my GE colleagues are absolutely amazing and don’t act like this. But I have a handful who will not stop pushing for IEPs. All veteran teachers, and all of them have referred 5-6 students each to the SST process, with the full intent of demanding testing and an IEP. These are also teachers who complain *CONSTANTLY* that SPED staff are lazy, incompetent and ineffective (they’ve been doing this for years, even before I got to the school). If you think we’re all stupid, why are you THAT adamant that we serve them? I’ve tried explaining over and over again that an IEP isn’t fairy dust, ESPECIALLY when I’ve got 50 kids to serve along with all the case management duties that come with each child. The attitude seems to be that an IEP will allow the child to get tons of “extra help” and therefore make leaps and bounds of progress, but nothing could be further from the truth when you’ve got FIFTY STUDENTS. These same teachers complain to administration that our students on IEPs are “not getting enough service minutes” and administration always responds with the fact that my caseload is enormous which makes my job extremely difficult, and I can’t serve each kid two hours per day. Despite knowing how bad my workload is, these teachers continue to refer students, even though they make it abundantly clear that me and my SPED team sucks. What is the deal?!

Side note, I do NOT think the majority of GE teachers are like this but there are always a handful (or two) in every school. It honestly is so defeating and feels degrading at times.

 

[hiker1]

50 kids on a case load is about 35 too many. I would just keep telling the other teachers that they need to take data and have concrete evidence ( usually a set number of weeks) of the students issues. They would also need to have evidence of how they attempted to help the child. Maybe you could have the case manager or school psych deal with it.

 

[soon2bexteach]

50 kids on a case load is about 35 too many. I would just keep telling the other teachers that they need to take data and have concrete evidence ( usually a set number of weeks) of the students issues. They would also need to have evidence of how they attempted to help the child. Maybe you could have the case manager or school psych deal with it.

I am the case manager. *sigh* it’s way too much work for one person. Oregon does not cap their special Ed caseloads. It’s awful. I want to help but I cannot be the resident problem solver for every student who isn’t at grade level! I hate this country’s education system!

 

[Haley23]

I wrote a very similar post here many years ago. It did not go well.

At the time, I was in a very similar situation to you. Thankfully things are MUCH better now. I'm in the same school, but we got a new P and new AP 5 years ago, and we now have 2 sped teachers. My state also interprets ESSA as allowing other people (i..e interventionists) to meet IEP minutes, which wasn't the case years ago. Current admin also does not believe in using me for behavior calls.

At the time, I also had a caseload of around 50, had 1 para (who was thankfully amazing), and in charge of all the services (and we do testing/case management here as well). If there was a behavior call, I was expected to drop everything and attend to that, meaning I almost never met the few minutes I was able to give kids on their IEPs.

We had 3 title 1 teachers who were only teaching reading back then. Kids were in title 1 groups for 45 minutes per day, 5 days per week, often groups of 3 or fewer students. My groups met 4 days per week and I had 45 minutes for each grade level. Within those 45 minutes, I had to teach math, writing, and reading to every child who had an IEP in that grade level. So my "reading group" might be 8-10 kids for 20 minutes, often with a 2 year skill gap within the group. Teachers would fight tooth and nail to get kids referred and into my groups. It was not uncommon for there literally to be tears in or after MTSS meetings because teachers would be that upset if kids weren't referred right away.

It was extremely upsetting to me that teachers would push for this KNOWING that it was a worse situation. They think there is some "magic sped strategy" that is only happening in the resource room, and thus my 8-10 student 20 minute group is magically better. I also had teachers that would make snide remarks about my job being easier, as well. For the love of god, if there was a magic strategy I'd just tell you what it is! And FWIW, when I posted it here people didn't get it either. Some were extremely rude (note I said SOME) and some were polite but they were like okay, but I have 25 kids in my class and your group is 8, so that's still smaller.

We can provide accommodations for any child, and we don't do modifications unless you actually qualify as intellectually disabled (which is extremely rare), so that's not a factor. Basically the only benefit is having documentation in place should the child happen to move schools. FWIW, even though my situation is so much better now, that last bit is still true. IEPs no longer actually provide WORSE intervention, but there is no real benefit either, other than documentation should they happen to move. People love to say "but state testing!" Well, the only thing we can do for them if they have an IEP is allow extended time. What does that do when the kids can't read the test? I've never in 13 years seen a child use the extended time.

