Once a year, the IEP team has to meet to review the student’s progress in the last year, update present levels, set new goals, and revise the IEP to make sure it still describes the student and what they need to succeed. This meeting has to be held within one calendar year of the old IEP date. So if the old IEP was dated December 10th, the team has to meet for the new IEP before December 10th of the next year.

What IDEA says about annual IEPs in 34 C.F.R. § 300.324(b)(1):

(1) General. Each public agency must ensure that, subject to paragraphs (b)(2) and (b)(3) of this section, the IEP Team—

(i) Reviews the child’s IEP periodically, but not less than annually, to determine whether the annual goals for the child are being achieved; and

(ii) Revises the IEP, as appropriate, to address—

(A) Any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals described in §300.320(a)(2), and in the general education curriculum, if appropriate;

(B) The results of any reevaluation conducted under §300.303;

(C) Information about the child provided to, or by, the parents, as described under §300.305(a)(2);

(D) The child’s anticipated needs; or

(E) Other matters.

At least once every three years, the IEP team has to meet to determine whether the student is still eligible for special education services. Most places will combine this with an annual IEP meeting in order to consolidate meetings. Some places will hold two separate meetings a month apart so as not to pre-determine eligibility– but that is not an IDEA requirement.

What IDEA says about re-evaluation meetings in 34 C.F.R. § 300.324(a)(5):

(5) Consolidation of IEP Team meetings. To the extent possible, the public agency must encourage the consolidation of reevaluation meetings for the child and other IEP Team meetings for the child.

In-between annual IEPs, teams can meet to make smaller changes to the IEP. This could be do ask for new services, like an assessment for occupational therapy. It could be to change an accommodation. Really, as long as it is not writing an entirely new IEP, it can count as an amendment.

If the amendment is to add a new service or something substantial, the IEP team should meet. However, teams have the option of not meeting and just working on a amendment in writing. That often means talking on the phone or over email and then sending an IEP home for the parent to sign.

What IDEA says about amendments in 34 C.F.R. § 300.324(a)(4):

(6) Amendments. Changes to the IEP may be made either by the entire IEP Team at an IEP Team meeting, or as provided in paragraph (a)(4) of this section, by amending the IEP rather than by redrafting the entire IEP. Upon request, a parent must be provided with a revised copy of the IEP with the amendments incorporated.

What IDEA says about meeting for amendments:

(4) Agreement.

(i) In making changes to a child’s IEP after the annual IEP Team meeting for a school year, the parent of a child with a disability and the public agency may agree not to convene an IEP Team meeting for the purposes of making those changes, and instead may develop a written document to amend or modify the child’s current IEP.

(ii) If changes are made to the child’s IEP in accordance with paragraph (a)(4)(i) of this section, the public agency must ensure that the child’s IEP Team is informed of those changes.

Progress monitoring meetings are not part of IDEA. Many districts will call an IEP amendment meeting if a student is struggling. The team might make a minor change to the IEP, but often the purpose is to talk. Other districts will call these progress monitoring meetings and not make any changes to the IEP. There is, however, nothing about progress monitoring meetings in IDEA. IDEA comes into play if there might be changes to the IEP. If it is just a parent-teacher conference, then it is not covered by IDEA. That is why most districts will use either the terms amendment or parent-teacher conferences for meetings– progress monitoring can be a confusing term.

The final type of meeting in IDEA is a manifest determination meeting. When a student is heading towards 10 suspensions and for every suspension afterwards during that school year, the team needs to meet. They look at whether the behavior is related to the disability and any additional supports the student needs.

What IDEA says about manifest determination meetings in 34 C.F.R. § 300.530:

(b) General.

(1) School personnel under this section may remove a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct from his or her current placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting, another setting, or suspension, for not more than 10 consecutive school days (to the extent those alternatives are applied to children without disabilities), and for additional removals of not more than 10 consecutive school days in that same school year for separate incidents of misconduct (as long as those removals do not constitute a change of placement under §300.536).

(2) After a child with a disability has been removed from his or her current placement for 10 school days in the same school year, during any subsequent days of removal the public agency must provide services to the extent required under paragraph (d) of this section.

(c) Additional authority. For disciplinary changes in placement that would exceed 10 consecutive school days, if the behavior that gave rise to the violation of the school code is determined not to be a manifestation of the child’s disability pursuant to paragraph (e) of this section, school personnel may apply the relevant disciplinary procedures to children with disabilities in the same manner and for the same duration as the procedures would be applied to children without disabilities, except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section