Arkansas IEP Template and Forms: What the DESE School Age IEP Document Looks Like

The first time most Arkansas parents see a completed IEP, they are sitting in a meeting with a room full of school staff, being asked to sign it. The document in front of them runs 20 to 24 pages, is dense with acronyms, and covers areas they have never been briefed on.

The goal of this post is to eliminate that ambush. The Arkansas DESE provides standardized IEP forms, and while the individual child's information fills in the blanks, the structure is consistent. Knowing what each section is supposed to contain — and what to look for before you sign — changes your position at the table.

The Arkansas DESE IEP Forms

Arkansas uses several standardized IEP forms produced and maintained by the Arkansas Department of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE):

• School Age IEP — For students ages 5 through 21 who do not yet have postsecondary transition requirements formally incorporated
• School Age IEP with Postsecondary Transition — For students whose IEP must include a transition plan (first IEP in effect when the student turns 16, though some districts begin earlier)
• Early Childhood IEP — For eligible students ages 3–5

The form you are most likely to encounter as a parent of a K-8 student is the School Age IEP without transition. This post focuses on that document, though the core sections are shared across all versions.

Section-by-Section: What to Look For

Student Information and Meeting Details

The first page includes basic identifying information, the meeting date, the IEP effective dates (a one-year period), and the names and roles of everyone present at the meeting. Review this page for accuracy. If someone attended the meeting who is not listed, or someone listed was not actually present, that matters — IDEA has specific requirements about who must be part of the IEP team.

Legally required IEP team members include:

• The parents
• At least one regular education teacher (if the student is or may be participating in regular education)
• At least one special education teacher or provider
• A district representative who has authority to commit district resources
• Someone who can interpret evaluation results (often the school psychologist)
• The student, where appropriate

If any required member was absent from the meeting without a formal waiver signed by the parent in advance, there may be a procedural compliance issue.

Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)

This is the most important section of the entire IEP, and it is where the most problems typically originate.

The PLAAFP must describe, in specific and measurable terms, how the student's disability currently affects their involvement in the general education curriculum. It should include:

• Recent assessment data (test scores, percentiles, reading fluency rates)
• Functional performance observations (behavioral frequency, task completion, social interaction patterns)
• How the disability specifically affects access to grade-level content

What it should not contain: vague, subjective statements. "Student struggles with reading" is not a PLAAFP. "Student reads at the 2nd-grade level as measured by the XYZ assessment administered in March 2026, placing them at the 8th percentile for their grade" is a PLAAFP.

The PLAAFP matters because all goals must logically derive from it. If the PLAAFP is vague, the goals will be vague. If the PLAAFP omits a functional area where the student has documented difficulty, that area will likely have no goal and no services.

Measurable Annual Goals

Each goal must identify:

• The target skill or behavior
• The conditions under which it will be demonstrated
• The criterion for mastery (a specific percentage, frequency, or score)
• How and when progress will be measured

A compliant Arkansas IEP goal: "Given a 3rd-grade-level math computation worksheet, [student] will correctly solve multi-digit addition and subtraction problems with regrouping at 80% accuracy on 3 out of 4 consecutive probes, measured biweekly."

A non-compliant goal: "Student will improve math skills."

Look at each goal and ask: could a stranger reading this goal tell exactly when the student has succeeded? If not, the goal needs revision.

Students who participate in the Arkansas Alternate Assessment Program (DLM) must also have short-term objectives or benchmarks written under each annual goal. If your child is on the alternate assessment track and the IEP has no benchmarks, that is a compliance gap.

Special Education Services and Related Services

This section documents every service the district will provide — specially designed instruction, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling, etc. Each service entry should specify:

• Type of service
• Frequency (how many times per week or month)
• Duration (how many minutes per session)
• Location (general education classroom, resource room, speech room, etc.)
• Projected start and end dates

Vague entries are a red flag. "Speech therapy as needed" has no legal enforceability. "Speech-language therapy, 30 minutes, 3x per week, in the resource room" is specific enough to track and enforce.

Review this section against what was discussed in the meeting. If the verbal agreement was 45 minutes per week and the form shows 30, do not sign until the discrepancy is corrected.

Supplementary Aids, Services, Accommodations, and Modifications

This section documents supports for the student in regular education settings — things like preferential seating, extended time on tests, breaks, access to notes, reduced assignment length, text-to-speech tools, and paraprofessional support.

Pay attention to the distinction between accommodations and modifications. Accommodations change how the student accesses or demonstrates learning without changing what they are expected to learn. Modifications change the actual content expectations.

Modifications have graduation track implications. A student working on modified content is potentially building toward a different diploma pathway. If modifications are being added to the IEP and this hasn't been discussed explicitly, ask the team to walk you through what that means for high school.

Assessment Participation

This section documents whether the student will participate in the standard Arkansas state assessment (ACT Aspire) with or without accommodations, or whether the student will participate in the Arkansas Alternate Assessment Program (DLM). If the student will use testing accommodations, they must be listed here — the same accommodations used for classroom instruction.

If this section is blank or says "standard administration" but your child uses extended time in every classroom setting, something is wrong. Assessment accommodations don't appear automatically — they must be explicitly written into the IEP.

Placement and LRE Documentation

Arkansas requires that the IEP document the percentage of the school day the student spends in the general education setting alongside non-disabled peers. DESE classifies placements into specific tiers based on this percentage.

The IEP must document the rationale for any removal from the general education environment. "The district does not have a resource room on-site" is not an appropriate LRE justification. The reason must relate to the nature and severity of the student's disability and why it cannot be addressed with supplementary aids and services in a general education setting.

Transition (for students age 16+)

The first IEP in effect when a student turns 16 must include measurable postsecondary goals in education, training, employment, and (where appropriate) independent living. These goals must be based on age-appropriate transition assessments. If your child is approaching 16 and the IEP doesn't include a transition section, raise this before the next annual review — it is a compliance requirement, not optional content.

Before You Sign

You are not required to sign the IEP at the meeting. You can take the document home, review it against your notes, and return a signed copy later. Signing "I participated in this meeting" is different from signing "I agree with this IEP" — make sure you know which signature line is which.

If you disagree with any portion of the IEP, you can sign with a written notation of disagreement — something like "Parent signs to indicate participation in the meeting; parent does not consent to [specific service change]." This allows services to continue under IDEA's provision while preserving your right to dispute the specific provision.

The Arkansas IEP & 504 Blueprint walks through each section of the Arkansas DESE IEP form with specific guidance on what to look for, what questions to ask, and what inadequate entries look like compared to compliant ones. Find it at /us/arkansas/iep-guide/.

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