IEPs, IPRCs and Gifted Identification at the Peel District School Board: A Parent's Guide

Your child attends a Peel District School Board school in Mississauga, Brampton or Caledon, and you are being handed acronyms: SRP, SRM, IERT, ISELP, IPRC, LH25. This page explains what each means, the timelines Peel publishes, and what you can do at each step, including gifted identification, which Peel calls Enhanced Learning.

Key facts

• Peel runs special education through its Special Education Department, and the in-school process is the Student Review Process (SRP), with Level 1 and Level 2 Student Review Meetings (Special Education Plan 2026-27).
• After a written IPRC request, the principal must give you a written acknowledgement and "A Parent's Guide to IPRC" within 15 school days, and the invitation at least 10 school days before the meeting (PDSB IPRC page).
• Gifted screening happens in Grade 4, using the Naglieri General Abilities Tests (NGAT), usually in the fall (PDSB Gifted and Enhanced Learning FAQ).
• Where a Student Review Meeting orders a CCAT-7, an IPRC may identify a student as Exceptional Intellectual: Gifted on a composite at or above the 98th percentile, or two subtests averaged at or above it.
• The In School Enhanced Learning Program (ISELP) runs in every Peel elementary school; the Secondary Enhanced Learning Program runs at The Woodlands and Heart Lake secondary schools.
• Peel says an IPRC is typically no longer than 20 minutes, and recorded 1,234 initial referrals, 5,833 reviews and 0 appeals from September 2025 to 5 May 2026 (Standard 5).

How is special education organized at the Peel District School Board?

Peel runs special education through a central Special Education Department, and the process inside your child's school is the Student Review Process. Peel does not use the "In-School Team" or "School Support Team" labels other Ontario boards use.

The board publishes the whole system in one yearly document, the Special Education Plan, currently the 2026-27 edition. Standard 4 covers the Student Review Process, Standard 5 the IPRC and appeals, Standard 8 the exceptionality criteria, Standard 9 placements, Standard 10 the IEP.

At school you deal with the classroom teacher, the principal and the special education team. Peel's plan says that from 2025-2026 the Individual Education Resource Teacher (IERT) replaced the former Special Education Resource Teacher and Special Programs Resource Teacher roles. Schools also have In School Support Program (ISSP) teachers, and secondary schools have special education department heads.

Clinical staff are grouped as Professional Student Services Personnel (PSSP): speech-language pathologists, social workers, occupational therapists, psychoeducational consultants and registered behaviour analysts. They attend Level 2 Student Review Meetings, not Level 1.

What do I do first if my child is struggling at a Peel school?

Talk to the classroom teacher and ask for a Student Review Meeting. Peel's Guide to Special Education for Families, Caregivers and Students says any school team member or parent can request one, and that a student does not need an identified exceptionality to take part. Peel describes the process in four steps: Notice, Talk, Plan, Check. If supports are not working at Check, the school moves to a meeting with more staff.

1. Level 1 Student Review Meeting. In-school staff and family: principal or vice-principal, special education teacher, ISSP teacher, IERT, special education head, student success and guidance staff, classroom teachers and educational assistants. Peel says most student needs can be met at Level 1.
2. Level 2 Student Review Meeting. For a student who needs resources beyond what school staff can offer. Level 2 adds Professional Student Services Personnel. Peel's plan says parents or guardians must be invited, and their community representatives may attend at the family's request.
3. Referral out. A Level 2 meeting documents action items, generates PSSP referrals with consent forms attached, and can refer to an IPRC.

Peel says these meetings typically run 15 to 20 minutes, that virtual attendance is available, and that you may bring someone to help with translation.

What to ask at a Student Review Meeting

Peel prints its own sample questions. These are the ones worth using:

• "What is working and what is not working for my child?"
• "What accommodations have been provided, and are they provided in all classes?"
• "What evidence of learning has been collected?"
• "What will this look like in terms of support and duration, and can we set the follow-up date now?"

How does the Peel IEP process work, and how does the school collect my input?

Peel writes an IEP for every student an IPRC identifies as exceptional, and states that a student who needs special education programs or services but has not been identified may also have one (PDSB Individual Education Plan).

