ethics in education

There are adequate guidelines and processes in place to guide the professionals through the Special Education Process under The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004 (IDEIA) Part B, from first identification from age 3, through providing services, and completing reevaluations and transition at age 21. The building of an effective and ethical Individual Education Plan (IEP) team or Special Education Team is vital to the education of the individual student that the IEP team represents. While the Regular Education and Special Education organizations in the state of New Hampshire are ethical in their interpretation, often implementing standards that exceed those governed by Law, there is often reluctance for individuals with limited understanding of educational organizations, or the special education (sped) system, to approach or examine the process. This may be especially true when the student is joining a new school, or it is the first time that parents and professionals in educations have worked together. The lack of cohesion challenges the team building process and isolates parents from the educational professionals even before first contact is initiated.
Poor implementation or practical interpretation of procedural safeguards can also threaten the well being of the team, and may result in miss understanding, wasted resources, or the advance down a path of due process and litigation.
The cost of disputes whether emotional or fiscal are far too high, often leaving the family and school members exhausted, with detrimental affects on the student’s educational welfare.
However, there have been many law changing outcomes from the sheer perseverance of parents and professionals who act to prevent their rights being undermined, and have the determination and to pursue their case through to settlement.
Therefore, there is a sense of balance needed from all members of the IEP team to ensure the student benefit from their experience, professional conduct and commitment to best practice.
The New Hampshire Department of Education (NH DOE) promotes parent involvement in education of their child as vital to continued improvement of a student, and steps taken to change law through legislation rather than litigation are good.

A saying springs to mind “Never line suits pockets”

With the aim to initiate, improve and further advance the strength of relationships between schools, providers and parents alike, I have set about developing a simple guide that the IEP team members can review, and hopefully agree upon during their first meetings. This should establish expectations, and build trust and respect between all team members. For the parent it should also alleviate some of the concerns and answer some of the questions that arise during the first meeting. The teachers should use a guide such as this to promote parent involvement and underline their professional commitment to the student. Where appropriate the student can also use this guide to gain a better understanding of the sped process. The guide also illustrates the dedication of the team members surrounding the student.
The IEP team members’ code of ethics is based on a code of ethics for professional educators promoted by the Council for Exceptional Children. (CEC). I also referred to New York State’s code of practice for teachers, as I was unable to find one from the NH DOE. The ED.gov site was also a useful source for information relating the IEP process and special education law, but my searches did not yield a code of practice or ethics.


A thought struck me as I researched this subject; it seems that the immense restrictions on spending, and high stake consequences of due process have left little room for ethics.
An Ethical person is someone who does the right thing,
even when no one is watching.
An Ethical team is a group of people, who still do the right thing,
even when everyone is watching.

The brochure was written and designed to be easy to read, eye-catching and focuses the reader’s attention on the student, being at the center. The text featured in the brochure is written below. There are 12 items listed in this code. I found that adding straightforward statements such as point # 11. “The IEP team members view the student in a positive way” greatly increased the readability, and could be easily interpreted.
I propose that such a document is freely available and distributed though local, regional and statewide educational organizations. Representatives for Early Supports and Services (ESS) may chose to include such a guide in the “transition at 3 years” packet, and they may develop something similar for the Individual Family Support Plan (IFSP) to assist parents and professional in providing the best possible services for those families with exceptional children aged 0-3 years.
To support the code, I attempted to identify the individuals required to form the IEP team, using text and graphics shown on the reverse side of the brochure. In the interest of better understanding, I have forsaken the finer details of the law to achieve the lowest reading grade level. (7.7) Considering that much of what is discussed and required during the special education process are identified by law, and that the use of correct legal terminology is important, it is difficult to produce complete information in a simple, short and easy to digest form.
Therefore, I have quoted the Parent Information Center contact information along with a disclaimer statement.
As this entire document is intended to available prior to establishing the IEP team, I added “A quick guide for IEP meetings” to better prepare the non-professional for the first meeting.
The “3 P” principals are worthy at any stage in the sped process and for any meeting, yet sadly they are frequently overlooked by professionals and therefore I chose to include them as part of this ‘ethically minded’ guide.

Code of Ethics for IEP Team Members.

The following Code of Ethics is for parents, educators, specialists and advocates working with exceptional students. The work done by the IEP team also known as The Special Education Team should meet and surpass this code. Members of the IEP team should act with the ideals and values of this code in mind.

1. IEP team members are committed to building the best education and quality of life for exceptional students.
2. IEP team members promote and maintain a high level of knowledge in their area of expertise, or interest.
3. IEP team members choose activities to benefit exceptional students and their families.
4. IEP team members are objective and work together to make skilled judgments.
5. IEP team members work to expand their knowledge and skills re the education of exceptional students.
6. IEP team members work to high standards in their profession or area of interest.
7. IEP team members seek to uphold and where needed, improve the special education laws and regulations.
8. IEP team members respect and help one another, and act in ethical ways.
9. IEP team members take pride in their team and always think about the student’s best interests.
10. IEP team members know who to ask or where to go for advice or help.
11. IEP team members view the student in a positive way.
12. IEP team members know when to ask for an advocate to be allocated.



I would like to allow you refer to the brochure of actual layout.Unfortunately I cannot post it at this time

A Quick Guide for IEP meetings.
Everyone should aim to get the most from the time that you meet so be……...
Prepared—take steps to outline issues you wish to be discussed. Notify all team members ahead of time if you want to add items to the agenda.
Prompt—always be on time, and try to arrive at least 5 minutes before the start time. Call the school administrative staff if you are to be unavoidably delayed.
Present—take detailed notes or bring a recorder (with prior notification), ask questions and summarize following each decision to make sure your attention is maintained and understanding is clear.

The people in the IEP team, also called the Special Education Team, are parents, *guardians or surrogate parent and at least one regular education teacher.
There should be at least one special education teacher, and vocational educators, when pertinent.
Also in the team is someone acting on the behalf of the local education agency (LEA) and a person who can interpret the student’s assessment.
The parent or LEA can ask for the paraprofessional, or the person who works closely with the student, or someone with knowledge or special expertise to be present.

The above was gathered from-: New Hampshire Procedural Safeguards Handbook for Special Education: The Individual Educations Program (IEP) Team/Special Education Team. Page 7, (July 2005), New Hampshire Rules for the Education of Children with Disabilities Ed 1102.28 s300.344 IEP team. Page 9 (EFFECTIVE July 2002)

This Information is not intended for use in isolation. For more complete information about special education laws or the process, please contact the Parent Information Center. (603) 224-7005 info@parentinformationcenter.org www.picnh.org

The most important IEP team member is the student who should be in attendance where appropriate and always be the center of the teams’ focus, to ensure educational growth.


References and resources -:

New Hampshire Department of Education. http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/index.htm
And the New Hampshire Bureau of Special Education. http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/instruction/bose.htm
New Hampshire Department of Education
101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301-3860 Main Number: (603) 271-3494
Fax: (603) 271-1953. TDD Access: Relay NH: 711

New Hampshire Procedural Safeguards Handbook for Special Education: The Individual Educations Program (IEP) Team/Special Educations Team. Page 7, (July 2005)


New Hampshire Rules for the Education of Children with Disabilities Ed 1102.28 s300.344 IEP team. Page 9 (EFFECTIVE July 2002)

The New York State Code of Ethics for Educators (July 2002) Nancy Taylor Baumes Secretary, State Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching, New York State Education Department. Office of Teaching Initiatives, Room 5N EB Albany, New York 12234 Phone: (518) 474-4661

Parent Information Center. (603) 224-7005 info@parentinformationcenter.org www.picnh.org




End.