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Competency Based IEPs

October 15, 2021

What if… someone sat down with you and asked about your likes and interests? What your strengths are? What communities you belong to? What areas you would like to develop further? What if, instead of fixing your deficits, they worked with you to develop your assets and skills? These questions formed the foundation of our new Competency-Based IEP.

The CORE LSS Team wanted the new document to be student-focused, strength-based, and closely linked to both the classroom and curriculum. Like the revised curriculum, the new IEP focuses on core and curricular competencies, and uses “I can…” statements for writing goals and objectives.

In addition to being strength-based and competency focused, the new IEP is designed to support collaborative practices and include multiple voices. It includes both Student Profile and Learning Profile sections, and students have an integral role in the creation and monitoring of their IEPs. Students work with school staff to identify their strengths, how they learn best, and which areas they wish to develop further.

Karen Doolittle, Learning Support Teacher at Terry Fox Elementary, has embraced this new format, and has had great success working with students to assist in the creation of their own profiles. When providing input, her students identified some of the following: “I’m a good writer!”, “I like reminders of what to do, like putting the steps on a whiteboard”, and “I can wash dishes now and make a sandwich, but I like when other people do it!”

At Bakerview, Lainie McBride has taken this new process one step further.  Her students created vision boards that not only link to the profiles, but also show what goals and objectives they have helped set for themselves. These picture-based displays are reviewed regularly by the students in order to self-assess their own progress.  Do they need more work on a particular goal, or have they met their goal and are ready for a new challenge?

As we continue to ask these guiding questions and engage in the new IEP process, we gain a deeper understanding of our students and what they hope to achieve.

ANGELA MONTGOMERY

District Helping Teacher, Learning Support Services