Your input arrives through a specific document. The Special Education Plan says families give input through a Parent/Guardian Consultation Form and/or a school meeting, within the first 30 days of school or after the decision to start an IEP, then review it again each spring. If the form has not come home by the end of September, ask the principal for it in writing.

Other Peel rules worth knowing:

• The plan must be developed within 30 school days after your child starts in a special education program, matching O. Reg. 181/98, s. 6(8), and reviewed every reporting period (Ontario: Individual Education Plans).
• Peel emails the first draft of the IEP to the student's own board email account (student number @pdsb.net) from reportcards@peelsb.com, as an encrypted message, which surprises a lot of elementary parents.
• The school gives you a copy to sign, acknowledging that you were consulted, and files a copy in the Ontario Student Record.
• Peel states that a transition plan must be developed for all students with an IEP, identified or not, including those identified solely as gifted. That is broader than the regulation's minimum of students 14 and older (s. 6(4) and 6(5)).
• Modified expectations in secondary school may mean working towards a certificate, not a diploma.

How do I request an IPRC at the Peel District School Board?

Write to your child's principal. Under O. Reg. 181/98, s. 14(1)(b), the principal shall refer a pupil to an IPRC at the written request of a parent. Peel's own wording is that the request "must be in writing", and that families can ask at any time. The published Peel timelines are:

• Within 15 school days of your written request, the principal gives you a written acknowledgement and a copy of "A Parent's Guide to IPRC".
• At least 10 school days before the meeting, you receive the invitation naming the date, location and the committee members with their titles. Information gathered about your child goes to committee members beforehand, and Peel says you must be given a copy too.

Peel does not run numbered IPRC levels. It holds school-based IPRCs at your child's school or another board location, plus regional IPRCs for specific programs: one for ISELP, one at the Mississauga or North Field Office for Learning Hub 25, and one at the Enhanced Learning Program school site for secondary gifted placement.

An IPRC has at least three PDSB staff, one of whom must be a principal or supervisory officer. You may bring an advocate, a friend, a relative or a member of a parent association; give the principal the name in advance. Ask for an interpreter if you would rather not discuss this in English. Students 16 and older may bring an advocate of their own.

The committee decides while you are in the room, or defers for more information. If it recommends a placement you sign a consent form, but Peel says you do not have to accept it, and you may ask for a class visit first. You may request a review IPRC after three months in the placement (s. 21). Peel reviews needs yearly, and if you agree the placement should continue, a formal annual review IPRC may not be held.

How does gifted identification work at Peel, and what is the Enhanced Learning Program?

Peel screens in Grade 4, using the Naglieri General Abilities Tests, and calls its gifted programming Enhanced Learning. Identification happens at an IPRC, not at screening.

Screening runs in the fall, and results go to a Student Review Meeting, which may ask for family and teacher input tools, recommend ISELP, order a psychoeducational assessment, or refer the student to an IPRC.

The Special Education Plan 2026-27 gives three routes to an IPRC identifying a student as Exceptional Intellectual: Gifted:

• The Grade 4 NGAT screening result, reviewed at a Student Review Meeting.
• A CCAT-7, where a Student Review Meeting recommends it, with a composite at or above the 98th percentile, or two subtests (verbal, nonverbal or quantitative) averaged at or above the 98th percentile.
• A psychoeducational assessment in any grade where intellectual ability was two standard deviations above average, which Standard 8 calls the Extremely High range, footnoted to the WISC.

A psychoeducational assessment is not required, and Peel's secondary gifted FAQ says so directly. Outside assessments are accepted: you consent to your school's psychoeducational consultant reviewing and summarizing the report for a Student Review Meeting.

Placement is decided separately, on a tiered model:

• In School Enhanced Learning Program (ISELP). Regular class with indirect support, Grades 1 to 8, at your home school. Peel says ISELP runs in every Peel elementary school and meets most gifted learning needs. A student who has not been assessed or identified, but whose portrait fits, may receive it before or without an IPRC.
• Learning Hub 25 (LH25). The full-time congregated class, Junior (Grades 4 and 5) and Intermediate (Grades 6 to 8), for students who need more than ISELP provides. Classes may be multi-grade and may not be at your home school. From 2025-2026 Peel no longer offers primary LH25 placements, so students use ISELP until Grade 4.
• Secondary Enhanced Learning Program (ELP). Grades 9 to 12, with Enhanced-level courses in English, mathematics, sciences and social sciences. The Woodlands Secondary School serves Mississauga; Heart Lake serves Brampton and Caledon. Peel says there is no application process, and placement is made through a Regional IPRC at the site, normally in Grade 8.

