Each year, the TASH Conference brings together a diverse community of stakeholders who gain information, learn about resources, and connect with others across the country to strengthen the disability field. This year’s conference theme, “Be Creative - Innovative Solutions for an Inclusive Life,” reminds us to think outside the box during times of uncertainty. Creativity, innovation, and determination can pave the way for meaningful and inclusive lives for people with disabilities.
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004), Individualized Education Program (IEP) annual goals are required to enable students with disabilities to be involved and make progress in the general education curriculum and to address other educational needs. Thus, examining the content and quality of IEP goals for students with significant support needs is an important area of research, particularly following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1 (2017). This study reports findings from a content analysis of the annual goals in 88 IEPs for K-12 students with significant support needs. Results reflect a lack of comprehensive academic content goals to promote involvement and progress in the general education curriculum, and limited opportunities for students to develop skills associated with self-determination (e.g., choice-making, planning, and goal setting and attainment). Findings also show a focus within goals on student compliance rather than the development of meaningful, challenging skills and knowledge. Implications for research and practice are provided and strongly link to the 2018 TASH Conference theme of "Be Creative - Innovative Solutions for an Inclusive Life". As evident in the findings of this study, IEPs often fail to include content "outside the box" to enable students with significant support needs to be meaningfully included with their peers. Creative and innovative implications for practice presented in this paper are ideas for enhanced teacher training on IEP goal development, more rigorous review processes within states and districts to ensure IEP goals for all students enable them to make progress in the general education curriculum, and the incorporation of skills associated with self-determination in IEP goals. These creative solutions for practice, along with novel implications for research, pave the way for more robust, inclusive educational planning for students with significant support needs.