 

[soon2bexteach]

I wrote a very similar post here many years ago. It did not go well.

At the time, I was in a very similar situation to you. Thankfully things are MUCH better now. I'm in the same school, but we got a new P and new AP 5 years ago, and we now have 2 sped teachers. My state also interprets ESSA as allowing other people (i..e interventionists) to meet IEP minutes, which wasn't the case years ago. Current admin also does not believe in using me for behavior calls.

At the time, I also had a caseload of around 50, had 1 para (who was thankfully amazing), and in charge of all the services (and we do testing/case management here as well). If there was a behavior call, I was expected to drop everything and attend to that, meaning I almost never met the few minutes I was able to give kids on their IEPs.

We had 3 title 1 teachers who were only teaching reading back then. Kids were in title 1 groups for 45 minutes per day, 5 days per week, often groups of 3 or fewer students. My groups met 4 days per week and I had 45 minutes for each grade level. Within those 45 minutes, I had to teach math, writing, and reading to every child who had an IEP in that grade level. So my "reading group" might be 8-10 kids for 20 minutes, often with a 2 year skill gap within the group. Teachers would fight tooth and nail to get kids referred and into my groups. It was not uncommon for there literally to be tears in or after MTSS meetings because teachers would be that upset if kids weren't referred right away.

It was extremely upsetting to me that teachers would push for this KNOWING that it was a worse situation. They think there is some "magic sped strategy" that is only happening in the resource room, and thus my 8-10 student 20 minute group is magically better. I also had teachers that would make snide remarks about my job being easier, as well. For the love of god, if there was a magic strategy I'd just tell you what it is! And FWIW, when I posted it here people didn't get it either. Some were extremely rude (note I said SOME) and some were polite but they were like okay, but I have 25 kids in my class and your group is 8, so that's still smaller.

We can provide accommodations for any child, and we don't do modifications unless you actually qualify as intellectually disabled (which is extremely rare), so that's not a factor. Basically the only benefit is having documentation in place should the child happen to move schools. FWIW, even though my situation is so much better now, that last bit is still true. IEPs no longer actually provide WORSE intervention, but there is no real benefit either, other than documentation should they happen to move. People love to say "but state testing!" Well, the only thing we can do for them if they have an IEP is allow extended time. What does that do when the kids can't read the test? I've never in 13 years seen a child use the extended time.

I would LOVE to see your original post from years ago lol!

 

[Izzy23]

I'd say first that the fact your caseloads are not capped is the real problem. Your school is woefully understaffed and those poor kids are not getting anywhere close to what they need. If there was a way to advocate for that change (maybe your union could advocate?), I would do that first and foremost.

As a GE teacher, I would say the reason I am referring a kid for an IEP is not because I think you have magic fairy dust that will fix a kid. Most of the time, I refer a kid and it will take the entire year before they actually get the IEP, so that kid is not getting any special services for the year they are with me. Instead, I am always, always thinking of the future.

When I taught 5th grade, it was a deep concern watching kids (who I was giving enormous amounts of one-on-one to) time head off to middle school, where they will be promptly lost in a sea of 200 kids. The thinking goes, if they have an IEP, maybe someone there will pay some kind of attention to them. Because otherwise they will not make it. They're 2 years behind in reading and even further in math and they have major behavioral concerns and in a class of 25 I can maybe help, but when they start seeing multiple teachers, then what? And how were they not identified way before 5th grade? (usually chronic absences that meant they didn't qualify. So frustrating when you can tell there's something not quite right.)

It's definitely not a perfect system. It's a crappy system. But what else can I do for these kids?

I'm sorry your GE teachers are not working with you and come across as disrespectful. I love our SPED teachers and work closely with them. We would be sunk without them.

 

[booklady57]

Your load is unreasonable.

But, I don't think the problem is the GE teachers. I believe (perhaps naively) that all of the teachers in this situation are doing the best they can to advocate for their students. They are genuinely doing what they hope will be best for the child. Ideally, each child identified would get the individual and small group assistance they need to be successful. Unfortunately, we don't live or work in an ideal world.

