September 2010 - How much progress is "meaningful"?

Case of the Month:  M.P. v. Poway Unified School District (S.D. Cal., July 12, 2010) How much progress is "meaningful progress"? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   The story:  In 2nd grade, the student was identified as having a specific learning disability and a communication impairment.  His fourth grade IEP included 90 minutes of academics four times per week, 30 minutes of speech-language per week, and both in class and pull out OT services each week. At an IEP meeting at the end of fourth grade, the parent was disappointed to learn that the student was not making the progress toward his IEP goals that she thought he was making.  The student had met his goals in communication, math word problems and fine motor skills, but had made little progress on his writing/spelling goal. The learning center teacher reported that he  needed more time for his goals in reading, writing, fine motor skills and organizational skills.  The learning center teacher and classroom teacher both explained that he had worked hard and had made progress on most of the unmet goals.  The summer after fourth grade, the parent retained a private psychologist as an advocate for the family, enrolled the student in a private school and a year and a half later requested a due process hearing for tuition reimbursement.  The test:  The court stated that FAPE required the district to (1) address the child's unique needs, and (2) provide "adequate support services so the child can take advantage of the educational opportunities", (3) in accordance with the student's IEP and LRE requirements.  Only (1) and (2) were at issue here. The outcome:  Both the ALJ and the court found that the IEP addressed the student's unique needs - here, auditory processing - by including accommodations such as extra time on tests, use of word processing software on writing tests and assignments, graphic organizers for writing, sensory breaks, preferential seating, etc.  As to whether the services were adequate, the principal gave convincing testimony that although the student did not "meet" grade expectations, the student showed "tremendous growth" from fall to spring in reading, math and language on state assessments, and both teachers gave specific examples of progress.  While the student did not meet all his goals "or reach the level of an average proficient student" according to the testing, his report card, and the IEP Progress Report, the evidence was sufficient to show meaningful progress.  The lesson learned:  The student was receiving a substantial amount of services from the district and the district effectively used "growth data" from fall and spring to show progress across academic areas.   More frequent progress monitoring data would also be effective to show growth as well as provide a basis for intervention decisions along the way.