Every student in gifted programming gets an IEP with a Gifted Plan or Enhanced Learning Plan in it.

What placements and special education programs does Peel list?

Peel uses the five placements set out in the regulation, and the IPRC must consider a regular class first. The plan quotes it: before considering a special education class, the committee must consider a regular class with appropriate special education services.

• Regular class with indirect support: the teacher receives consultative services.
• Regular class with resource assistance from a special education teacher.
• Regular class with withdrawal assistance for less than half the school day.
• Special education class with partial integration: a regular class at least one period daily.
• Special education class full-time: at Peel, mostly the Learning Hubs.

From 2025-2026 Peel replaced its exceptionality-named classes with Learning Hubs, and states that placement in a Learning Hub is based on the student's portrait and required level of support, not on their exceptionality, except for students identified as gifted or deaf and hard of hearing. Learning Hub 6 replaced the autism and transition classes, Learning Hub 10 and 10R the developmental disability classes, and Learning Hub 25 the Enhanced Learning classes. Other programs include the In School Support Program, the Communication Cluster for persistent reading difficulties, itinerant service for deaf and hard of hearing and for blind and low vision students, and the Vocational programs.

What can I do if I disagree with a Peel decision?

It depends which decision. IEP disputes have no tribunal. Peel publishes a five-step sequence in Standard 10: the teacher, the principal, the school's Superintendent of Education, the Special Education Superintendent of Education, then the trustee. Peel also lists a Student and Family Support Office: supportoffice@peelsb.com, 905-890-1010 ext. 3000.

For an IPRC decision Peel follows the regulation:

1. Ask the IPRC in writing for a follow-up meeting within 15 school days of receiving the decision. The committee decides whether to change its decision while you are present.
2. Or file a notice of appeal in writing to the Director of Education of the PDSB, naming the decision and your reasons. Peel publishes the window as 30 school days from the statement of decision, or 15 days from a follow-up meeting. The regulation says 30 days, not school days (s. 26(2)), so plan to the shorter figure and file early.
3. Within 15 days of the board receiving the notice, it selects one appeal board member and you select one (s. 27(1)(b)). Those two select a chair within 15 days. No member may have had prior involvement.
4. The chair arranges a meeting within 30 school days, and the appeal board reports within three school days of it. Peel then has 30 school days to decide what to do and write to you. The next level after that is the Special Education Tribunal.

Your child stays in the current placement until the appeal is resolved.

What to bring to a Peel meeting

• The invitation letter and the IPRC's information package, with your questions in the margins, plus your child's current IEP, the completed Parent/Guardian Consultation Form and the most recent report card.
• Any outside assessment report, plus your written consent for the school's psychoeducational consultant to review it.
• A one-page dated log of what you are seeing at home and what has already been tried, and your top three questions in writing. A 20-minute meeting does not survive a long list.

Common mistakes

• Asking verbally instead of in writing. The 15-school-day clock and the principal's duty to refer both attach to a written request.
• Sending your input on the day of the meeting. Peel circulates documents beforehand. Give yours to the principal in time to go in the package.
• Treating the Grade 4 screening as the decision. The NGAT is a screener. Identification is an IPRC decision, and a Student Review Meeting sits between the two.
• Assuming a Learning Hub 25 seat comes with identification. Peel identifies at the IPRC and places separately, based on whether ISELP can meet the need.
• Waiting for a board assessment without asking. Peel publishes no target wait time. Ask for an estimate in writing.

