MSDE work group adopts timelines for IEP implementation plan and Maryland Online IEP review

Miss Ivory, presenting draft text circulated in advance, asked the work group to ask the Maryland State Department of Education to "develop a plan for a plan to address effective implementation of IEPs" and set a 60-day deadline for that work. The proposal said the plan should include technical assistance, uniform data collection, monitoring criteria, and "menus of evidence based best practices," and should clarify the composition of monitoring teams.

Doctor Hickman, responding to questions, said the planned review of the Maryland Online IEP (MOIEP) would examine "data collection, reporting capabilities, user experience, and current mechanisms for feedback and revision," and recommended MSDE report suggested improvements or alternatives within six months. When asked who would receive the report, staff said the findings would be returned to this work group and made public. Doctor Brian Morrison clarified that there is no cost to local education agencies to use the online IEP; "it's fully covered by MSDE."

Participants asked that the review explicitly include the online IFSP system and attention to families for whom English is not their native language. The chair stated that, in the absence of objections in chat or by voice, those additions would be incorporated into the recommendations.

While the work group did not take a roll-call vote, the chair treated the lack of verbal objection or chat dissent as assent and said the items would be added to the recommendations moving forward. The group requested that MSDE provide the work group with drafts and that final suggested changes be integrated into the interim report schedule announced later in the session.

The work group also discussed transparency for the MOIEP review: staff said the review results will be public and returned to the work group, and the MOIEP/IFSP review will proceed alongside ongoing MOIEP work groups (the transcript referenced a planned MOIEP meeting on April 10). The transcript also refers to "house bill 12 37" as part of the surrounding policy conversation; the bill was mentioned in the meeting but not described in detail in the record.

Next steps cited in the meeting: MSDE will develop the IEP implementation plan (60 days) and return a draft of the MOIEP review within six months; both deliverables will be shared with the work group and made public. The interim report drafting and review schedule announced later in the meeting sets a first draft to participants by May 6 and a submission target of July 1, 2024.