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New Jersey’s parents of students with disabilities could soon have more resources and a stronger voice in shaping their child’s special education program following recommendations drafted by a state-mandated working group.
The 27-member group made up of educators, advocates, and parents outlined 17 recommendations aimed at making individualized education programs, or IEPs, more consistent, accessible, and effective for New Jersey students. An IEP is a legally required plan that details services a child with a disability should be receiving in school.
The report calls for significant improvements in how schools develop IEPs and emphasizes the need for transparency, accountability, measurable goals, and parent involvement in the process. Some of the recommendations include creating one statewide IEP system, providing parents with draft IEPs at least five working days before a meeting, and requiring the state to develop a consistent level of performance structure, which forms the foundation of an IEP.
The working group, established by a law signed under former Gov. Phil Murphy last summer, released its final report in January and created the recommendations by looking at gaps in current school IEP practices across New Jersey.
Introduced as a bill by Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz, the law also mandated that schools provide parents with a written statement of items to be discussed at an IEP meeting, no later than two business days before it takes place.
The working group submitted its 17 recommendations to the state’s education department and now are awaiting a response and legislative action, said Peg Kinsell, policy director at SPAN Parent Advocacy Network, who was part of the state working group.
Kinsell said “education, empowerment, changes to the system, and monitoring” are all part of the improvements the group recommended to ensure parents get a seat at the table and consistency is set across school districts.
“It just is the responsibility of the schools, and ultimately the state, to empower families to be the active participants in this IEP process on all sides of the equation from the beginning,” Kinsell added.
The new reports come as state and local leaders look for ways to bolster the state’s special education system, which has experienced an increase in the number of children needing services. In New Jersey, autism rates among 8-year-olds without intellectual disabilities spiked by 500% from 2000 to 2016 and overall cases among children with intellectual disabilities tripled during the same period, according to a 2023 report from researchers at Rutgers University.
In Newark, researchers found that as of 2020, 1 in 20 children had been diagnosed with autism, compared with 1 in 167 in 2000. Newark Public Schools has also experienced an increase in students with disabilities; last school year, nearly 7,000 students with disabilities enrolled in the district.
According to the report, the group looked at five priorities: present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, goals and objectives, implementation of IEPs, monitoring of student progress, and IEP team collaboration and consultation.
Kinsell, who has more than two decades of experience working on special education advocacy, said the state should take a closer look at how school districts are implementing IEPs.
The working group’s recommendations called to strengthen accountability by adding a “special education service implementation” category to the state’s evaluation system for school districts known as the New Jersey Quality Single Accountability Continuum, or NJQSAC.
The group also recommended standardizing documents and professional development so all IEP team members, including parents, understand what implementation of services looks like.
“We have to stop thinking special education has its own laws, its own rules, its own process, they’re still part of the educational system,” Kinsell added. “Why don’t we have really explicit progress monitoring of special education? It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Several recommendations also focus specifically on parent involvement, a recurring concern raised throughout the working group sessions.
Under IDEA, the federal law that ensures students with disabilities receive special education services, an IEP is meant to be drafted collaboratively with parents. Kinsell says parents have reported receiving the document at the meeting itself, leaving little to no time for review, prepare questions, or advocate effectively for their child.
The group also recommends expanding parent training resources and translating materials to ensure families who don’t speak English can participate in the process.
Kinsell hopes the new report will “keep the conversation going” about the need to bolster New Jersey’s special education program.
Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
