How We Verify Every Page

Every load-bearing legal fact on this site is read against a primary source: the IDEA statute (20 U.S.C. 1400) and its regulations at 34 CFR Part 300, or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794) and its regulations at 34 CFR Part 104, plus guidance from the Department of Education. Reputable special-education resources are used to distill the goal-writing and accommodation methodology, never as the source of a legal fact. This page explains how each page is made and checked, what "verified" means and how you can flag an error.

Three passes on the content

The library is built and checked in three passes rather than one. The first pass reads the law and the methodology and writes the pages: the sample goals, the accommodation menus, the printables and the guides. The second pass is an independent legal re-derivation, done fresh, that re-checks every load-bearing legal fact against the primary source and confirms every citation resolves to the official text with its label matching the URL. The third pass is a goal-quality and sensitivity check unique to this niche: every sample goal is checked to be measurable and observable, written in respectful, community-aware language (person-first or identity-first, following the community and the family) and framed as an example to discuss rather than a prescription. Every accommodation is checked to read as an option the team considers rather than a guarantee.

What the independent pass catches

The second pass is not a formality. A few real catches from the current work:

• Our IEP vs 504 guide had, in draft, listed developmental delay as one of the thirteen IDEA disability categories under 34 CFR 300.8(a). The independent pass corrected it: developmental delay is the separate optional category in 300.8(b) that a state may choose to use for children ages 3 through 9.
• On the state evaluation-timelines table, an Alaska figure of 90 days was corrected down to the federal 60-day default. The 90 describes the full combined window from consent through a finished IEP, not the evaluation timeline itself.
• New Hampshire was resolved to 60 calendar days by reading the current rule text (Ed 1107.01(c)) rather than the older 45-day figure some parent guides still circulate.

What "verified" means, by page type

A law page, like a guide or the state table, is verified when every load-bearing legal fact, a timeline, a right, a citation, is independently confirmed against a primary source with the cite and the date on the page. A goals page is different: the sample goals are written to a methodology, not found in a statute, so "verified" means each goal is measurable and observable, respectfully worded and framed as an example not a prescription, passing the sensitivity check, with the legal anchor that annual goals must be measurable (34 CFR 300.320(a)(2)) cited on the page. We do not go hunting for a statute that prints a specific words-per-minute target, because no statute carries one; the bar is that the example meets the methodology and the dignity standard.

Verified and partial pages

Almost every dataset behind this library is fully verified: all 118 sample goals across the goal bank, all the accommodation menus, all the printables and all the guides. The one page that carries a partial status is the state evaluation-timelines table, because a handful of its rows rest on an official or near-official day count without the exact rule subsection independently pinned. Rather than a page-level doubt banner, each of those rows carries a short, neutral note at the exact cell that needs it, telling you which state agency to confirm it with. A gap stated plainly at the spot it lives beats a figure we cannot fully stand behind.

What "last verified" means and how often we re-check

The date on each page is the day we last read that page against its sources. IDEA and Section 504 change through rulemaking and guidance and states adjust their own evaluation timelines, so we re-check on a set schedule and whenever we learn of a change, then update the page and log it in the updates log. A change appears there as done only once it is in effect and confirmed against a primary source; an item we are still confirming is labeled as a watch, never shown as already pushed into a page.

Tell us if we are wrong

If a rule or a figure on any page looks out of date or does not match what your district or state told you, we want to fix it fast. Report it here and point us at the source. Getting these pages right is the whole point of the project.

An independent educational reference for parents, not a school district, a government agency or a law firm. General information, not legal or educational advice.