Where a consultant fits

Most families reach us between the first Student Review Meeting and the IPRC invitation, holding paperwork nobody has explained. Hourly Consulting helps you decide whether to wait for a board psychoeducational assessment or pursue a private one, refers you to psychologists, speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists, and covers preparing for one meeting. We do not conduct assessments. Assessment Breakdown & Guidance goes through a completed report with you, in plain language, before you sit in a meeting where it gets 20 minutes. IEP Review & Strategy reviews the assessments and the school's IEP together and drafts proposed goals and wording on accommodations, modified and alternative expectations and the transition plan. Navigating Special Education is a three-session package covering how to share information with the school and what an IPRC is. School Placement Support helps if you are weighing an independent school. Talia is an Ontario Certified Teacher with a Special Education Specialist qualification, not a lawyer and not a psychologist.

Frequently asked questions

How do I request an IPRC at the Peel District School Board?

Put it in writing to your child's principal. Under O. Reg. 181/98, s. 14(1)(b), the principal shall refer a pupil to an IPRC at the written request of a parent. Peel's published rule is that the principal must give you a written acknowledgement and a copy of "A Parent's Guide to IPRC" within 15 school days, and that the invitation letter with the date and location must reach you at least 10 school days before the meeting.

What grade is gifted screening in at Peel?

Grade 4. Peel administers the Naglieri General Abilities Tests to Grade 4 students, usually in the fall. Results go to a Student Review Meeting, which decides whether to gather more information, start In School Enhanced Learning Program support, order a psychoeducational assessment, or refer the student to an IPRC for identification as Exceptional Intellectual: Gifted.

What score does Peel require for gifted identification?

Peel's Special Education Plan 2026-27 sets two thresholds. Where a Student Review Meeting recommends a CCAT-7, an IPRC may identify a student on a composite score at or above the 98th percentile, or two subtests averaged at or above the 98th percentile. Otherwise a psychoeducational assessment showing intellectual ability two standard deviations above average can support identification.

What is the Enhanced Learning Program at Peel?

Enhanced Learning is Peel's name for gifted programming. The In School Enhanced Learning Program (ISELP) is regular class with indirect support and runs in every Peel elementary school, Grades 1 to 8. Learning Hub 25 is the full-time congregated class for Junior (Grades 4 and 5) and Intermediate (Grades 6 to 8). The Secondary Enhanced Learning Program covers Grades 9 to 12. Peel stopped offering primary Learning Hub 25 placements in 2025-2026.

Where are the Peel Secondary Enhanced Learning Programs?

Two sites. Students living in Mississauga attend The Woodlands Secondary School. Students living in Brampton or Caledon attend Heart Lake Secondary School. Peel says there is no application process for entry, and that placement is made through a Regional IPRC held at the Enhanced Learning Program school site, normally in the student's Grade 8 year.

Will Peel accept a private psychoeducational assessment?

Yes. Peel says an assessment not completed by a board psychoeducational consultant will be considered as part of the identification and placement process. You will be asked to consent to the psychoeducational consultant at your child's school reviewing the assessment and summarizing the results, which then go to a Student Review Meeting to determine next steps. Family and teacher input tools may be requested at the same time.

Can my child get an IEP at Peel without an IPRC?

Yes. Peel states that a student who requires special education programs or services to be successful in school, but who has not been identified as exceptional, may also have an IEP. The board's plan describes support for non-identified students in a regular class with indirect support, resource assistance or withdrawal assistance, coordinated through the Student Review Process rather than a formal identification.

How long does a Peel IPRC meeting take?

Peel publishes that IPRCs vary in length and that the meeting is typically no longer than 20 minutes. That is short. Send your written input to the principal well ahead of time so it reaches committee members before the meeting, and bring no more than three questions you want answered on the record.

Sources

• O. Reg. 181/98: Identification and Placement of Exceptional Pupils
• Ontario: Individual Education Plans
• Ontario: Identifying students with special education needs
• Peel District School Board Special Education Plan 2026-27
• PDSB Special Education Plan (page)
• PDSB Identification, Placement and Review Committees
• PDSB Individual Education Plan (A Parent's Guide to the IEP)
• PDSB Guide to Special Education for Families, Caregivers and Students
• PDSB Guide - Special Education for Parents/Guardians
• PDSB Gifted and Enhanced Learning in Peel: Frequently Asked Questions
• PDSB Gifted Learning in Peel Secondary Schools: Frequently Asked Questions
• PDSB Gifted Learning
• PDSB Special Education