The Development of Individualized Education Programs

There are more than 6.6 million students with disabilities in U.S.public schools who receive special education services, which means that there are 6.6million Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that have been developed and are beingimplemented at any given time. Each IEP represents real cost in educational opportunity,relationship building between families and schools, time, and resource allocation. Giventhis information, it is important to examine what we have learned from research on thedevelopment of IEPs, and to begin charting a new direction for research and practicerelated to IEP development. This literature review examines published, peer-reviewedresearch studies that have examined IEP development since the 1997 reauthorization ofthe Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The review concludes with adiscussion of how findings from previous research on IEP development can inform futureresearch agendas, educator practice, and federal and state policies