I would be listing and documenting all of the demands of your job, and how much time each takes. You need to advocate for yourself with admin and SPED in your district. There is no way that you can do justice to 50 students on top of the paper load! I am so sorry you are in this situation!

 

[LuBelle]

I’ve been retired for 11 years, but have seen this coming. There is NO WAY you should ever have a caseload of 50+ students. I so understand that the classroom teachers keep referring kids that need more, but it is so WrONG that YOU end up with such impossible responsibilities. I have a granddaughter that may be dyslexic. She’s one of many kids coming up now. Our sped Dept. didn’t deal with dyslexia. Then the COVID online learning. So many kids lost social, behavioral, academic learning. Are those lost kids potential IEP kids? In my opinion we definitely need to put more money into your department. You can’t be expected to do this alone. The fact that you have 50 in your caseload shows that you need support! You need qualified sped teachers to work with you and be able to help kids hurt by the lost year. They can move on. Then a teacher who is trained to help those with dyslexia….never mentioned when I was teaching. Dyslexia and ADHD are becoming more and more prevalent. You cannot do it alone! I am so hoping you can get some support soon! Thank you for all you are doing. I feel you pain, but so applaud the work you are doing!

 

[TAOEP]

No wonder you are exhausted and burned out. I don't think there's a teacher alive who could really do everything that's expected of you. What's really needed is a knowledgeable and persistent parent who will insist that their child receive the services that child needs--and not accept "sped teacher doesn't have time to do it" as an excuse. They need to find the money to staff the school adequately.

As for the GE teachers, they likely need some training to show them how to effectively teach students who are struggling a little. And then an administration that holds them responsible for doing it. Most students who struggle a little don't need IEPs.

 

[linda2671]

In our school, teachers get in trouble if they don’t refer kids who are struggling. Before we refer, though, we have to prove that we’ve tried appropriate interventions on our own. I thought every school did it that way.

 

[GreyhoundGirl]

We're having the same problem here. This is a new school and a new district for me. I'm in a high performing school and high SES district for the first time in my career. Admin bow to parents who run the show. I've never seen so many IEP and resource minutes. In my last district I couldn't get a kid qualified for anything. Here, we qualify kids if they don't breathe the same as their grade level peers. It's the most assinine thing ever. And now, the state has passed a law saying we HAVE to test ANY kid if a parent requests it so you can imagine what that will do to our numbers.

I think some people think IEP's/SpED services are a magic cure all. We also have SOME teachers who think SpEd teachers are lazy.

I have to share my lesson plans so they know what I'm doing. That's a separate rant.

 

[whatever]

First of all-- 50 is outrageous!! To my way of thinking, 50 SE students is equivalent to 100 or more GE students if we were using a weighted scale... I cannot imagine.

Just to have that many IEPs-the writing, the scheduling, the rescheduling, the meetings, and the finalizing would take all of my time. Yet, it would still be an impossible task if I don't have time to form relationships, teach, and collect data on them. It is hard, if not impossible, for me to write IEPs without that.

There is not enough time in the world to do all that and actually individualize anything.

I cannot even finish this--I can only listen. I am too blown away by what your school expects of you...

I get that the GE teachers want the kids identified if they really are qualified. But, wow-- maybe they are worried that if they do not pursue this, they will be considered negligent somehow.

I pray you get what you need as well-- you are only one person.

 

[soon2bexteach]

I'd say first that the fact your caseloads are not capped is the real problem. Your school is woefully understaffed and those poor kids are not getting anywhere close to what they need. If there was a way to advocate for that change (maybe your union could advocate?), I would do that first and foremost.

As a GE teacher, I would say the reason I am referring a kid for an IEP is not because I think you have magic fairy dust that will fix a kid. Most of the time, I refer a kid and it will take the entire year before they actually get the IEP, so that kid is not getting any special services for the year they are with me. Instead, I am always, always thinking of the future.

When I taught 5th grade, it was a deep concern watching kids (who I was giving enormous amounts of one-on-one to) time head off to middle school, where they will be promptly lost in a sea of 200 kids. The thinking goes, if they have an IEP, maybe someone there will pay some kind of attention to them. Because otherwise they will not make it. They're 2 years behind in reading and even further in math and they have major behavioral concerns and in a class of 25 I can maybe help, but when they start seeing multiple teachers, then what? And how were they not identified way before 5th grade? (usually chronic absences that meant they didn't qualify. So frustrating when you can tell there's something not quite right.)

It's definitely not a perfect system. It's a crappy system. But what else can I do for these kids?

I'm sorry your GE teachers are not working with you and come across as disrespectful. I love our SPED teachers and work closely with them. We would be sunk without them.

You’re right. Deep down I know that these difficult GE teachers are being a PITA for valid reasons…re: the student is making little to no progress (and also many years behind) and that’s scary as they get older. I feel like absolutely everyone loses in the American education system.

 

[soon2bexteach]

We're having the same problem here. This is a new school and a new district for me. I'm in a high performing school and high SES district for the first time in my career. Admin bow to parents who run the show. I've never seen so many IEP and resource minutes. In my last district I couldn't get a kid qualified for anything. Here, we qualify kids if they don't breathe the same as their grade level peers. It's the most assinine thing ever. And now, the state has passed a law saying we HAVE to test ANY kid if a parent requests it so you can imagine what that will do to our numbers.

I think some people think IEP's/SpED services are a magic cure all. We also have SOME teachers who think SpEd teachers are lazy.

I have to share my lesson plans so they know what I'm doing. That's a separate rant.

Holy crap, you work in a literal H E L L hole.

 

[School Time]

Gen ed teachers may want kids to get IEPs for a few reasons. More support at the right level. Extra time on tests and other accommodations, such as taking standardized tests in a different room.

 

[tyrex]

I would LOVE to see your original post from years ago lol!

Here you go. Why do you think gen ed teachers want to get kids into SPED so badly?

I searched my old posts to find it because I knew I'd responded. I still agree with everything I said 5 years ago, but even more so now that my own sld child is in high school.

 

[Violets2]

That sounds horrendous for you! Is it possible your GE teachers don't fully understand the process for qualifying? Due to the low performing status and pandemic issues, are they getting pressure to not only work with the lowest 30% but also the "bubble" students? Admin asking why they're not making progress, etc....... They also sound that perhaps they don't like having low performing students because that means more work all the way around. Sad for the kids but I've known a few like this.

 

[kahluablast]

You all know the real reason. Those teachers are yelling for help. They may not need an IEP, but in many places that is the only way any student can get extra help. GE teachers are overburdened in their classrooms trying to teach grade level curriculum while dealing with more and more severe behaviors and lack of effort from more and more students, all the while trying to get 15 students who are NOT at grade level personalized attention inside their classrooms. They don't NEED IEPs, but they need help. If an IEP is the only way to get help, that is the thing they will do for survival.

Until school systems start dealing with the more important issue of students not being able to learn grade level content AND still being passed to the next grade with nothing being done... that is what is going to happen. Both GE and SPED teachers need to be screaming. Something has to change or our education system is going to continue to tank.

 

[Haley23]

We're having the same problem here. This is a new school and a new district for me. I'm in a high performing school and high SES district for the first time in my career. Admin bow to parents who run the show. I've never seen so many IEP and resource minutes. In my last district I couldn't get a kid qualified for anything. Here, we qualify kids if they don't breathe the same as their grade level peers. It's the most assinine thing ever. And now, the state has passed a law saying we HAVE to test ANY kid if a parent requests it so you can imagine what that will do to our numbers.

I think some people think IEP's/SpED services are a magic cure all. We also have SOME teachers who think SpEd teachers are lazy.

I have to share my lesson plans so they know what I'm doing. That's a separate rant.

My dad taught sped in a similar environment for most of his career (although it was not resource- they did all co-teaching). The majority of students he worked with wouldn't even be on the radar in any schools I've been in. They often qualified students saying they needed support to STAY on grade level. I was also confused as to how they never got into any sort of legal trouble with that- they never got audited? I guess it's feasible that being in a different state, the eligibility questions are totally different than what we have. If we were trying to qualify a student in that scenario, answering "yes" to the eligibility questions would be an outright lie and there would be no supporting documentation. I guess maybe the state doesn't even bother with high SES/high performing schools? They figure they're doing well and don't need any scrutiny?

