IEP Example: A Complete Sample IEP, Section by Section

Estimated reading time: 20 minutes

An IEP example is a completed individualized education program (IEP) for one student, shown section by section so teams can see what each required part looks like when it is filled in. This guide gives one complete sample IEP for a fictional third grader, in the order of the federal regulation, then shorter IEP examples for ADHD and for autism with transition planning, a blank IEP outline, and links to official sample IEPs published by state agencies. Every example here is original and fictional: adapt the structure, never the content, to your student’s data and your state’s IEP form.

Executive Summary

In 2024-25, 8.2 million students ages 3 to 21 were served under IDEA, and every one of their IEPs must contain the same required parts, listed in 34 CFR 300.320. In fall 2024, 68% of school-age students served under IDEA spent 80% or more of the school day in general classes, so most IEPs are carried out by general education teachers as much as by special educators.

A sample IEP is useful when it shows how the parts connect: each need in the present levels leads to a goal, each goal to a measurement plan and a service, and each service to a frequency, location and duration. Official state samples help with format, but no sample can be copied, because the IEP must be built from one student’s evaluation and data.

How to Read This IEP Example

The main example follows 34 CFR 300.320. State forms may reorder or add sections: Pennsylvania adds the type of support, the school attended and a transition plan from age 14 (22 Pa. Code 14.131). The present levels reuse the third grader from our PLAAFP examples, so you can follow one student from baseline to services. Notes after each section give the rule behind it. Our guide to what an IEP is covers who qualifies, the IEP team and the process.

A Complete IEP Example, Section by Section

Student: Maya, 8, grade 3. Eligibility: specific learning disability affecting reading. Meeting: annual review. IEP dates: October 14, 2026 to October 13, 2027. Team: Maya’s father, her third-grade teacher, the special education teacher (case manager), the assistant principal as district representative and the school psychologist, who interprets the evaluation; Maya joined for 15 minutes. These roles match 34 CFR 300.321.

1. Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance

Reading: Maya answers inferential questions about stories read aloud and has a strong oral vocabulary. On three grade 3 oral reading fluency probes in September, she read a median of 48 words correct per minute (WCPM) with 89% accuracy; the class median was 86. She read 6 of 20 unfamiliar words with vowel teams (ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow). Because she decodes slowly and misreads vowel teams, she cannot read grade-level science and social studies texts on her own and completes about half of assignments with written directions independently.

Spelling: In dictated sentences, she spelled 3 of 15 vowel-team words correctly; her dictated sentences are complete and on topic.

Math and functional: She met the fall district math benchmark, follows routines and works well with partners, but asks for help with a hard text in about 2 of 10 observed opportunities.

Parent and student input: Her father reports that she avoids reading at home and asks for practice ideas. Maya wants to read chapter books about animals like her friends.

Note: the statement must say “how the child’s disability affects the child’s involvement and progress in the general education curriculum” (300.320(a)(1)); the last reading sentence does that.

2. Measurable Annual Goals

1. Decoding: By October 13, 2027, given 20 unfamiliar one- and two-syllable words with vowel teams, Maya will read at least 18 correctly on 3 consecutive biweekly probes, from a baseline of 6 of 20, as measured by teacher-made decoding probes.
2. Fluency: By October 13, 2027, given an unpracticed grade 3 passage, Maya will read aloud at 85 WCPM with at least 95% accuracy on 3 consecutive weekly probes, from a baseline of 48 WCPM with 89% accuracy, as measured by curriculum-based fluency probes.
3. Spelling: By October 13, 2027, when writing 10 dictated sentences, Maya will spell vowel-team words correctly in at least 80% of opportunities on 3 consecutive biweekly probes, from a baseline of 20%, as measured by dictation probes.

Note: Maya takes the regular state tests, so federal rules do not require short-term objectives, which apply to students on alternate assessments aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (300.320(a)(2)(ii)); a state may require more. How to set each criterion is in the complete guide to IEP goals.

3. How Progress Will Be Measured and Reported

“The special education teacher will give a fluency probe weekly and decoding and spelling probes every two weeks, graphed against a goal line. Maya’s father will receive a written report on each goal every nine weeks, with the report card, giving the latest data, the goal’s status and any instructional change.”

Note: the IEP must say how progress is measured and when reports are provided, “such as through the use of quarterly or other periodic reports, concurrent with the issuance of report cards” (300.320(a)(3)). Comment examples and a template are in our IEP progress report guide.

4. Special Education and Related Services

• Specially designed instruction in reading: explicit, systematic instruction in vowel-team patterns with repeated reading of decodable and grade-level text, 30 minutes daily, special education teacher, small group in the resource room.
• Specially designed instruction in spelling: 20 minutes, twice a week, special education teacher, small group in the third-grade classroom.
• Related services: none at this time; the team reviewed the evaluation and found no need.

Note: services must be “based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable” (300.320(a)(4)). See specially designed instruction examples and our guide to related services in special education.

5. Supplementary Aids and Services

• Text-to-speech for science and social studies texts above her independent level: daily, general education classroom.
• Written directions read aloud on request: all classes.
• Extended time (1.5 times) on assignments and tests that require reading: all classes.
• A vowel-team word bank during writing tasks: general education classroom.

