Support Team Education Plan (STEP) Meeting and Documentation
Agenda for STEP Meeting
At the STEP Meeting, the STEP coordinator gives all participants the STEP Form 4 - STEP Agenda and Sign-in Sheet and ensures that they sign the document. The STEP Meeting Agenda shall be as follows:
Opening prayer
Introduce STEP team members and relationship to student.
Determine the student's strengths.
Analyze the gathered information and data regarding the student.
Prioritize concerns regarding the student's challenges and needs.
Create or finalize a STEP that:
Prioritizes support strategies, including classroom, school, home, and other strategies.
Identifies the person responsible for implementing each strategy or adjustment.
Develops a timeline to implement the supports.
Sets up dates for follow-up evaluations and meetings.
Complete all necessary documents and obtain all required signatures if STEP has been agreed to and finalized.
Provide copy of the finalized STEP to the parents/guardians. STEP Form 5 - Plan
If the plan is not finalized, the STEP coordinator will distribute the plan to the STEP team for final revisions, changes, additions prior to approval and signature (See Sample STEP Form 5 - Plan)
Schedule dates for follow-up meetings to monitor student progress and results.
Adjourn.
Procedural Safeguards for Students with Disabilities
At the meeting, if the student has a professionally diagnosed disability, the STEP team must provide the parents/guardians a copy of the archdiocesan pamphlet STEP Form 6 - Procedural Safeguards for Students with Disabilities and Their Parents or Guardians. The STEP team should communicate to the parents/guardians any recommendations for further testing and evaluation. To obtain necesssary medical or other confidential information, the STEP coordinator provides the parents STEP Form 11 - Authorization to Release/Exchange Confidential Information.
If a professional diagnosis provides that the student requires minor adjustments to participate in standardized testing,
the test administrator must review the exam publisher's directions to be sure that such adjustments do not invalidate the exam.
STEP Follow-up and Progress Log
The STEP coordinator fills out STEP Form 10 - Teacher Summary and STEP Intervention Checklist and provides a copy to the student's teacher(s). Each STEP team member should use the
STEP Form 7 - Progress Log to implement his or her part of the STEP plan strategies and/or minor adjustments and to monitor student progress and the effect of the various strategies or adjustments. See Sample STEP Form 7.
Review Meeting
The
STEP team reconvenes on the scheduled review meeting date. If the student has shown progress after implementation of the STEP, the STEP team continues the strategies as needed. If the student does not show progress within the timelines delineated within the STEP, the
STEP team makes adjustments to the plan.
Public School Assessment Request
If the student continues to struggle after implementation of the STEP and after adjustments to the plan have not met with success, the
parents/guardians may wish to submit the STEP Form 8 - Parent Request for Assessment from Public School to the local public school for an educational assessment.
Public School Plans
A public school may generate documents such as an IEP or a Section 504 plan that reflect what the
public school will do for the student if he or she goes to the public school.
A public school may generate an Individual Services Plan (ISP) to reflect what the
public school will do for a student who remains in a private school.
While these documents can be helpful in gathering information about the student, they reflect what the
public school promises to do for the student, and do not create a duty or require action by the private school.
Filing and Storing Documents
STEP documents are not a part of the student's
Cumulative Pupil Records and are not transferable without parent/guardian written consent. The school must create a separate file for each student who has STEP documentation and
retain these files in a secure location for a period of five (5) years following the student's graduation or departure from the school. See the "Section 504 (student inclusion)" entry in the Record Retention Schedule (sorted by
category and record type).
Report Cards and Cumulative Records
As a general rule, a report card sent to parents/guardians should not contain information about a student's special needs or disability, including whether the student received minor adjustments or related services, as long as the report card informs parents/guardians about their child's progress or level of achievement in specific classes, course content, or curriculum. If teachers wish to inform parents/guardians about a child's minor adjustments, they should do so on a separate document and not on the report card. Transcripts or cumulative folders shall not contain information that identifies a student as having a disability because they are sent to third parties rather than parents/guardians. Consequently, no report cards from an elementary school should be sent to a high school to which a student is applying, if the elementary school includes information on any report card about a student's special needs or disability.
5-18-21