Toronto District School Board
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Identification, Placement and Review Committee

Under Ontario's Education Act, school boards are required to provide special education programs and services to students who are formally identified as exceptional pupils. An exceptional pupil is a student who has behavioural, communicational, intellectual, physical or multiple exceptionalities that require them to have special education programs or services, as determined by an Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC).

A special education program is an education program that:

  • is based on and modified by the results of continuous assessment and evaluation; and
  • includes an individual education plan (IEP) which has specific objectives (except when the IEP has accommodations only) and an outline of special education services that meet a student’s needs.

The IPRC:

  • decides if the student should be identified as exceptional;
  • identifies areas of the student’s exceptionality;
  • decides an appropriate placement for the student; and
  • reviews the student’s identification and placement at least once in each school year.

An IPRC can be requested by the school principal or in writing by parents. The principal:

  • may, in consultation with the School Support Team (SST) and with written notice to you, refer your child to an IPRC when the principal believes that your child may benefit from a special education program;
  • must request an IPRC meeting for your child upon receiving your written request;
  • within 15 days of receiving your request, or of giving you notice, must provide you with a copy of the TDSB Guide to Special Education for Parents/Caregivers and a written statement of approximately when the IPRC will meet.

At the IPRC meeting, the specific nature of the student’s learning strengths and areas for growth are identified. On the basis of evidence presented and discussions held at the meeting, the IPRC will decide whether or not the student is an exceptional pupil, according to the categories and definitions of exceptionalities provided by the Ministry of Education. The categories are:


IPRC Categories

  • Autism
  • Learning Disability
  • Language Impairment
  • Speech Impairment
  • Deaf/Hard of Hearing

IPRC Decisions about Placement

Under Regulation 181/98, when a student is identified as exceptional, the IPRC will also decide placement for the student, using Toronto District School Board criteria and taking into account parental preference. In making a placement decision, the IPRC must first consider placement in Regular Class with Special Education programs and services before a placement of Special Education Class.

Regular Class Placement

Most students identified as exceptional learners can be appropriately supported in a regular classroom setting through the development of an Individual Education Plan (IEP), school-based special education teacher support and when required, professional support services which are available on a referral basis.

Regular Class with a specified support setting describing appropriate special education services, the IPRC placement decision for students with special education needs for whom more than 50% of instructional time is delivered by a regular class teacher in a regular classroom. The IPRC can choose from three Regular Class support settings – Indirect Support, Resource Assistance (Elementary) and Withdrawal Assistance.

  • Regular Class with Indirect Support The student will attend a regular class for the entire school day and receives direct instruction from a regular classroom teacher, who receives specialized consultative services from a special education teacher.
  • Regular Class with Resource Assistance (Elementary) The student will attend a regular class and receive direct, specialized instruction, individually or in a small group from a special education teacher within the regular classroom.
  • Regular Class with Withdrawal Assistance The student will attend a regular class and receives instruction outside the regular classroom for less than 50% of the school day from a special education teacher.

Special Education Class Placement

Special Education Class is the IPRC placement decision for those students with special education needs for whom 50% or more of instructional time is delivered by a special education teacher in a special education classroom, where the pupil-teacher ratio conforms to Regulation 298 (R.R.O.1990, Section 31).

There are two settings for Special Education Class placement – with Partial Integration or Full Time.

  • Special Education Class with Partial Integration The student will attend a special education class and is integrated with a regular class for parts of the student’s instructional program (a minimum of one instructional period daily).
  • Special Education Class Full Time The student will attend a special education class for the entire school day.

More information about IPRCs can be found on the Ontario Ministry of Education website or in the following TDSB resources: