Kansas Summary of Performance: What Your Student Gets When Special Education Ends
The Document Most Families Never Ask About
When a Kansas student's special education eligibility ends — whether through graduation with a regular diploma or aging out at 21 — the school district must provide a Summary of Performance. Federal law under 34 C.F.R. 300.305(e)(2) requires it. Kansas implements this through the KSDE Special Education Process Handbook.
The SOP is not another IEP. It is a one-time exit document that summarizes the student's academic achievement, functional performance, and recommendations for meeting their postsecondary goals. It becomes the student's portable record of everything the school system learned about their disability across years of evaluation and instruction.
Most families do not know it exists until the student has already left school. By then, getting the school to put serious effort into the document is much harder.
What the SOP Should Contain
A useful Summary of Performance includes three components.
Academic achievement summary: Current performance levels in reading, writing, math, and any other relevant academic areas. This should reference the most recent evaluation data — standardized test scores, curriculum-based measurements, and classroom performance indicators. Generic statements like "performs below grade level" are not helpful. Specific scores and functional descriptions give the receiving institution something to work with.
Functional performance summary: How the student performs on tasks related to daily living, social interaction, communication, mobility, self-care, and self-determination. For transition-age students, this should also cover workplace behaviors — attendance reliability, task completion, ability to follow multi-step directions, and response to supervision.
Recommendations for postsecondary goals: What accommodations, services, and supports the student will need to succeed in their planned postsecondary setting. If the student is heading to college, recommendations should address classroom accommodations, testing modifications, assistive technology, and any disability documentation the college disability office will need. If the student is entering employment, recommendations should address workplace accommodations, supported employment needs, and assistive technology for the job.
Why It Matters for College Disability Services
College disability offices operate under Section 504 and the ADA, not IDEA. They have no obligation to accept a high school IEP as documentation of a disability. Each college sets its own documentation requirements; updated clinical documentation or a Summary of Performance may be required to authorize accommodations.
The SOP does not replace that clinical documentation. But a well-written SOP bridges the gap between what the high school knew and what the college needs to know. It provides the history of accommodations that worked, the most recent assessment data the school had, and specific recommendations from professionals who observed the student for years.
A weak SOP — one that lists accommodations without explaining why they were needed, or omits recent assessment scores — forces the student to start from scratch with the college disability office. That often means paying for private psychoeducational testing, which can cost $1,500 to $3,000.
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How to Use the SOP for VR Applications
When applying for Vocational Rehabilitation through Kansas Rehabilitation Services, the SOP serves as supporting documentation. The VR eligibility determination requires proof of a disability that creates a substantial impediment to employment. The SOP's functional performance section provides exactly that — documented evidence of how the disability affects work-related tasks.
Include the SOP with the VR application along with medical records and the most recent IEP. The functional performance summary and postsecondary recommendations give the VR counselor a concrete starting point for developing the Individualized Plan for Employment.
How to Make Sure Your Student Gets a Good One
Do not wait until the exit meeting to think about the SOP. Start at least one year before the student's planned exit date.
Request a draft early. At the IEP meeting in the student's second-to-last year, ask the team to begin gathering information for the SOP. This gives time to fill gaps — if the most recent cognitive testing is five years old, a reevaluation before exit produces current data for the SOP.
Review the draft before the final meeting. Ask for a draft of the SOP at least 30 days before the student's last IEP meeting. Compare it against the three components above. If the academic summary is vague, ask for specific scores. If the functional summary does not address the student's postsecondary setting, ask for targeted recommendations.
Include student input. The student's own perspective on what accommodations work and what their postsecondary plans are should inform the SOP. A student-led section describing their disability and their needs carries weight with college disability coordinators.
Get the final version in writing. The SOP should be signed and dated. Keep the original with the student's other transition documents — it will be needed for years after graduation.
The Kansas IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes an SOP review checklist that scores each section for completeness and a template for requesting revisions if the district's initial draft falls short.
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