Reviewed by Dr. Elizabeth Long, Ph.D. — Director of Special Education, 32 years in public schools.
Progress reports say "making progress." That doesn't tell you whether your child will actually reach the goal. Enter the numbers from the IEP and the progress reports, and this shows you what the school's own data says about the rate — the thing that decides whether the gap is closing. Private by design: nothing you type leaves your browser.
Find these on the IEP. The baseline is the "present level" number the goal was written from; the target is the number the goal says your child should reach by the annual review.
Add each progress report you've received — the date on it and the number it reported for this goal. You need at least three to see anything, and six before the result means much.
This is educational information, not legal advice, and not a diagnosis. It does simple arithmetic on the numbers you enter and shows what they imply about pace. It does not decide whether an IEP is appropriate — that is a judgment about your child that belongs to you and the team. A slower-than-expected rate can have an ordinary explanation: an intervention not delivered as often as the IEP says, absences, a measure that changed, or a goal set optimistically. Those are questions to ask, not accusations to make. Growth can also be uneven across the year, so a mid-year result is a signal to ask, not a verdict.
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