Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance

Present levels anchor the individual program

Current 34 CFR 300.320 requires the IEP to state present levels of academic achievement and functional performance. It also addresses how disability affects involvement and progress in the general education curriculum.

For a preschool child, the statement addresses how disability affects participation in appropriate activities. The section gives the team a current starting point for the rest of the IEP.

Academic and functional evidence both matter

Academic information may include reading, writing, mathematics, content learning, assignments, classroom assessments, and statewide or district assessments. Functional information may address communication, executive functioning, social and emotional participation, behavior, mobility, self-care, sensory access, health interfaces, and other school participation needs.

Choose evidence related to educational needs. A long inventory of scores adds little when the team cannot tell what the child can do, under which conditions, and why the information matters.

Strengths belong beside needs

Describe interests, successful strategies, communication forms, relationships, routines, and conditions where the child participates well. Strengths can reveal useful instructional materials, partners, settings, and supports.

Direct student input and family observations add information about preferences, fatigue, belonging, safety, priorities, and effects outside one classroom. Label each source and context.

Baselines need defined conditions

A baseline should name the response or skill, opportunity, time window, setting, materials, assistance, communication access, prompts, and sample. “Reads at 60%” leaves the reader guessing about passage level, question type, support, denominator, and date.

Raw counts make percentages easier to interpret. Report 12 of 20 opportunities, or 60%, along with missing data and exclusions. Avoid combining unlike tasks or settings into one average.

Keep the baseline date visible whenever teams compare later performance.

Evaluation evidence should use multiple sources

Current 34 CFR 300.304 requires a variety of tools and strategies, relevant parent information, appropriate language and communication, and assessment in all suspected areas. A single measure cannot serve as the sole criterion for disability or program decisions.

Under 34 CFR 300.305, the team and other qualified professionals review existing evaluation data, parent information, classroom assessments and observations, and observations by teachers and related-service providers when identifying needed data.

Each need should connect forward

Trace a clear line from present level to educational impact, annual goal or other plan response, service, support, accommodation or modification, and progress measure. Every present-level need may require a different response; some call for a service, some for access, and some for monitoring.

The connection also works backward. A goal or service with no supporting present-level evidence deserves clarification.

A fictional baseline record

Rowan uses speech and AAC during group projects. Across 20 defined opportunities in science class with AAC available, Rowan independently asks a peer for needed information in 14 of 20, or 70%. Partners answer within 15 seconds in 9 of those 14 requests.

In art, the same message occurs in 3 of 8 opportunities with different partners and no visual cue. The team keeps the settings separate. These samples describe current performance and partner response; they give no causal conclusion and represent neither every class nor a complete goal decision.

Update present levels when the record changes

Current 34 CFR 300.324 requires the team to review the IEP periodically, at least annually, and revise it as appropriate for progress, reevaluation results, parent information, anticipated needs, and other matters.

Update baselines, support conditions, and source dates. Carrying an old number into a new annual IEP can hide growth, regression, setting changes, or missing implementation.

Outside clinicians can supply bounded evidence

An ABA clinician or other provider may share observations, assessment results, communication supports, and progress data within competence and through an appropriate disclosure route. Include methods, setting, sample, ordinary supports, intervention changes, and limitations.

The IEP team decides educational impact and program content. Clinic performance may differ at school, so the team examines transfer rather than assuming it.

Questions families can ask

Ask what the child can do now, in which settings, with which supports, and according to which source. Request raw counts, dates, work samples, opportunity definitions, and missing-data explanations.

Ask how each identified need connects to goals, services, supports, and progress reporting. Confirm that student and family priorities and accessible communication appear accurately.

Before finalizing the IEP, trace every baseline to its source date and conditions, then trace every identified need forward to a planned response. Flag stale, unsupported, or disconnected statements for team clarification rather than carrying them into the next plan.