This month’s Bright Spots again come from our year-end survey.  This time we looked at the responses of the teachers and administrators from multiple districts, including Carmel, Port Chester, White Plains, New Rochelle, Southern Westchester BOCES, Byram Hills, Eastchester, Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, Dobbs Ferry, Putnam Valley and the PARC Preschool, who attended the RSE-TASC Student-Directed IEP series last year.

What were students able to achieve?

Educators described some powerful impacts on students, including:

* Students developed a better understanding of their strengths, needs and goals and took ownership of their IEP development.

* Students changed their view of teachers and the school; they now feel they have control of their education instead of it “just happening” to them.

* Students and their IEP teams created much more reflective IEPs with a more accurate focus on student needs.

 What practices or systems made this possible? 

Educators implemented more student-directed practices, including:

* Students were more directly involved in the creation of IEPs and in CSE meetings; at one high school, every student presented on his/her strengths, needs, interests and future plans at the annual meeting.

* Staff used templates to develop accurate goals and measurement processes that were shared with students.

* Transition and graduation information was shared at meetings and systematic procedures for developing coordinated transition activities were put in place for all students, starting at age 14.

What can we learn from this Bright Spot?

Principle 1 of the NYS Blueprint for Improved Results for Students with Disabilities, i.e., Students engage in self-advocacy and are involved in determining their own educational goals and plans, begins by fully engaging all students in the creation of their own educational plans.  It can be done!