UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

Understanding School Personnel Management: Implementing an Individual Education Plan (IEP)

An Individual Education Plan is a document developed for learners who require special strategies and services and measures to follow up on achievement. Learners who require individual education plans need extra support and plans to make them feel included in the school and the learning process. Such learners have a variety of needs from an IEP helps to provide them with quality education since they are better understood. The goal of IEP is to ensure that every child learns in the least restrictive environment, and so efforts to help the student stay in the regular class should be made. However, when individual needs are best catered for in a special class, students must be placed there (Siegel, 2017).

Why Educators May Fail to Deliver Quality Education to Learners

Many schools think they deliver to each learner what they need. The reality is that most schools dont understand what this means, and neither do they implement ways of accomplishing that. In most cases, educators fail to deliver what learners need because they dont comprehend what learners need most. As such, obstacles exist that may lead to educators not understanding their students (Bertrand, Roberts & Dalton, 2009).

Educators may also fail to deliver quality education to learners because they dont think about the possibility of some learners needing extra support in their learning. Students exhibit different learner characteristics. The implication of this is that every learners need must be catered for individually if meaningful learning is to take place to bring about positive change and experiences in learners. Most educators lack the diagnostic sophistication necessary to identify these needs, and they dont think it is relevant, neither do they see the need. As a result, the curriculum mostly drives the education and not individuals.

Implementation of a Students Education Plan

The services and goals stipulated by Julias IEP can be provided in a standard learning environment. Julias teachers can implement the requirements of the IEP in the regular classroom. Activities involving the implementation process include a reading teacher offering Julia extra assistance with reading while the rest of the class works on normal tasks with the teacher. This may need additional resources to be put in place, for instance, a resource room within the regular school (Bertrand, Roberts & Dalton, 2009). This room can serve students like Julia that require special attention and extra strategies.

However, if Julia needs intense intervention, she may be taught within a special environment like classrooms with fewer learners per teacher. This will allow the educator to pay more individualized attention. Also, Julias teachers may require special training to equip them with skills that would allow them to implement the IEP specifications effectively to generate positive results regarding the expected learner outcome. For educators to handle students like Julia effectively, extra training is necessary.

During the day, Julia should be allowed to spend most of the time in a special classroom while being taken through the special learning as stipulated by her education plan. However, for activities that are not academic, she could join the regular classroom. Such activities include gym, sport, and music and activities where she doesnt require...

…State Department of Education or the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) if the teacher or the school fails to implement the IEP. Once the complaint is made, a neutral investigation will be assigned to investigate the complaint. This shall be done by reviewing student records and any other relevant information and conducting interviews (Etscheidt, 2006).

Conclusion

The IEP is a powerful tool if educational goals are to be achieved by students with special educational needs. It is a tool as powerful as the strength of the collaboration in the team engaged in its implementation. Therefore, the school administration and educators need to understand its importance and the role each needs to play in its implementation. This allows for effective implementation of the IEP (Siegel, 2020). It is also important to note that various issues may arise when IEP is in its implementation phase. These issues may include failure to follow the accommodation requirements as stipulated in the IEP.

In such cases, the school management must act with diligence, bearing the student need in mind and also ensuring that these issues are handled amicably. Application of the ethical requirements becomes critical at this stage. Herein, every educator should constantly reflect on the ethical basis of their conduct. This will help them to understand the standard of competence and the consequences for performance.

They must then ensure compliance with values, moral and legal frameworks. Also, every educator must understand their role in every learners life despite any learning difficulty or disability they have, be it emotional, physical, behavioral, or psychological. They must always strive to bring out the best aspects in learners, from social, mental,…