IEP Manager. Price: pound;129 single-user licence; pound;25 per extra user. www.semerc.com. Distributed by Granada Learning, Quay Street, Manchester M60 9EA.
Tel: 0161 827 2927.
Email: info@granada-learning.com
www.granada-learning.com
IEP Manager from SEMERC, the special educational needs division of Granada Learning, is without doubt a useful administrative tool for primary, secondary and special school SENCOs and teachers who wish to computerise production of pupils’ individual education plans. It is easy to use, fully network compatible and can be accessed simultaneously by multiple users. The program generates more than 2000 sequential SMART targets for QCA P levels (for pupils working below national curriculum level 1), and for reception to Year 4 curricula in English, maths and PSHE. The targets have been written by special needs teachers and advisors to take account of recent initiatives, including the revised Code of Practice and literacy and numeracy strategies. For each target, success criteria, resources, strategies, ideas for support, and ideas for parents and pupils are specified.
Once SENCOs have created a database, listing teacher, pupil, parentcarer and support staff information, and appropriate targets have been selected, IEP Manager generates individual and group IEPs and a progress reports and letters. IEPs can also be copied or “cloned” to save time. Records are organised on a classteacher basis allowing pupil records to be easily moved between classes and teachers.
The program provides a range of customisable IEP, report and letter templates. Further templates are available from the SEMERC website. As well as producing IEPs and associated documentation, the program also enables SENCOs to manage and monitor pupils’ records by detailing start dates, review dates, and highlighting reviews pending or overdue.
Teachers can track pupils’ progress, from target selection to target achievement, via a colour-coded interface. Data can be statistically analysed to generate information such as the number of pupils working at Year 2 level, the percentage of English targets which have been achieved in the past 10 days, or which pupils have reviews pending, for example. Documents are displayed in HTML format (Internet Explorer 5.5 can be installed from the program disk) and can be printed directly from the program or saved as a Word file for further editing.
IEP Manager is definitely a time-saver that will speed up planning and cut down on some of the paperwork.
Claire Johnson
Claire Johnson teaches English and ICT at King’s School in Winchester
