Collaboratively crafting individualized education program goals for culturally and linguistically diverse students

ABSTRACT

Individualized education programs (IEPs) reflect the spirit of individualized instruction that lies at the heart of special education. Quality annual goal statements, which propel the implementation of special education programming, use clear language to communicate measurable, meaningful, and standards-aligned expectations to all members of the IEP team. Over the past two decades, researchers have documented the struggles that practitioners face in crafting quality IEP goal statements. Given the demographics of classrooms today and the fact that IEP meetings are not “culture free” spaces, a priority emerges for IEP goal statements to not only reflect quality but also to respond to the needs of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. In this article, authors provide a framework for collaboratively crafting meaningful, measurable, and standards-aligned IEP goal statements for English learners with disabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Disabilities
• English as a Second Language
• English language learners

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara L. Jozwik

Sara L. Jozwik is an assistant professor at Illinois State University. Her research focuses on literacy interventions for emerging bilingual students with learning disabilities.

Alice Cahill

Alice Cahill is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Her research focuses on personnel preparation in special education.

Gilberto Sánchez

Gilberto Sánchez is a former bilingual special education teacher who has held administrative roles with the Illinois State Board of Education. His interests focus on administering quality programming for English learners with and without disabilities.