Placement Options (6-21 yrs) – Placement Options (3-5 yrs) – LRE Placement Checklist & Justification
View Sped Manual entry on LRE
Least Restrictive Environment
Placement Options (6 to 21 year old students)
The placement options for 6-21 year old students will be automatically generated based on the information that is entered in each student’s Summary of Services.
You must contact a program coordinator to select options 31 (Separate school facility), 32 (Residential facility), 34 (Correctional facility), or 35 (Parentally placed in a private school). If you have a student who is served in a homebound or hospital setting, you will need to check the “Home/hospital instruction” box to the left. Please note, this does not apply to students who are enrolled in the Connections Home School program. Typically this option is used for students who are confined to the home due to medical fragility.
Common errors that may result in incorrect LRE Placement Option include an inaccurate distribution of minutes that are in and out of the general education classroom on the summary of services (see below)
or an incorrect number of “Total Education Minutes” per week as a result of using the override field on the Summary of Services screen (below)
If the placement option does not accurately reflect the special education services that the student is receiving, please take a second look at the data that you have entered on the Summary of Services screen.
Placement Options (3 to 5 year old students)
The placement options for 3-5 year old students will be automatically generated based on the information that is entered in each student’s Summary of Services, and in the three preschool fields on the LRE screen (below):
All three of these fields must be completed for all preschool students who receive special education services from KPBSD.
The Preschool Placement field describes the setting in which the child receives sped services. The options include:
- Early Childhood SpEd Setting – if the child is in a preschool for IEP certified preschoolers only
- Early Childhood Setting – if the child is in preschool classroom for any preschooler (IEP certified and non-IEP certified preschoolers) and SPED services are delivered in that classroom and not also in a SPED classroom
- Early Childhood/Early SpEd Setting – if SPED services are delivered both in your SPED room and the child receives any SPED services in a regular/general education preschool or private preschool classrom
Case managers of preschoolers receiving speech only:
- Early Childhood SpEd Setting – if the child comes to your room for speech services or if the speech services are delivered in a classroom that serves only special education students
- Early Childhood Setting – if you go to the child’s general education preschool classroom or daycare facility for speech services
- Early Childhood/Early SpEd Setting – if speech services are delivered both in your speech room and the child’s general education preschool setting
- Home – only if speech services are delivered at the child’s home
**Contact a program coordinator before selecting the “Residential Facility” or “Separate School” options.
The Preschool or Private School Field is used to indicate where the child attends preschool or daycare. If the child attends any sort of early childhood center, preschool, or daycare facility it should be indicated here. If you have a student who does not attend any of these programs, than the “None” option should be selected from the dropdown list. This field cannot be left blank for preschool students.
The Hrs./Wk field indicates how many hours per week the child attends an early childhood facility (“Preschool or Private School”). If you have selected “None” from the preschool dropdown list, this field should list 0 hours per week.
All three of these fields must be completed annually for every preschool special education student. These fields are not required for 5 year olds who are attending kindergarten in KPBSD. Kindergarteners who are 5 will usually be reported as a code 40 or 41, as the kindergarten classroom qualifies as a “regular early childhood program.”
Placement Fields (3 to 5 year olds)
Once the three preschool fields and the Summary of Services are complete, the placement field (shown above) will be automatically generated. If this does not accurately reflect the services that the student is receiving, please reexamine the data in the preschool fields and Summary of Services.
LRE Placement Checklist (ALL students)
At the bottom of the LRE screen there is an “LRE Placement Checklist” that must be completed for every student on an IEP. These questions are aimed at ensuring that each student is placed in the least restrictive educational setting possible, and is only removed from the general education setting when it is necessary to meet the students individualized educational needs. Any “no” responses must be addressed in the justification field below the checklist.
The questions are:
- Is this placement based on the student’s educational needs documented in this IEP?
- Is the student able to be satisfactorily educated in the general education environment for the entire school day?
- Is removal from the regular education environment is necessary, it is based on the nature and severity of the student’s disability and not the need for modifications in the general curriculum?
- Is the educational placement as close as possible to the student’s home?
- Is the educational placement in the school the student would attend if the student did not have a disability?
- Did the IEP team consider any potential harmful effect of the educational placement?
- Does the student have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular and nonacademic events with nondisabled students?
Placement Explanation (Justification)
The IEP Team must provide a written statement on the IEP to justify the need for any special education services that are more restrictive than full-time services in the regular classroom. The following are examples of possible statements of justification:
- Skills are below age and grade expectancy and the child requires a structured special education program to remediate the specifically identified areas of concern. Services can be appropriately provided in the regular education classroom setting with supplemental aids and services.
- The child’s present level of educational performance requires curricular modification and individualized instructional strategies. These services can be appropriately implemented in the regular classroom with direct service from special education personnel for a portion of the day.
- Academic and cognitive skills are deficient to a level that requires specialized instruction
provided in a small group setting for part of the day. This service can be appropriately implemented ina regular classroom with pull-out service from special education personnel. - The severity, frequency and consistency of the child’s behavior indicate the need for a structured behavior management program that must be provided in a special education classroom. Implementation of the behavior program in the regular classroom has been unsuccessful.
- The child’s present levels of educational performance require total curricular modification and individualized instructional strategies. These services can be appropriately implemented in the regular classroom with direct service from special education personnel for the entire day.
- The child’s academic, social, motor, and independent living skills indicate the need for a highly structured environment. Services can only be appropriately implemented in a special program outside the child’s home school.
- A more restrictive placement is required to protect the health or safety of the child based on documented medical needs. Instruction can best be provided in the home or hospital.
- The child’s behavior is so disruptive in a regular school environment, even with extensive support from special education staff, including the use of supplemental aids and services and implementation of positive behavioral support strategies, that the child must be placed in an institution for instructional purposes.
Factors that may not be used to determine placement include the category of disability, configuration of the delivery system, availability of educational or related services, availability of space, and administrative convenience.
For a complete explanation of LRE as described in the AK SPED Handbook, go to:
http://eed.state.ak.us/tls/sped/pdf/FY15_Handbook/AK_SPED_Handbook.pdf