- Open Prepare in the sidebar (/dashboard/prepare) and choose IEP progress meeting.
- Pick the student, then set the audience (Family shared or Internal team only) and the date range.
- Load evidence suggestions, keep what belongs, and note which items are Family visible or Staff only.
- Draft the meeting summary, save the packet, then open it to export the PDF (PDF export is Pro or a school plan).
- About a week out, check for thin data so you still have time to record honestly or explain gaps.
Prepare is where Evident gathers a student's goals, notes, incidents, and supports into a meeting packet. For an IEP meeting, it suggests the evidence for the date range you pick, you choose what goes in, and the result is a saved packet you can export.
Start in Prepare
Open Prepare from the sidebar. The Prepare meeting-ready evidence page shows meeting types: MTSS intervention review, IEP progress meeting, Parent conference, FBA / BIP review, and Accommodations review. With a student selected, each card shows whether there is enough evidence yet.
Choose IEP progress meeting and pick the student. If you do not see Prepare in your sidebar, your school role may not include it; ask your administrator.
Set the audience and date range
In Packet scope, choose Family shared if the packet will go to the family or Internal team only if it is for staff, set the start and end dates, and choose Save scope and load evidence.
Family shared packets leave out staff-only material, and confidential support-team notes are never included in family-facing exports.
Choose the evidence
Load evidence suggestions pulls goal progress, data points, accommodations, and related notes for the date range. Each item is labeled Family visible or Staff only. Keep what supports the discussion; you are building a focused packet, not attaching every log.
If Evident flags that a privacy review is needed, read it before continuing.
Draft the summary and save
The meeting summary draft is where you explain what the data shows, what context matters, and what the team might adjust. Save summary keeps it; Polish with AI can tidy the wording of your redacted text.
Save packet stores it, and Open packet and export PDF takes you to the packet page. Your first documentation PDF is free; ongoing packet PDFs require Pro or a school plan. For goal-by-goal narratives, also export the IEP progress report from the Goals tab.
A week before: quick checks
Confirm the reporting window matches the meeting. Look for goals with only a few data points and weeks with no data, and note the reasons you know (testing, absence, schedule changes).
Replace opinion words with what the data shows: requested a break independently on 9 of 15 days, up from 3 the month before, rather than seems better.
Frequently asked questions
Should every daily log go in the packet?
Usually not. Keep the logs as the record, and include the items that explain the goal progress and the summary.
What if there are missing days?
Note why when you know the reason, and avoid drawing conclusions from a short window.
Can I make one version for staff and one for the family?
Yes. Build one packet with Internal team only and another with Family shared. Family shared packets can also be exported with a translation.
How early should I start?
About a week out, so there is time to record a few more days honestly or to frame a short window as preliminary.