Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Science in Special Education

Department

Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling

First Reader/Committee Chair

Kim, Jemma

Abstract

This project examined how public-school districts support parent preparation and communication prior to Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. Grounded in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a special education law which identifies parents as equal members of the IEP team (IDEA, 2004), this project focused on how structured, open, and transparent communication practices can strengthen parent readiness to actively participate in IEP meetings and engage in collaborative decision-making. A document analysis was conducted using publicly available information from ten public school districts in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. District websites were systematically reviewed to identify the availability of key parent resources, including special education webpages, parent IEP guides, pre-meeting checklists, procedural safeguards, training opportunities, multilingual resources, and the clarity of materials using the Print, Readability, Organization, Structure, and Ease (PROSE) framework (Nagro, 2015).

While all districts provided basic special education information, structured pre-meeting preparation resources were limited. Only one district offered a pre-meeting checklist, and most districts relied on procedural safeguards that emphasized legal rights rather than practical guidance. Although multilingual resources were widely available, materials often demonstrated moderate clarity due to complex language and dense formatting. These results highlight a gap between compliance-based practices and meaningful parent preparation. The project proposes a structured pre-IEP communication framework that includes advance sharing of information, parent-friendly materials, and targeted training to support parent readiness. Strengthening these practices may improve parent participation, promote collaborative decision-making, and enhance outcomes for students with disabilities.

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