 

[Lilbitkm]

You all know the real reason. Those teachers are yelling for help. They may not need an IEP, but in many places that is the only way any student can get extra help. GE teachers are overburdened in their classrooms trying to teach grade level curriculum while dealing with more and more severe behaviors and lack of effort from more and more students, all the while trying to get 15 students who are NOT at grade level personalized attention inside their classrooms. They don't NEED IEPs, but they need help. If an IEP is the only way to get help, that is the thing they will do for survival.

Until school systems start dealing with the more important issue of students not being able to learn grade level content AND still being passed to the next grade with nothing being done... that is what is going to happen. Both GE and SPED teachers need to be screaming. Something has to change or our education system is going to continue to tank.

Gen ed teachers may want kids to get IEPs for a few reasons. More support at the right level. Extra time on tests and other accommodations, such as taking standardized tests in a different room.

I was going to say something similar.

We only have one ESE teacher at my school who has a current caseload of 51, she has to be at 55 to have an aide. She’s overworked and struggles to meet all of her minutes but she makes it happen.

She‘d never dissuade us from referring a child for an IEP (after being placed in T3 and not showing progress). I’ve had children come to me in third grade who were significantly below grade level in all areas but just kept being pushed through, no IEP, and once we finally get them tested their IQs were 65 or lower. These children were not getting what they needed and some ended up being moved to a special placement after receiving their IEP.

An IEP is about what an individual child needs, not about staffing concerns or the specific school they’re attending. How do you show that your school needs more support without identifying the children that need that support?

We have a staffing specialist who does all of the scheduling for IEP/504 meetings.
Our school psychologists (spread across multiple schools) are responsible for all evaluations. They’re required to have a masters degree and be certified in school psychology.I’m always surprised to hear that in other states the psychological testing is completed by the special education teacher.


A nearby school is currently in the middle of a lawsuit from a parent. The child moved to their school from a different district and had a 1:1 aide in their IEP. Upon moving to our district the 1:1 was removed during the transfer IEP meeting (after 2 weeks at his new school) as the IEP team gushed about how well the child was doing and how it wasn’t needed. Fast forward a week or two and what do you know, the 1:1 need was still there. There were severe aggression incidents occurring multiple times a day and multiple students/staff on campus were injured.

When the parent called the school on this, it was found in emails (public records here) that the 1:1 was removed from the IEP due to the staffing specialist basically saying “we don’t do that here and don’t have the staff or resources to provide it.” In the emails, the classroom teacher advocated for her student needing the 1:1 or a special placement in a self contained room, she was ignored.

I see the parent winning this lawsuit.

 

[musiclover]

As a retired teacher, both gen ed and ESE, I hear what you are saying. You definitely need more help. But, a classroom teacher, who is being held accountable for the progress of ALL her students, may be in a no-win situation. She sees several students each year who need her help all day long and cannot do the work independently. She spends much of her year watching and worrying as one or more students impact her test scores, interfere with the learning of other kids, and/or disrupt the entire learning process. She provides Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 services. She goes to lots of meetings, if she is lucky enough to be at a school where they have regular progress monitoring meetings. She begs the appropriate personnel to help her or help her students. In my last school the staffing coordinator was contentious when asked to schedule the parents in for a meeting. If she liked a teacher, the meeting would be held sooner rather than later. As a classroom teacher, I have been told, "He has to qualify for OT before he can be seen for speech," "Start over with documentation - you cannot use what last year's teacher spent her lifetime writing down," and asked the same old tired questions, "Why do you think this child needs help?" and, my favorite, "What do you expect us to do about this problem?" In my last 5 years of teaching young children, I was the ONLY teacher on my grade level who even referred kids for testing. My co-workers, all wonderful teachers, simply decided not to do all the paperwork that a referral would require. The trend I saw was the opposite of what you describe...teachers who felt that the whole mountain of paperwork for a referral was not worth their prep time each day. The answer to your question about IEPs may be this: you may be the ONLY resource the school/district/state will provide for a struggling student.

