Findings Brief 1: What Eighteen IEP Reviews Found
Aggregate findings from independent review of 18 voluntarily submitted, de-identified IEPs, with the public data and sources behind the review.
Public data show how many students receive IDEA services and where they are educated. They do not show whether an individual IEP is high quality or whether a family can understand and use the written program. This brief reports what independent review of individual documents has found so far.
The sample is 18 voluntarily submitted, de-identified IEPs. Eleven came from families and seven came from teachers for rubric refinement only. The findings describe this sample alone. They do not establish legal noncompliance, educator intent, or the quality of any school or district, and they do not represent all students or all school systems.
What's inside
- National context from the National Center for Education Statistics: IDEA service rates by race and ethnicity and by disability category for 2022-23
- A plain separation of what the law requires, what published guidance recommends, and what EDquity has chosen as its own review standard
- Aggregate results: 82 percent of document-level indicators met and 30 percent of substantive-quality indicators met, with a breakdown by IEP section
- Four findings present in all 18 documents and five present in most, each with a note on why it matters
- How the recurring findings connect to professional learning for teachers and leaders
How to use it
Read the opening pages first so the limits of the sample are clear, then the findings pages. Cite the figures as describing this sample of 18 documents, not all students or all school systems. Share it with teachers and school leaders who want to see where written programs most often need support.
Free, with no email required. Print it, copy it, and share it with any family who needs it.
Use these alongside it
A tool tells you what to look for. An audit tells you what your child's IEP says.
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