Write IEPs that actually change students' lives
A practical, step-by-step school for educators who want to write Individualized Education Plans that are legally sound, genuinely meaningful, and built around each child's real needs.
"A great IEP isn't a compliance document — it's the clearest argument you'll ever make for a child's right to a meaningful education."— Cassi Gardei
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Write present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP) that accurately and compellingly describe a student's strengths and needs
- Craft SMART goals that are measurable, meaningful, and directly tied to a student's present levels and the general curriculum
- Select and justify accommodations and modifications that reflect each student's individual profile — not a generic list
- Build a legally defensible services grid that aligns supports to identified needs and satisfies IDEA requirements
- Facilitate and contribute to IEP team meetings with confidence, clarity, and a collaborative mindset
- Develop transition plans for secondary students that connect school-based skills to real post-secondary goals
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 19 lessons
Foundations of a Legally Sound and Student-Centered IEP
Before writing a single word of an IEP, educators must understand the legal framework that governs them and the mindset shift required to make them genuinely meaningful. This module establishes the 'why' behind every component and sets the standard for what a high-quality IEP looks like.
- 1.1IDEA, FAPE, and LRE: What the Law Actually RequiresIncluded
- 1.2From Compliance Document to Meaningful Plan: Shifting the MindsetIncluded
- 1.3Reading and Using Evaluation Data Like a ProIncluded
Writing Present Levels That Actually Describe the Child
The PLAAFP is the engine of the entire IEP — every goal, service, and accommodation must flow from it. This module teaches participants to write present levels that are specific, strengths-based, data-anchored, and vivid enough that anyone reading them would recognize the real child.
- 2.1The Anatomy of a Strong PLAAFP StatementIncluded
- 2.2Capturing Strengths Without Softening NeedsIncluded
- 2.3Connecting Present Levels to the General CurriculumIncluded
Crafting SMART Goals That Drive Real Progress
Goals are the commitments an IEP team makes to a student. This module goes beyond the SMART acronym to teach participants how to write goals that are logically derived from present levels, calibrated to ambitious but achievable growth, and written with enough precision that any team member can measure them consistently.
- 3.1From Present Level to Goal: Building the Logical BridgeIncluded
- 3.2Writing Goals That Are Truly MeasurableIncluded
- 3.3Calibrating Ambition: Writing Goals That Challenge Without Setting Students Up to FailIncluded
- 3.4Writing Functional and Social-Emotional Goals Beyond AcademicsIncluded
Individualized Accommodations, Modifications, and the Services Grid
This module tackles two of the most legally and practically significant sections of the IEP: the supports a student receives and the services the school commits to providing. The emphasis is on individualization — every choice must be justified by the student's profile, not borrowed from a default list.
- 4.1Accommodations vs. Modifications: Getting the Distinction RightIncluded
- 4.2Building a Truly Individualized Accommodation ProfileIncluded
- 4.3Building a Legally Defensible Services GridIncluded
Leading and Contributing to Effective IEP Team Meetings
An IEP is only as good as the team that builds it. This module prepares all stakeholders — not just administrators — to facilitate, contribute to, and deescalate IEP meetings so that families feel heard, decisions are collaborative, and the resulting plan reflects genuine team consensus.
- 5.1Preparing for the Meeting: Roles, Logistics, and Pre-Work That Prevents ProblemsIncluded
- 5.2Facilitating Collaborative, Family-Centered ConversationsIncluded
- 5.3Navigating Disagreement, Difficult Conversations, and Due Process AwarenessIncluded
Transition Planning for Secondary Students
For students aged 16 and older (and younger in many states), the IEP must include a coordinated set of transition activities tied to measurable post-secondary goals. This module teaches participants to write transition plans that are age-appropriately assessed, genuinely student-driven, and connected to real outcomes in employment, education, and independent living.
- 6.1Age-Appropriate Transition Assessment: Listening to the Student FirstIncluded
- 6.2Writing Measurable Post-Secondary Goals and Coordinated ActivitiesIncluded
- 6.3Connecting the Transition Plan to Annual IEP Goals and Course of StudyIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
First-Year SpEd Teachers
Entering the classroom with a caseload but no real IEP writing training — this school builds the foundation they were never given.
General Ed Teachers
Required to contribute to IEP meetings and implement plans, they need to understand what an IEP really means and how to co-write one effectively.
Speech-Language Pathologists
Already expert clinicians, they want to write IEP goals and present levels that are as precise and evidence-based as their therapy.
Veteran SpEd Educators
Years of experience, but largely self-taught on IEPs — ready to audit their habits and close the gaps they've always suspected were there.
School Psychologists
They write the evaluations that feed into IEPs and want their data to translate into goals and services that actually reflect their findings.
Instructional Coaches & Admins
Responsible for IEP quality across a school or district, they need a clear standard to teach, model, and hold teams accountable to.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Cassi Gardei
I know exactly where you are right now.
You're sitting with a stack of IEPs to write — or revise — and the blank template in front of you feels both overwhelming and oddly hollow. You want to do right by your students. You know their stories, their struggles, their small victories. But somehow, by the time all of that gets translated into an IEP document, it loses something. The goals look like every other student's goals. The present levels read like a report card. And deep down, you wonder: is this actually going to help anyone?
That tension is what drove me to spend years studying what separates an IEP that collects dust in a cumulative folder from one that a team actually uses to make decisions, adjust instruction, and move a child forward. The answer isn't more time or a better template. It's a clear, repeatable way of thinking about each section — understanding what it's really for, and how to make it reflect the real, specific child in front of you.
This school is the training I wish I'd had in my first year. It doesn't bury you in legal jargon or assume you already know what "measurable" really means in practice. It meets you at the document, walks you through every section with concrete examples, and gives you frameworks you'll use every single week of your career.
The biggest objection I hear is: "I don't have time for another professional development." I get it. That's exactly why this school is built for real educators with real workloads. You can move through it at your own pace, return to specific sections when you need them, and start applying what you learn immediately — on the IEPs you're writing right now.
If you care enough about your students to feel frustrated by the gap between their needs and what ends up on paper, you're exactly who this school is for. Let's close that gap together.
— Cassi Gardei
Start your journey today
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- 6 modules, 19 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed