The staff at the center I work has been, from time to time, encouraging me to take a look at the psychological profiles tucked away in each student’s file. The other day, I finally got around to looking at them.

It’s the closest I’ve come to holding anything “Classified” in my hands. Big thick folders filled with forms, evaluations, surveys, histories, and legal documents — all of it confidential.

While working in an EC classroom last year, I sat in on a couple of IEP meetings. The IEP (“Individual Education Plan”) is a road map of issues, proposed solutions, expected outcomes, and standards for quantifying success prepared for each student receiving special services.

IEPs are usually heafty tomes as well.

The discussion ranged from previous goals to the student’s medical issues, from how to incorporate the student more in regular ed opportunities to amusing things the student had said recently. Throughout the meeting, teachers, administrators, and parents alike referred to the child’s records on file — also a Tolstoy size packet of forms, notes, and evaluations.

It was a long meeting, but for me as an observer, fascinating.

“What if we had this kind of involvement for each and every student?” I muttered to my colleague as we left the meeting.