Arkansas Indicator 13 and the STIEP Form Explained

Indicator 13 is the federal compliance measure that determines whether an Arkansas IEP's transition plan meets legal requirements under IDEA. It is not a suggestion or a best-practice guideline — it is a checklist that every transition-age IEP must pass at 100% adherence. When your child's IEP is audited by the state, Indicator 13 is the measuring stick.

Understanding what Indicator 13 requires gives parents a concrete way to evaluate whether the transition plan the school wrote is legally compliant or just filling space on the form.

What Indicator 13 Checks

Indicator 13 evaluates eight specific criteria in the IEP's transition section. In plain terms, the state is asking whether the IEP:

1. Contains measurable postsecondary goals in education/training and employment (and independent living, if appropriate)
2. Bases those goals on age-appropriate transition assessments
3. Links transition services to each postsecondary goal
4. Includes a course of study aligned with the postsecondary goals
5. Includes annual IEP goals that reasonably enable progress toward each postsecondary goal
6. Documents that the student was invited to the IEP meeting
7. Documents that appropriate outside agencies were invited (with consent) when transition services are likely to be provided by those agencies
8. Updates the measurable postsecondary goals annually

If any one of these eight criteria is missing or deficient, the IEP fails Indicator 13 — and the district must correct it.

The STIEP Form

The Student Transition IEP (STIEP) is the standardized form that Arkansas school districts use to document secondary transition goals and services within the IEP. It is issued by the Arkansas Department of Education Special Education Unit and is available as a downloadable PDF from the ADE website.

The STIEP form structures the transition plan into sections that map directly to the Indicator 13 criteria:

• Transition assessment results — what assessments were administered and what they revealed about the student's interests, strengths, and needs
• Measurable postsecondary goals — the specific education, employment, and independent living outcomes the student is working toward
• Transition services — the activities, instruction, and community experiences the school and outside agencies will provide to support each goal
• Course of study — the multi-year academic schedule that aligns coursework with postsecondary goals
• Agency linkages — documentation that ARS, DDS, or other outside agencies were invited to the meeting and what role they will play

The Cross-Reference Tool

Arkansas Transition Services provides an Indicator 13 Cross-Reference Tool that allows families and educators to audit an IEP for compliance. The tool walks through each of the eight criteria and asks targeted yes/no questions. If the answer to any question is "no," the IEP has a compliance gap.

Parents can use this tool before signing the IEP. It is not a legal challenge — it is a quality check. Identifying a gap before the meeting ends means the team can fix it on the spot, rather than triggering a formal compliance review months later.

What to Look For Before Signing

Are the postsecondary goals measurable? "The student will be employed" is not measurable. "Upon completion of high school, the student will obtain competitive employment in the food service industry in the Northwest Arkansas region" is.

Do the goals match the assessments? If the transition assessment shows the student is interested in automotive work but the postsecondary employment goal says "office administration," the goal is not assessment-based and will fail Indicator 13.

Is ARS listed as an invited agency? If the student's employment goal requires vocational rehabilitation services, the IEP must document that ARS was invited to the meeting. If consent for the invitation was not obtained, ask why.

Is the transfer of rights notification included? For students aged 17 or older, the IEP must contain a statement notifying the student and parent that educational rights will transfer at age 18. If it is missing, request its addition before signing.

The Arkansas IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes an IEP meeting preparation worksheet built around the Indicator 13 criteria, so families can review the draft IEP against compliance standards before the meeting and arrive with specific, documented questions.

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