Note: these supports help the student learn with nondisabled peers in regular classes and other settings (34 CFR 300.42). More options: IEP accommodations.

6. Program Modifications and Supports for School Personnel

• Consultation between the special education and third-grade teachers: 30 minutes every two weeks, to align spelling lists and review graphs.
• Training on the text-to-speech tool for the teacher and classroom aide: one 45-minute session in October.

Note: Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction treats consultation and training as supports for school personnel that still need an amount, frequency, location and duration (Bulletin 24.02, 2024).

7. Participation With Nondisabled Peers

“Maya will not participate with nondisabled peers for 30 minutes a day, about 2.5 hours of a 32.5-hour week, during reading instruction in the resource room. The team found that daily small-group instruction at her decoding level could not be provided satisfactorily in the class literacy block, even with supports. She takes part in all other classes, lunch, recess, specials and field trips.”

Note: the IEP explains “the extent, if any,” of non-participation (300.320(a)(5)); removal is allowed only when regular-class education with supplementary aids and services “cannot be achieved satisfactorily” (34 CFR 300.114).

8. Participation in State and Districtwide Assessments

“Maya will take the grade 3 state reading and math tests and district benchmarks with a small-group setting, breaks between sections and text-to-speech on math, as allowed by the state’s guidelines. She does not need an alternate assessment.”

Note: list only accommodations “necessary to measure” achievement (300.320(a)(6)); states tell teams which ones do not invalidate a score (34 CFR 300.160(b)). A read-aloud allowed in science class may not be allowed on a reading test.

9. Start Date, Frequency, Location and Duration

Note: the Department of Education’s 2006 analysis says the IEP must state “the amount of services” so that the agency’s “commitment of resources will be clear to parents and other IEP Team members,” and that the Act does not require naming each provider (71 Fed. Reg. 46667).

10. Transition Services and Transfer of Rights

“Not required at this time.” Postsecondary goals based on age-appropriate transition assessments, and the transition services to reach them, begin no later than the first IEP in effect at 16, or younger if the team decides (300.320(b)). One year before the age of majority, the IEP states that the student was told which rights will transfer (300.320(c)). The autism example shows both.

Special Factors and Other Team Decisions

• Special factors (34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)): behavior does not impede learning; English is the home language; communication considered; assistive technology needed (text-to-speech).
• Extended school year: considered, no need shown; spring data will be reviewed. ESY is decided individually by the team (34 CFR 300.106).
• After the meeting: prior written notice (34 CFR 300.503), a free copy of the IEP for the parent (300.322(f)), and each teacher told what they must provide (300.323(d)).

IEP Example for ADHD

IDEA names attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the definition of other health impairment (34 CFR 300.8(c)(9)); the student must also need special education because of it. Eli, 12, is a fictional seventh grader served under that category.

Planning is taught, not only accommodated; see executive function IEP goals.

IEP Example for Autism With Transition Planning

The federal definition of autism names effects on “verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction” and lists “resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines” and “unusual responses to sensory experiences” among associated characteristics (34 CFR 300.8(c)(1)). Noah, 16, is a fictional tenth grader, so his IEP includes transition content.

The team considered communication needs and assistive technology (34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(iv)-(v)) and invited Noah, as required when postsecondary goals are discussed (300.321(b)). More goal ideas are in IEP goals for autism.

Blank IEP Outline You Can Adapt

Use this outline to check a draft against the federal parts; keep your state’s fields and order.

1. Meeting information: dates, meeting type, team members.
2. Present levels: strengths, needs with baselines, impact on the general curriculum, parent and student input.
3. Annual goals: condition, behavior, criterion, baseline, method; objectives where required.
4. Progress measurement and reporting: tool, frequency, collector, report dates.
5. Special education and related services, or a note that none is needed.
6. Supplementary aids and services by setting, including nonacademic settings.
7. Supports for school personnel.
8. Participation with nondisabled peers: extent and reason.
9. Assessments: accommodations, or why an alternate assessment fits.
10. Services table: start date, frequency, location, duration.
11. Special factors, ESY and, where required, transition and transfer of rights.

IEP Compliance Checklist

An IEP compliance checklist lets a reviewer confirm, line by line, that an IEP and the meeting behind it meet the federal rules in 34 CFR 300.320 to 300.324 and the notices that go with them. The checklist below is an original example to adapt: it covers federal requirements only, so add your state’s rules, and treat it as a self-check, not a legal opinion.

For an internal file review, sample IEPs, mark each line yes or no, and correct gaps through an amendment or a meeting, with prior written notice. States also monitor IEPs; transition content, for example, is measured by Indicator 13 in our SPP/APR guide.

Official Sample IEPs From State Agencies

• Washington (OSPI): the Evaluation and IEP Technical Assistance Module holds eight sample evaluations and IEPs from districts monitored in 2012-13, chosen to show compliant and noncompliant practice, with an analysis of each; read them together. OSPI also posts model IEP forms.
• Pennsylvania (PaTTAN): the Annotated IEP, effective January 1, 2026, explains each section of the state form.
• Wisconsin (DPI): the IEP learning resources link to sample forms, including Form I-4, which links present levels, needs, goals and services.

