IEP’s and PDP’s: What’s the Difference?

In one of my previous articles, I said to opt out of testing, the student will need to be on an IEP or PDP. While similar in function, there are some differences.

The “Away Game” Option

The IEP is a document created and managed by the public school. It is framed to adhere to all federal, state and local regulations. It will likely be composed by several team members with the intention of providing the student with public school services. While the expertise of each team member will be in play, overall coordination of the team in addressing student needs may be slow. Implementation of services could be delayed due to available personnel and money.     

For more information, see  OAR (Oregon Administrative Rules) 581-015-0005(11).

The “At Home” Option

The PDP is developed and defined by the OAR’s this way:  

 “Privately developed plan” (PDP) means an individual plan developed by a team including the parent and one or more private service providers to address the educational needs of a child with a disability. A PDP shall include individual educational goals for the student and a statement indicating how satisfactory educational progress will be determined for the student.

How many members make up the team? As few as two, the parent being one of them.

What makes up the PDP? Educational goals and or developmental goals.

How is progress determined and confirmed? Again the OAR’s define it this way:

“Satisfactory educational progress” means educational progress across academic and/or developmental areas appropriate to the child’s age and abilities. The student need not complete all individualized educational program or privately developed plan goals for the team to determine that the student is making satisfactory educational progress.

I think you can see that what I’m calling the “At Home” Option is simpler. It’s more responsive because you, the parent, are paying the service provider to create the plan and possibly implement it. Or, once the plan is drawn up, you may seek the services of other services providers who have the expertise you need to address the needs of your student. You’re in control!

I’ll describe how to get the PDP process started in my next post.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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