Evaluating Parent Participation in Individualized Education Programs by Opinions of Parents and Teachers

Abstract

All individuals who are responsible for the education of learners with special needs must actively participate in Individualized Education Programs (IEP). Moreover, IEP is a common ground encouraging educators and parents to work together on an education plan. This study aims to evaluate the opinions of both parents and teachers regarding parent participation in IEP. The qualitative approach was used in this study. To profoundly examine the opinions of parents and special education teachers and to make them explain it in their own words, descriptive survey model, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. Descriptive survey model enables to organize data according to the themes put forward by the research questions and to present it by considering questions and dimensions. The purposive sampling method was used in this study to obtain more detailed information regarding the opinions of special education teachers and parents with children with special needs about the preparation and implementation process of IEP. 22 teachers and 25 parents participated in the study. Data were analyzed through content analysis. It was found that most of the parents do not know anything about IEP. It was also found that parents are not involved in the IEP process and they are not invited by the school/institution. As for the opinions of teachers, it was found that they have some problems about getting the parents to involve in the IEP process. It was seen that teachers are lack of knowledge regarding how to include parents in the IEP process.