Perceptions of the IEP Requirement Joan B. Simon Abstract: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) be provided to children with educationally-defined disabilities. The Individualized Education Program (IEP) requirement (i.e., team meeting and document) is the method for providing FAPE to children. Previous research has failed to consider both the team meeting and document in attempts to understand team members’ perceptions of the IEP requirement. This study used a newly created questionnaire to investigate team members’ (N 5 241) perceptions of the IEP requirement at three educational levels. Reliability and validity data on the questionnaire are provided. On average, teachers expressed more positive perceptions of the IEP requirement than did parents. Methods for improving team members’ perceptions of the IEP process are included. Perceptions of the IEP Requirement For roughly 6.5 million school-age chil- dren with disabilities, meeting typical academic goals and competencies can be a difficult and sometimes unsuccessful experience (Digest of Education Statistics, 2003). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 2004), formerly known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), mandates that a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) be provided to every child who meets the IDEA criteria as having a diagnosable disability (U.S. 108 th Congress, 2004). The Individualized Education Program (IEP) re- quirement is the method for providing FAPE to children with disabilities from ages 3 to 21 (See PL 108-446, Part B). The two main components of the IEP requirement, the team meeting and the written document, are designed to work together to fulfill the spirit and legal intent of EHA and its reauthorizations (Heumann & Warlick, 2000). Over the past 30 years, researchers have consistently chosen to study these two compo- nents as separate entities instead of viewing them as a whole comprised of more than the sum of its component parts (Heumann & Warlick). In terms of the IEP team meeting, researchers have surveyed IEP team members and observed actual IEP team meetings. Researchers have studied the IEP document by conducting file reviews to determine matches between psycho-educational evalua- tion recommendations and goals and objectives on IEP documents as well as presence of mandated components on the IEP document. Teachers’ attitudes toward the IEP document have also been examined. Each of these areas of research will be discussed. In studying the IEP team meeting, numerous researchers have surveyed parents and other team members about their experi- ences. Parents of varied ethnic backgrounds and income levels have reported the various barriers that they must overcome in order to attend IEP meetings such as schedule conflicts and child care (Lynch & Stein 1987; Salembier Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Joan B. Simon, Department of Psychology and Counseling, University of Central Arkansas, 253 Mashburn Hall, Conway, Arkansas, 72035-0001. E-mail: jsimon@uca.edu Teacher Education and Special Education 2006, Volume 29, No. 4, 225–235 225