How to Set an IEP Baseline: Measure, Probe, Record

A teacher opens a new caseload file and finds this goal: "Maya will read 90 words correct per minute." There is no starting number. Is 90 a small step or a leap? Nobody can say, and in six months nobody will be able to show progress either.

A baseline fixes that. It is the student's measured performance before instruction on the goal begins. This guide shows how to get one you can defend, using the federal rule and NCII's published steps.

What the rule asks for

Section 300.320 requires the IEP to contain a statement of the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, a statement of measurable annual goals, and a description of how progress toward those goals will be measured and when periodic reports will be given to parents.

The word "baseline" is not in the text. But a goal can only be measured against a starting point, and the present levels are where that point is written down. NCII's guide says to include the baseline score in the present levels statement.

Step 1: choose the measure first

NCII lists four steps for setting an academic goal: select a measure, establish a baseline, choose a goal-setting strategy, and write the goal. The order matters. You cannot take a baseline until you know what you are measuring.

NCII says the tool should be reliable, valid, sensitive to change over time, and built for frequent use. The same guide says the baseline should be established with the same tool that will be used for ongoing progress monitoring. If the baseline is a reading probe and the later data are a classroom quiz, the two numbers do not compare.

Step 2: get a baseline score

NCII names three options for establishing the score.

Take the median example. Maya reads 41, 52, and 47 words correct per minute on three probes. Put the scores in order: 41, 47, 52. The median is 47. The average is 46.7, close but not the same. Pick one method and use it every time.

Step 3: add the comparison

NCII also says the present levels should show how the baseline compares with same-grade peers, for example by setting the student's score next to the benchmark for that point in the year. Its own example reads: a third grader reads 55 words correct per minute on a grade-level passage at winter benchmarking, while the expected winter benchmark is 97.

That one sentence tells a parent and a new teacher more than "reads below grade level" ever could.

Step 4: record it so it can be repeated

A baseline is only useful if someone else could take it again the same way. Write down each of these.

Keep the raw scores too, not only the median. If a team member asks how you got 47, you can show them.

Step 5: let the baseline shape the goal

Once the baseline exists, NCII's guide moves to setting the goal with one of three strategies: a benchmark, a national rate of improvement, or the student's own earlier growth. That choice is covered in how to write measurable criteria for IEP goals. A goal with no baseline behind it cannot be judged ambitious or modest.

The baseline also sets up the first line on your graph. See aimline and trendline explained for how that line runs from the baseline to the goal.

Match the baseline to what the goal counts

The baseline has to use the same kind of number as the goal. A goal about accuracy needs a count correct out of a total. A goal about how often something happens needs a count over a timed observation. A goal about how long needs timed episodes.

If you are unsure which kind of number fits, read percent accuracy vs trials vs duration first. Choosing the wrong kind is the most common reason a baseline cannot be reused later.

When the student is far below grade level

Sometimes a grade-level probe tells you only that the student is far behind. NCII's guide says goals for academic performance may be set below grade level, but that the IEP team must make that decision, based on the student's individual circumstances. It gives the example of a fifth grader whose instructional reading level is second grade, who is unlikely to meet typical fifth-grade end-of-year expectations.

For the baseline, that means your team may choose a probe at a lower level, as long as it is sensitive to change and you use it for the monitoring too. Record the level in the baseline line, so a reader knows the 47 came from a grade 3 passage and not a grade 5 one.

Share it with the family

The baseline is the number a parent will measure every report against. NCII says all members of the IEP team, including families, should be involved in the discussion of the goal. Say the baseline out loud at the meeting, with the benchmark beside it, and ask whether it matches what the family sees at home. A mismatch is a reason to look again, not a reason to hide the number.

Baseline slips

• Using a single score. One probe on one day is a snapshot. Three give you a middle.
• Changing the tool. A baseline from one publisher and monitoring data from another cannot be compared directly.
• Leaving out conditions. The same student scores differently alone and in a noisy room.
• Writing a percent without the count. "80 percent" could be 4 of 5 or 40 of 50.
• Backfilling from memory. If a goal has no baseline, take one now and date it. Do not reconstruct one.

What the sources do not say

NCII's guide does not set a minimum gap between probes, and the federal rule does not set any number of probes. Both leave the details to professional judgment and local procedure. Your district may have its own forms or required tools. Where they differ from this guide, follow them, and tell your team how you took the baseline.

For terms used here, see the glossary.