What provisions must the IEP include to assess the progress the student is making in achieving the goals?
Once the goals are established, the IEP team must establish evaluation procedures and criteria to ensure the student is learning the annual goals. The IEP team should try to ensure a close alignment with the evaluation procedures and criteria utilized by the district and state in determining students progress towards achieving their respective standards. Therefore, if the states assessments include multiple choice and open-ended questions, which are evaluated by scoring rubrics, the IEP should utilize similar evaluation procedures and criteria to objectively assess the students progress towards respective curriculum goals. Although no longer mandated by IDEAs 2004 revision, New Jersey’s administrative code still requires short-term objectives. These measurable intermediate steps (short-term objectives) or major milestones (benchmarks) better enable parents, students, and educators to monitor students progress at specified times during the year and, if appropriate, to revise the IEP to
