Students who are eligible for special education and related services are entitled to a free appropriate public education (FAPE), which is delineated by the Individualized Education Program (IEP). The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine 133 IEPs from seven rural districts that were interested in evaluating their compliance with state and federal special education regulations. The researchers evaluated (a) the present level of academic and functional performance (PLAAFP), (b) IEP goals, (c) PLAAFP and goal alignment, and (d) progress monitoring. Fewer than 7% of the IEPs examined included PLAAFP statements, goals, and contingencies for progress monitoring that met regulatory standards. The majority of IEPs (74%) evaluated did not provide complete statements of how a student’s disability affected school performance. Methods for quantitative progress monitoring were also frequently absent from the documents (23%). Furthermore, the PLAAFP, goals, and progress monitoring were often unaligned. Implications for school practice and areas for future research are reported.

有资格接受特殊教育和相关服务的学生有权享受免费的适当公共教育（FAPE），该课程由“个性化教育计划”（IEP）划定。这项描述性研究的目的是检查来自七个农村地区的133个IEP，他们有兴趣评估其对州和联邦特殊教育法规的遵守情况。研究人员评估了（a）当前的学术和职能绩效水平（PLAAFP），（b）IEP目标，（c）PLAAFP和目标一致性以及（d）进度监控。不到7％的IEP包含了PLAAFP声明，目标和符合监管标准的进度监控突发事件。被评估的大多数IEP（74％）没有提供完整的陈述，说明学生的残疾如何影响学校表现。文件中也经常缺少定量进度监控的方法（23％）。此外，PLAFP，目标和进度监控通常是不一致的。报告了对学校实践和未来研究领域的影响。