127. The Five-Minute IEP File Audit

The Five-Minute IEP File Audit is a simple system that helps special educators keep IEP documentation up-to-date and organized without requiring hours of work or causing stress spirals. This mini routine can be completed in just five minutes per student folder, providing a proactive approach to paperwork management rather than last-minute scrambling.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, welcome back to Special Educators
Resource Room Podcast.
I'm your host, jennifer fromPositively Learning.
Today, I'm going to be sharinga very quick but powerful
strategy that can hopefully helpyou feel more in control of
your paperwork without needingan entire day, or maybe not even
an entire hour.
So we're going to be talkingabout the five minute IEP file

(00:23):
audit.
Hey, special educators, I'mJennifer from Positively
Learning.
Welcome to the SpecialEducators Resource Room.
If you're like me, you'realways looking for ways to save
time and streamline your work.
That's why this podcast wascreated to give you the systems
and solutions you need to getyour time back.

(00:44):
Tune in for tips, tricks andtools that will help you manage
your workload and make the mostof your time.
Whether you're brand new orexperienced, all are welcome in
the Special Educators ResourceRoom.

(01:05):
A five-minute IEP file auditwhat in the world?
Today we're going to be talkingabout a simple system that you
can start using right now tomake sure your IEP documentation
is up-to-date, organized, easyto reference, without the stress
spiral.
Now, I know the words IEP andaudit in the same sentence isn't
something we want to hear, butplease stick with me.
This isn't about being perfect.
It's about being preparedwithout the panic, so let's get

(01:26):
into it.
If you're anything like I was,you probably have a stack or
several stacks of IEP foldersthat you swear you will get to
later.
They might be in a bin behindyour desk, shoved into a drawer
or cabinet, or stacked withsticky notes that say things
like reprint the goal page oradd parent notes.
The problem is is when laterfinally comes, like the day

(01:50):
before an IEP meeting or whenadmin asks for a compliance
check.
You are scrambling and even ifyour paperwork is technically
compliant, if you can't findquickly what you need, it's
going to add unnecessary stressto your already overloaded day.
That's where the system comesin.
The five minute IEP file auditwhat it is and what it isn't.

(02:14):
This is not a full paperworkoverhaul.
This is not color coding tabsor reorganizing your entire file
system.
This is a mini routine that youcan do in five minutes or less,
one student at a time.
So maybe this is while yourstudents are working
independently, or, if you do getfive minutes on your planning

(02:35):
period, or maybe it's whileyou're waiting for a meeting to
start.
It's that quick.
It's about getting eyes on eachstudent's folder on a regular
basis so that these small issuesdon't turn into last minute
emergencies.
Here's how it works.
Grab one student's IEP folder,just one, and ask yourself these

(02:56):
three questions.
Number one is everythinglabeled and in the right place?
So that means, does the folderclearly show the student's name
and IEP dates?
Are the sections organized bypurpose, like a section for
goals, a section for data, asection for communication?
Are there any loose papers thatneed to be filed or do they

(03:19):
need to be removed?
You're not reorganizingeverything.
You're just scanning forobvious gaps or misplaced
documents.
Moving on to step two, do Ihave recent progress monitoring
data in here?
So open up to that goal section.
Are there updated data sheets,graphs or notes that are going

(03:40):
to show progress?
Has anything been added in thelast two to four weeks?
If not, is there a sticky notereminding you where to find it?
You're not analyzing the dataat this time.
You're just checking that itexists and it's accessible.
This step is a lifesaver whenyou're preparing for an IEP

(04:00):
meeting or a unexpectedconference.
Number three have I documentedcommunication with the family
this month?
So this might be a printedemail, a note from a phone call,
a log that you keep in a binderor digital system or a quick
summary of a conversation duringdismissal.

(04:20):
If the answer is no, this isyour reminder to check in and to
document it.
It doesn't need to be long,just a sentence or two with the
date, the topic and the actiontaken.
All right, so let's reviewthose three steps very quickly
before moving ahead.
Number one you're looking atthis folder and asking yourself
is everything labeled and in theright place?

(04:41):
Number two do you have recentprogress monitoring data in here
?
And number three have youdocumented communication with
the family this month?
Now, what do you do ifsomething's missing?
If something's missing duringthis quick five-minute audit,
here's what you're going to do.
You're going to sticky, note it, write what's missing and stick

(05:01):
it to the folder.
Then you're going to add it toa list.
You're not going to stopeverything to fix it now.
You're going to set up acatch-up day Maybe it's Friday
at two o'clock Block off 20minutes to address a few of
those flagged items.
The key here is we're not goingto spiral.
This five-minute IEP file auditis designed to give you

(05:22):
awareness, not the guilt.
So how often should you bedoing this?
You can run these mini auditsweekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Maybe you want to do onestudent per day, or you want to
batch three folders on a Fridayafternoon.
If you're prepping for an IEPmeeting, this becomes part of
your lead-up checklist.

(05:43):
But even outside of meetings,keeping your folders current is
going to give you peace of mindand it's going to make your job
feel easier when it is time tosit down with a team or a parent
.
Here's a few tools that you canuse to make this process even
easier.
Quick pause as I'm sharing thiswith you, I realized I should
have just given this to you.
So I created a blog post thathas this first tip in it.

(06:06):
For free, you can download it.
I'll put the link in the shownotes.
So I created a reusablechecklist Super simple.
It has the three questions wetalked about.
You can print it out, laminateit and use it with a dry erase
marker.
I also suggest getting a stickynotepad dedicated to IEP file
audits.
Just make it the same color, soevery time you see purple or

(06:28):
green sticky note, you know whatit's for.
You may want to have a reviewbin or an inbox that's going to
hold one to two folders at atime.
Consider setting a calendarreminder every other Friday that
says audit two files.
You don't need a fancy system,you just need one you're
actually going to use.
So why are we talking aboutthis?

(06:50):
This is so worth doing becausethis process, of course, is
going to help you stay on top ofcompliance prep more
efficiently for meetings.
Avoid that I forgot to log datafor six weeks feeling reduce
your Sunday scaries, becauseyou're not walking into a Monday
already feeling behind and,more importantly, it's going to

(07:10):
help you feel more confident.
You're going to know wherethings stand for each student.
You're not depending on yourmemory sticky notes or the
dreaded I think I saw that formsomewhere.
All right, here's your actionstep for today.
Choose one student folder, justone.
Pull it out and ask yourselfthe three questions.
That's it.
It doesn't sound like much, butthat five minutes it's going to

(07:34):
get you out of that reactivemode and into a proactive rhythm
, and that's where we start tofeel less overwhelmed and more
in control.
If this sounds like somethingthat will help you, please click
on the show notes and hop overto Positively Learning blog.
I will put this five-minute IEPaudit system in a blog post

(07:56):
with that reusable checklist.
I'd love to hear how you makethese routines your own and what
other little systems are goingto help you feel more organized
with IEP paperwork and if you'relooking for ready-to-use tools
that support this kind ofplanning data sheets,
communication logs, visualprogress tools these are waiting
for you in the specialeducators resource room bundle.

(08:18):
In the blog post You'll see alink for that.
If you love all things extraand beautiful, this bundle is
probably not for you.
This is more like efficient.
Let's just get this done.
Thank you for spending yourtime with me today.
I'll catch you next time in theSpecial Educators Resource Room
.
Thanks so much for tuning inand I'm dying to ask what'd you

(08:42):
think?
Be sure to hit the follow orsubscribe buttons that you never
miss an episode.
You can find the show notes andlinks for everything mentioned
in this episode atpositivelylearningblogcom.
See you next week for morespecial education solutions.