Weak vs strong present levels: before-and-after rewrites

By the IEP Atlas editorial teamLast updated November 1, 2026

Short answer

A weak present levels statement describes impressions; a strong one describes measured performance that a goal can start from. The deciding question: could someone who has never met the student repeat the measurement next month and compare the result? If not, the statement is weak, however long or kind it is. The rewrites below show the fix.

Most weak present levels are not wrong. They are just impossible to use. "Reads below grade level and lacks confidence" may be true, but a teacher cannot plan from it, a parent cannot tell if anything changed, and a goal cannot name a baseline.

This page puts weak and strong statements side by side, gives one question that separates them, and works through three short scenarios. For what a full present levels statement contains, see the pillar guide on present levels of performance.

The deciding question

Ask: could someone who has never met this student repeat the measurement next month and compare the result?

If the statement gives a task, conditions and a number, the answer is yes. If it gives a label, a feeling or a grade-level guess, the answer is no. Length does not matter. A three-sentence statement with a probe score beats a full page of history.

Weak vs strong present levels, side by side

	Weak present levels	Strong present levels
Definition	Describes impressions, labels or history	Describes current, measured performance on a named task
Basis in law or practice	Meets the form, misses the purpose	Says how the disability affects progress in the general curriculum, as the regulation asks
Who decides it is enough	Whoever fills in the form	The team, using data a stranger could check
Data	None, old, or a single test score	At least three recent probes, with median and conditions
Unit	Grade level, "below average," percent with no denominator	The unit the goal will use, with a denominator
Strengths	Personality ("sweet," "hard worker")	Observable skills and supports that help
Impact	"Disability affects all areas"	A named class task and what goes wrong
Needs	"Needs to improve"	A skill to teach or a support to provide
Example	"Struggles with math"	"Solved a median of 3 of 10 two-step problems; computes accurately"
Where it shows up	Goals with no baseline; progress reports that say "progressing"	Goals with a baseline; progress reports that compare numbers

The federal rule requires present levels to say how the disability affects the student's involvement and progress in the general education curriculum.^[1] A weak statement usually names the disability and stops before the effect.

Before-and-after rewrites by area

These rewrites use different students and areas from the general present levels examples. The numbers are invented to show the format.

Area	Before	After
Reading	"Reads at a 2nd grade level."	"On three unpracticed grade 4 passages, read a median of 71 words correct per minute at 94% accuracy; errors are mostly vowel teams."
Math	"Has gaps in math foundations."	"Wrote a median of 9 digits correct on 2-minute multiplication probes; knows 0, 1, 2 and 5 facts on sight."
Writing	"Writing is weak and disorganized."	"Across three prompts, scored a median of 2 of 8 on the organization rubric; writes one paragraph with no topic sentence."
Behavior	"Is defiant and disrespectful."	"Refused a median of 4 of 12 adult directions per day across 10 days, mostly at the start of writing tasks."
Communication	"Speech is unclear."	"Unfamiliar listeners understood 52% of words in a 50-word sample; final consonants are often deleted."
Fine motor	"Poor handwriting."	"Formed 15 of 26 lowercase letters correctly from a model; starts round letters at the bottom."
Daily living	"Dependent on adults for self-care."	"Completed a median of 3 of 8 handwashing steps without prompts across 10 trips."
Transition	"Wants to be a chef."	"Completed 9 of 14 steps of a stovetop recipe without prompts; has not yet visited a culinary program."
Strengths	"A joy to have in class."	"Answers science questions aloud with detail; works 15 minutes with a step checklist."
Impact	"Disability affects access to the curriculum."	"Cannot read the grade 6 science text on his own, so he misses the homework reading and the next day's lab setup."

Each rewrite answers the deciding question with a yes. Each one could become a goal's baseline without changes. For rewrites focused on one area, see the math examples, the writing examples and the behavior examples.

The six patterns behind weak present levels

The label. "Defiant," "unmotivated," "low." Replace it with what the student did and how often.
The grade equivalent. "Reads at a 2.3 level." Replace it with the probe score in the goal's unit. Grade equivalents are easy to misread, as the grade equivalent glossary entry explains.
The orphan test score. "Standard score 76." Keep it, but add what it means for class work and pair it with a probe.
The copied paragraph. Last year's text with a new date. Take new probes.
The percent with no denominator. "70% accuracy." Of what, on how many items, on how many days?
The missing impact. A statement that never says what the student cannot do in class.

Three scenarios

Scenario 1: The long statement

A case manager brings a full page on Tamsin, a grade 5 student. It lists her evaluation scores, her history since kindergarten, her love of horses and six areas of concern. It has no probe data.

Weak or strong? Weak, for the parts that matter. Nothing in it passes the deciding question.

Why: Length is not data. The fix is to cut the history to one sentence, keep the evaluation summary short, and add three probes in each area that will have a goal. Keep the horses; they are a strength the reading teacher can use for text choice.

Scenario 2: The test-score statement

The present levels for Dmitri, a grade 8 student, say: "Math calculation standard score 79 (8th percentile). Math reasoning standard score 84 (14th percentile)."

Weak or strong? Weak, though accurate.

Why: The scores show how Dmitri compares with peers, but not what he can do in grade 8 math. No goal can be measured against a yearly test score. The fix is to add class data: "On three sets of 8 one-step equations, he solved a median of 3; he uses the same operation instead of the inverse." Then say what that means in his algebra class.

Scenario 3: The short statement with numbers

The present levels for Mariela, a grade 2 student, say: "On three lists of 20 CVC words in October, Mariela read a median of 12 correctly. She reads all short a and short i words. She confuses short e and short i. In her reading group she guesses words from the first letter. Mariela needs to read CVC words with all five short vowels."

Weak or strong? Strong, at five sentences.

Why: It passes the deciding question. Anyone could give the same lists next month and compare. It names a strength, an error pattern, the class impact and the need. The goal can use 12 of 20 as its baseline.

Fixing a weak statement in ten minutes

When the meeting is tomorrow and the present levels are weak, do this for each area that has a goal:

Find or take one quick probe in the goal's unit, and add the two most recent data points you already have.
Write one sentence with the median, the task, the conditions and the date.
Add one sentence on what the student does well in that area.
Add one sentence naming a class task the gap affects.
Rewrite the need as a skill, not "needs to improve."

Then check the goal against it, and paste the goal into the goal checker. For the full process, use the steps in how to write a PLAAFP. The baseline glossary entry covers what counts as a starting point.

Frequently asked questions

What makes present levels bad?

Present levels are weak when they cannot be checked or repeated: labels instead of behavior, grade equivalents instead of scores, test scores with no meaning attached, last year's text, percents with no denominator, or no statement of how the gap affects class work.

Can present levels be too long?

Yes. Long statements often bury the data under history and test details. Keep the four parts for each area with a goal, summarize the evaluation briefly, and cut history that no longer describes the student.

Is it wrong to include standard scores in present levels?

No, but they should not stand alone. Pair each score with what it means for class work and with classroom data in the unit the goal will use. The score shows how the student compares with peers; the probe gives the goal a baseline.

Use it in IEP Atlas

Sources

34 CFR §300.320: Definition of individualized education program, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.