Jennie Bourgeois

Before writing goals, you need to understand the present levels of performance of the student.  The goals are written annual and assessment is required every three years.  After the initial assessment, the team has a fresh body of data to understand what is going on with the student and their deficits.  The goals should address the areas of deficit.   Goals address what you are trying to teach the student and accommodations are what are used to accomplish those goals.

All areas where services are needed need to have goals in those areas.  You need to state the deficits and the skills that need to be addressed for those deficits and what are the goals for those deficits.  Once the goals are determined, you then think about what services will be needed to accomplish those goals.   At the end of the year,  the team needs to evaluate the progress towards those goals and then determine  the goals for the upcoming year.

It is federally required that goals be written in objective and quantifiable terms in order to be measurable.  For example, stating a student will “demonstrate understanding of language concepts” is not a measurable goal.  It needs to state what exact task the student is to perform or demonstrate and how mastery will be determined.   The goals should not be vague or unclear.  Also, avoid the use of minimum, maximum, some, few, etc.  There needs to be language that is not arbitrary or subject to interpretation.  The language should not contain unknown variables or guesses to evaluate the goal.

The purpose of the goal is to move the student forward from their present level of performance.  Some goals may be deliberately written to keep the expectations of the teachers or for the students low for accountability purposes.  Estimates are not measurements.  In addition, observations are not measurements.  There needs to be data sheets and specific data collection.  Comments and additional information should supplement the data, not replace it.

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