How do I contribute meaningfully to the PLOPs so my child has more ambitious goals?

Present levels of performance (PLOPs) should include strengths (what the student can do), areas of need (what the student should learn to do), and impact of disability (how the disability affects the child’s access to the curriculum/environment). Well-written PLOPs ensure that each area of the IEP is developmentally appropriate and adequately addresses the student’s strengths and needs. The IEP team uses a variety of information when composing PLOPs for a student, such as recent assessment data, testing scores, teacher input/interview data, student work samples, observation data, parent input, and behavior data.

If the PLOPs are not adequately representing your child's strengths and areas of need, you may want to request a new assessment. If you feel that the school's assessment was inadequate, you could request an IEE. You can learn more in our article IEP Assessments 101.

If your child's IEP goals are not ambitious enough, our article Let's Fix Those Goals has plenty of tips for working with your IEP team too update goals, so we encourage you to check it out!