 

[soon2bexteach]

I want to say thank you to everyone who has replied. You've all pointed out things that I logically know to be true. The biggest one being that teachers are massively stressed out over the nationwide expectation that all students perform at or above grade level, no excuses. It's absurd, as we all know. When teachers put in a good faith effort to meet this expectation, they "fail" 100% of the time because the whole notion is ****ing asinine and unrealistic...and of course most school districts won't provide teachers any support at the tier 2 and 3 levels (nope, you teachers can just do all the interventions yourself...because f*** you), so their only option is to outsource to SPED. I know this, but I still feel the effects of the crippling workload and it hurts my mental health...

It makes me think of a SPED-specific issue that I think might be parallel to how GE teachers feel. I had several kinder and first graders last year with low-incidence disabilities who required extensive support (students with toileting needs, little to no verbal communication, physical aggression, elopement from school grounds all day every day). All of them needed 1:1 aides around the clock to remain safe in and outside of the classroom (remember, this is a RESOURCE program). At first my district pushed back HARD on even giving these students 1:1 aides, so any and all non-classroom teaching staff had to take shifts each day to try to cover for these students. It was absolutely unmanageable, and we often couldn't even do it because we were so short-staffed. I fought that battle HARD for months and got into yelling matches with district-level personnel over it. When they finally did get 1:1 aides, it didn't help much. They'd lost 5 months of receiving appropriate services and supervision. At that point, the obvious solution was for me to advocate for life skills placements. You already know how that went over. I was told that general ed was the "best placement for them." This was despite 6 adults screaming at the top of our lungs that IT WAS NOT. Thankfully we were able to get all of them correctly placed after our union made some threats to file due process. Funny enough, last week I talked to the teacher of the students that were placed in her room, and she said they're all really struggling..but they are starting to make improvements. She said that in her professional opinion, had the students come to her from the start, those behavioral issues might've been avoided because they would've been getting appropriate language and social-skill instruction they need right off the bat. But no, we denied them any kind of early intervention because it looked nice and cute on paper to have them 100% included in general education.

So, moral of the story, it sounds like we're all stressed out and struggling. I think it helps to have these conversations as a reminder that we really are all in the same sinking ship of education.

 

[Beaches52]

I’m a SPED resource teacher at the elementary level, have been for the past 8 years. We are an extremely low performing school overall (very low SES school in Oregon, with high trauma), and my caseload is at fifty (yes, 50) students. I’m responsible for writing all of the IEPs, evaluations, reports, pull out services, full inclusion services, scheduling, meeting facilitation, push in services, responding to behavior crises, developing behavior plans, accommodations, planning lessons for aides (they each see 8-10 groups a day, so that’s 16-20 lessons a day I need to prep) and ongoing training for aides. I’m burnt the eff out due to the ever increasing workload, and fully intend to leave the profession ASAP…but that’s neither here nor there.

Most of my GE colleagues are absolutely amazing and don’t act like this. But I have a handful who will not stop pushing for IEPs. All veteran teachers, and all of them have referred 5-6 students each to the SST process, with the full intent of demanding testing and an IEP. These are also teachers who complain *CONSTANTLY* that SPED staff are lazy, incompetent and ineffective (they’ve been doing this for years, even before I got to the school). If you think we’re all stupid, why are you THAT adamant that we serve them? I’ve tried explaining over and over again that an IEP isn’t fairy dust, ESPECIALLY when I’ve got 50 kids to serve along with all the case management duties that come with each child. The attitude seems to be that an IEP will allow the child to get tons of “extra help” and therefore make leaps and bounds of progress, but nothing could be further from the truth when you’ve got FIFTY STUDENTS. These same teachers complain to administration that our students on IEPs are “not getting enough service minutes” and administration always responds with the fact that my caseload is enormous which makes my job extremely difficult, and I can’t serve each kid two hours per day. Despite knowing how bad my workload is, these teachers continue to refer students, even though they make it abundantly clear that me and my SPED team sucks. What is the deal?!

Side note, I do NOT think the majority of GE teachers are like this but there are always a handful (or two) in every school. It honestly is so defeating and feels degrading at times.

I get it. Most think somehow it's going to make this huge difference. My irritation is that many of these teachers in my school have 12 or 13 students!! I always ask what an IEP can do differently for the student than what they are getting in a ridiculously small classroom.

 

[WordFountain]

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