Funding and Staffing

IEP services are provided at no cost to parents (34 CFR 300.17), and IDEA Part B funds pay only excess costs, supplementing state and local funds (34 CFR 300.202), so the services table is a budget commitment. Writing strong IEPs takes staff time, and 45 states reported special education teacher shortages in 2024-25 (Learning Policy Institute, 2026).

Common Mistakes District Leaders Make

1. Copying a sample IEP. A borrowed goal carries someone else’s baseline.
2. Scores without an impact statement in the present levels.
3. Goals with no baseline, so no one can judge whether they are ambitious.
4. Services without amounts, such as “consultation as needed.”
5. Blank related services fields instead of “none needed.”
6. A boilerplate participation statement with no reason for removal.
7. Classroom accommodations copied onto state tests without checking state guidelines.

Questions District Leaders Should Ask

• Could a parent read a typical IEP and say what service their child gets, how often and where?
• What share of goals in sampled IEPs trace to a numeric baseline?
• Which sample do new staff learn from, and who checked it?
• Do general education teachers receive each student’s supports before the first day of class?

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s on an IEP?

Under 34 CFR 300.320, an IEP contains present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, measurable annual goals, how progress is measured and reported, special education, related services, supplementary aids and services and supports for staff, the extent of time away from nondisabled peers, assessment accommodations or an alternate assessment, and the start date, frequency, location and duration of services. Transition content is added no later than age 16.

What are some examples of social emotional goals for students?

Two examples: “During lunch, the student will start a conversation with a peer and keep it going for 3 exchanges on 4 of 5 observed days,” and “When frustrated during independent work, the student will use a chosen calming strategy and return to the task within 3 minutes in 4 of 5 recorded incidents.” Each needs a baseline from the present levels. More are in our guide to social emotional IEP goals.

Are there IEPs for gifted students?

Not under IDEA: giftedness is not one of the disability categories in 34 CFR 300.8. Some states require their own gifted plans; Pennsylvania, for example, requires a Gifted Individualized Education Plan (GIEP) developed by a GIEP team under 22 Pa. Code Chapter 16. A gifted student who also has a disability and needs special education because of it is eligible for an IEP.

What is an example of an IEP modification?

A modification changes what the student is expected to learn, for example assessing a student on a shorter list of grade-level vocabulary or on a lower-level text than classmates. An accommodation, such as text-to-speech or extended time, changes how the student learns without lowering the expectation. Examples by category are in our guide to accommodations vs modifications.

Where can I find an official sample IEP?

Start with your own state agency’s IEP form and guidance. Washington’s OSPI posts eight sample IEPs with an analysis of what was compliant and what was not, Pennsylvania’s PaTTAN publishes an Annotated IEP effective January 2026, and Wisconsin DPI posts sample IEP forms. Use them to learn the format, then write from your student’s own data.

Can AI help turn an IEP example into a draft for my student?

An AI tool can help a case manager reword a draft goal or check that a draft has every required part, using a fictional example as the model. Do not paste the real student’s name, evaluation results or other identifying details into a tool your district has not approved, and the IEP team still makes every decision. See the ChatGPT for teachers guide.

Related Resources

• IEP Goals: How to Write Measurable Goals
• PLAAFP Examples
• Related Services in Special Education
• Specially Designed Instruction Examples
• IEP Accommodations
• IEP Progress Report

Conclusion

A good IEP example is about connections more than wording. Maya’s IEP works because every goal starts from a baseline, every goal has a measurement plan and a service, every service has an amount and a place, and every removal or test change is explained. Districts that teach staff to build that chain on their own state form, using official samples as models rather than templates, get IEPs that parents can read and teams can carry out.

Sources: 34 CFR 300.320, Definition of individualized education program; 34 CFR 300.324, Development, review, and revision of IEP; U.S. Department of Education, IDEA Part B final regulations and analysis of comments, 71 Fed. Reg. 46540 (Aug. 14, 2006); OSPI, Evaluation and IEP Technical Assistance Module; OSPI, Model Forms for Services to Students in Special Education; PaTTAN, Individualized Education Program (IEP) (Annotated), effective January 1, 2026; Wisconsin DPI, Information Update Bulletin 24.02 (September 2024); 22 Pa. Code 16.32, GIEP; U.S. Department of Education, OSEP, 2024-25 Static Tables (Part B Child Count & Educational Environments); Learning Policy Institute, An Overview of Teacher Shortages: 2026 (July 13, 2026). Other sections of 34 CFR Part 300 and state rules are linked where they are cited.

Join the 2027 Special Education Pilot

An IEP like Maya’s promises daily practice on a few specific skills, and between lessons there is rarely an adult free to sit with her for one more round. Telo AI is being adapted for students with IEPs: patient, 1-on-1 practice aligned to each student’s IEP goals and pace, with teachers setting the goals, topics and rules. We are inviting districts to shape it with us in a 2027 pilot.

Apply to pilot Telo AI in your Special Education program