The Art of Maintaining a Home File

The Art of Maintaining a Home File

Future Reflections Fall 1989, Vol. 8 No. 3
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THE ART OF MAINTAINING
HOME FILE
by Georgianna Harlow
Editor's Note: This was one of many useful
hand-outs given to participants at the Individualized
Education Program (IEP) workshop in Denver
this past July. We thank Denise Mackinstadt,
our Parent's Division Membership Chairperson,
for finding it and sharing it with us.
The Buckley Amendment, also known as the
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA), gives all parents of students under 18
years of age and all students over 18 or attending
post secondary schools the right to see, correct,
and control access to student, records.
One method of keeping records is to maintain a
notebook or file divided into sections. All papers
within each section should be kept in chronological
order. Suggested sections are:
1. Index
2. Correspondence
3. Assessments
4. Individual Education Programs (IEPs)
5. Diary or log notes typed up.
6. Sample of child's homework and report cards.
Why would you organize your child's files this
way?
1. If anyone has to look at a specific document, you could go right to it.
2. If you have to go to a due process hearing, it could save your attorney time and you money.
3. So you can keep an ongoing record for your child.
4. So you can write an appropriate Individual Education Program (IEP).
5. So you can show the child's growth in certain
areas as well as weaknesses. 6. It is a good way to log improvements.
7. It will help you remember some things you do not want to continue.
8. It is a way to know and remember what other people are thinking and writing about your
child.
9. It is important to know what tests have been given, the scores, and how long it has been since
the tests were given.

10. Maintaining your child's records will help
you document your child's special needs.
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