A Relic of the Past - Identification, Placement and Review Committees in Ontario’s Education System

Oct 15, 2026

The Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC) process has long operated in Ontario special education through provincial legislation, originally rooted in advocacy for the right to education for children with disabilities. This paper critically evaluates whether the current IPRC structure infringes students’ access and rights to quality education. Using historical and contemporary education policy and human-rights shifts, it argues the process is outdated and functions as a barrier to students’ academic futures.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Identification, Placement and Review Committees (IPRCs)

A Brief Overview of the Process

A Brief History of the IPRC Process

A Relic of the Past: Identification, Placement and Review Committees in Ontario’s Education System Luke Reid1, Gillian Parekh2, & Robert Lattanzio3 1 University of Toronto, 2York University, 3ARCH Disability Law Centre Abstract The Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC) process has been long established within Ontario special education practice and provincial legislation. Borne out of advocacy for advancing the right to education for children with disabilities, the IPRC process is now being critically explored as to whether the process itself creates an infringement on students’ access and rights to quality education. Drawing on historical and contemporary shifts in education policy and human rights in Ontario, this paper presents the case that the current structure ofthe IPRC is outdated and may function as a significant barrier to students’ academic futures. Keywords: disability, placement, identification, inclusive education, human rights Identification, Placement and Review Committees (IPRCs) have a long history in Ontario’s education system. IPRCs are enshrined in the Education Act R.S.O. 1990, c. E.2, as a means to identify students with disabilities and to secure their placements in schools (OME, 2016). However, over the past several years, the IPRC framework has increasingly come under fire for the antiquated manner in which it fulfills this role. The process has been charged with being resource-heavy, requiring significant ongoing contributions from education professionals, and with the fact that there is little monitoring as to whether the benefits for students warrant the expense. Although the IPRC is intended to address individual students, its inflexible processes mandate the usage of crude categorizations of student ability and frequently place students in standardized placements, while simultaneously minimizing or excluding student involvement in the process. Additionally, the IPRC process largely relies on the logic of a medicalized approach to disability (Connor, 2013), an approach that focuses more on “fixing” or rehabilitating children than it does on ensuring rights of access for children with disabilities. Many of these issues can be traced to the institutional history of the IPRC and the fact that many of the roles that it was initially intended to fill are no longer as relevant as they once were. This paper employs a critical disability studies approach to examine the history and the role that the IPRC process currently plays in the Ontario public education system. As a theoretical frame, critical disability studies employ an intersectional approach to engage in the politics of disability and to promote societal transformation (Goodley et al., 2019). As the IPRC process is used to identify, categorize, and respond to perceived capacity, critical disability studies provide an ideal investigative tool to critique this system and to identify key elements necessary for systemic transformation and the advancement of disability rights. Using this approach, this paper will highlight several areas where the IPRC process is either no longer relevant or falls short of its stated objectives, and will query whether ‘the process’ is privilegedover outcomes for students. In doing so, this paper will discuss the core values which should drive policy reform and will make some limited recommendations about how a more responsive framework can be developed to better ensure that the rights of students with disabilities are upheld. A Brief Overview of the Process As noted above, the IPRC process is used to both identify students with disabilities and to place them ina setting deemed ‘most appropriate’ depending on the committee’s conclusions around the student’s perceived ability. Despite the subjectivity involved in the assessment of student ability (Parekh et al., 2018), the IPRC process is highly regulated. In broad strokes, the IPRC typically involves a formal meeting held at the stu

FAQs

What is the purpose of the IPRC process in Ontario special education?

The IPRC process is used to identify students with disabilities and determine their placements in schools.

Why has the IPRC framework faced criticism in recent years?

It is criticized for being resource-heavy and for limited monitoring of whether student benefits justify the expense, along with rigid procedures that reduce student involvement.

How does the paper use critical disability studies to assess the IPRC?

It applies a critical disability studies lens with an intersectional approach to critique how the process categorizes and responds to perceived capacity, and to identify elements needed for systemic transformation and advancement of disability rights.

Oct 15, 2026

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