National Association of Special Education Teachers Teams Up with Public Consulting Group to Improve IEP Goals and Objectives through EDPlanTM

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As schools grapple with increased federal mandates, reduced budgets, and compounding student needs due to COVID-19, Public Consulting Group, Inc. (PCG) has partnered with the National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) to offer an extensive bank of individualized education program (IEP) goals and objectives as a support to special education teachers and service providers across the country.

The announcement follows this summer's launch of PCG's most recent version of EDPlan. EDPlan is the most used special education data management and planning software in the United States. The NASET library, coupled with EDPlan's tools, helps school professionals create compliant IEPs with S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals.

"Given the impact of COVID-19 school closures and shifts in federal IDEA legislation in recent years, districts today face the challenge of more clearly demonstrating that students with special needs are making progress towards their IEP goals," said Jim McGlynn, education manager within PCG. "Without a tool like EDPlan, developing student-centric, S.M.A.R.T. goals that are unique to a particular student's needs can be a very difficult and time-consuming process for teachers. Our new solution helps improve that process for students and teachers alike."

The innovative goals and objectives process in EDPlan guides educators through the goal-setting process step-by-step, anchoring achievable, student-centric goals within state student learning standards. PCG client feedback from across 39 states was instrumental in the design of these new features as schools seek to improve both compliance and effectiveness.  

The new EDPlan offers a more modern user interface and robust progress monitoring capabilities. As a result of the NASET partnership, states and school districts that license PCG's EDPlan special education data management solution can now access an extensive collection of more than 3,500 unique IEP goals and objectives authored by hundreds of experienced special education teachers from across the nation. The PCG partnership with NASET provides rich, peer-developed resources that complement the new EDPlan functionality.

"NASET strives to provide the most comprehensive resources for special education teachers. We are incredibly pleased that our partnership with PCG to access IEP Goals and Objectives through EDPlan has further expanded the availability of this valuable resource," NASET shared in a statement. "This partnership represents another milestone in our association's mission, as we are dedicated to rendering all possible support and assistance to those preparing for or teaching in the field of special education."

PCG released the new EDPlan interface, featuring NASET's IEP goals and objectives bank, beginning with New Jersey districts for the 2020–21 school year.

About Public Consulting Group

Public Consulting Group, Inc. (PCG) is a leading public sector solutions implementation and operations improvement firm that partners with health, education, and human services agencies to improve lives. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, PCG has over 2,500 professionals in more than 60 offices worldwide. PCG offers education consulting services and technology solutions that help schools, school districts, and state education agencies/ministries of education to promote student success, improve programs and processes, and optimize financial resources. To learn more, visit http://www.publicconsultinggroup.com/education/.

About the National Association of Special Education Teachers

The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) is a national membership association for Special Education Teachers which was founded to promote the profession of special education teachers and to provide a national forum for their ideas. http://www.naset.org.

SOURCE Public Consulting Group