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A guide for Alberta parents
If your child has an Individualized Program Plan in a public or separate school in Alberta, Grades 1 to 12, there is a list of things it has to contain. Here is how to check, and what to ask when something is missing.
You are not imagining it, and you are not being difficult.
Each of those sentences sounds like an answer. None of them contains a date, a number, a name, or anything you could check in three months. Parents hear them for years and slowly start to think the problem is that they keep asking.
The problem is that none of those are answers. This page shows you what an answer looks like.
The rules for IPPs are not in the Education Act, which never uses the words “individualized program plan.” They are in a provincial document called the Standards for Special Education, Amended June 2004. The document says it applies under Ministerial Order 015/2004. A Ministerial Order is an order made by the Education Minister.
The Standards cover Grades 1 to 12 in public and separate school boards, including Francophone authorities. They do not cover charter schools. Kindergarten and preschool (called Early Childhood Services) have their own special education standards. Alberta Education still listed the 2004 Standards as a current standard when this page was checked on 16 October 2026.
The Standards define an IPP and list ten pieces of “essential information” it includes. Standard 11 adds two more duties for teachers: write the formal review of progress into the IPP at report card times, and get the parent’s written consent. Alberta Education’s own guide, Individualized Program Planning (2006), puts all twelve in one list.
Take your child’s most recent IPP and tick these off. Not something a bit like it. The thing itself.
Two sentences worth knowing
These come from the 2006 guide. They use the word “should,” so they are guidance rather than rules. They tell you what Alberta Education itself treats as good practice.
“Each objective should include a target date for achieving that particular objective… Most often target dates are set in four- to 12-week periods, but this will vary for different objectives.”
“Student progress should be evaluated several times throughout the school year.”
SMART is a checklist for writing goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-limited. The 2006 guide notes that a number of school jurisdictions use a version of it. Many do not, and that is allowed. The same guide says plainly that “Alberta Education does not mandate a specific format.”
But SMART is a format. Measurable goals are a requirement, because they are on the Standards’ own list. The two words sound close enough that the answer usually passes.
“Understood, and you don’t have to. Which measurable terms are you using instead?”
Standard 12 requires every school board the Standards cover to have written local policies and procedures that are kept current, put into practice, and available to the public. Look on your division’s website under policies, administrative procedures or board governance. The name varies. Write down the clause number and the review date when you quote one.
Some protections parents hear described as division rules are already in the provincial Standards:
These are the moves that make a parent feel unreasonable for asking twice. Once you can name them, they stop working.
“Assessment is ongoing.” “We test when the teacher feels they’re ready.”
The reply uses your own word back at you while leaving out the number. “Interval” appears; the interval does not.
Ask: A date or a frequency, please. Ongoing is not an interval.
“We don’t use SMART goals.”
Answers a question about a requirement by naming an optional format.
Ask: Which measurable terms are you using instead?
“Staff are always watching.” “The team knows him well.”
A sentence that cannot be checked, true or false. It feels like reassurance and commits to nothing.
Ask: What does that look like at 10am on a Tuesday? Who, specifically?
“That can be discussed at our next meeting.”
Moves a written question into a room with no transcript, where the answer leaves no trace.
Ask: I’d like this one in writing before we meet, so we can use the meeting for the rest.
“That’s what was on the form you filled in.”
A record that went out of date gets described as your mistake. Check the date you filled that form in, and what was known then.
Ask: That was accurate when I submitted it. What changed afterwards, and who was responsible for updating the record?
“Those recommendations are up to the district.”
Often true. But a decision like that is made for a reason, and the reason is often a claim about what is already happening.
Ask: Understood. On what basis was that decision made, and what support is in place instead?
A general policy quoted to answer a question about your child.
A plan for the whole class is not an answer to a question about something written into your child’s own plan.
Ask: I’m asking about the provision in my child’s plan, which is specific to them.
“We’ll reach out when we can.”
Not a timeframe. Nothing has been promised, so nothing can be shown to have been missed.
Ask: Same school day, before the end of the day, in these specific situations. Then list them.
“Flexible support.” “Building independence.”
Soft phrases that can describe a real service or no service at all. Put each one into plain words and see whether it still sounds like something.
Ask: In plain terms, what happens? Who does it, how often, for how long?
If something in the record is wrong or missing, section 56 also lets you ask the board to fix it.
Send them by email, so there is a record. Ask for answers in writing, before the next meeting. Adjust the wording to your child.
Thank you for your time. I have some questions about [child]’s program that I would like answered in writing before we meet.
1. What is [child]’s current level of performance in [reading / the relevant area], stated as the measure you use?
2. On what date will that next be measured, and by whom? A date or a frequency, please.
3. [Child]’s IPP objectives do not have target dates. Alberta Education’s IPP guide says each objective should have one, most often four to twelve weeks out. Could target dates be added?
4. What measurable terms are being used in the goals, and how will I be shown whether each was met?
5. Who is delivering [the support], how many minutes per day, and on how many days per week?
6. The IPP does not carry my signature. Could I be given the plan to review and sign, as informed consent?
7. Which of the division’s procedures on inclusive education applies here, and what does it require?
Thank you. I appreciate you putting these in writing.
Open by thanking someone, specifically, for something they did. Close with thanks. Never accuse anyone of anything. The questions are sharp enough on their own, and a teacher who feels safe writing to you is the most valuable thing you have.
These are the routes, roughly in the order you would use them.
The Alberta Ombudsman is not on this list. Its own website says it cannot investigate complaints about schools.
Keep each complaint with the body that handles it. The Human Rights Commission can dismiss a complaint that is being, or should be, dealt with somewhere else.