The IEP: The Ultimate Process

As part of an extensive federally funded project, the authors directed teams of interviewers who questioned various levels of educational administrators, teachers, parents of handicapped children, support personnel, teacher-union leaders, and child advocates regarding critical aspects of the Individualized Education Program (IEP). The article synthesizes the impressions and insights gleaned from the interviews. Most respondents tended to view the IEP as a stable, fixed, potentially threatening product. The interview data suggested that if the IEP is to become an effective mechanism for improving the education for all handicapped children, it must be conceived of as a process and carried out as a process, not as a product alone.