There are several converging factors that are driving the acquisition of software systems by schools to assist with the development and management of individual education plans.  Costs to administer individual educations plans can never be overlooked, and it takes a lot of time to record, file, and manage student information.  When the information is stored manually and put in a file cabinet, it is lost from view, no one sees it, no one can analyze it, and no one can see if the services and teaching agreed to in those plans are being carried out in a timely manner.  With a computer driven system all information can be viewed at will.  All compliance deadlines can be scheduled and not forgotten.  With the expansion of individual education plans for all, a good computerized management system becomes mandatory because of high cost of record keeping manually.

Learning Tools International has been marketing a system to keep track of individual education plans, GoalView since 1999.  This is an internet-based system.  The President of LTI, Cathy Zier joins me to share what GoalView does and what motivates the people behind GoalView.  To some school districts, the notion of computer-based management systems for individual education plans is new.  Whenever new systems are set up, it creates concern among staff and parents.  Cathy demystifies the process and shares what we can get from a system like GoalView.