Measurable Goals December 13, 2012 Crystal Cutler

IDEA  As used in Part 300, the term individualized education program or IEP means a written statement for each child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised in a meeting in accordance with 34 CFR through , and that must include:  A statement of the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance…

IDEA  A statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals designed to:  Meet the child's needs that result from the child's disability to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum; and  Meet each of the child's other educational needs that result from the child's disability  For children with disabilities who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards, a description of benchmarks or short-term objectives;

What is a measurable annual goal?  Measurable goals are defined as statements that contain four critical components:  timeframe, conditions, behavior and criterion.  A measurable goal includes the behavior or skill that can be measured at periodic intervals against a criterion of success.

What are the four critical components of a measurable goal?  Timeframe identifies the amount of time in the goal period and is usually specified in the number of weeks or a certain date for completion.  Conditions specify the manner in which progress toward the goal occurs. Conditions describe the specific resources that must be present for a student to reach the goal. The condition of the goal should relate to the behavior being measured.  For example, a goal relating to reading comprehension may require the use of a graphic organizer. The graphic organizer is the condition.

What are the four critical components of a measurable goal?  Behavior clearly identifies the performance that is being monitored. It represents an action that can be directly observed and measured.  Criterion identifies how much, how often, or to what standard the behavior must occur in order to demonstrate that the goal has been achieved.  The goal criterion specifies the amount of growth that is expected.

Measurable Goals Eleanor E. White, Ph.D. Director, Office of Special Education Michigan Department of Education

Measurable Goals  The second part of the inquiry for goal(s) is regarding whether they need be measurable.  YES. Goals must be measurable. Goals are required to be written to be obtainable in a year. There needs to be some information that is part of the goal that has an end point. The end point is not necessarily a number or percentage, especially if the goal is non- academic; i.e. social/emotional, behavioral etc. The measurability of the goal does not have to be as specific as outlined in the short term instructional objectives (STIOs). The Federal statute eliminates the requirement for STIOs; therefore, the references in the statute would only be regarding "Goals".

Measurable Goals  So, what does that mean for you???  Let’s see what it looks like…

Activity  By the end of __________, the student will___________ when/at on ___________.  By end of the school year, Jonny will write a complete essay when given a prompt, on end of unit assessments.

Activity  The student will ______________ when given a __________________ by _____________.  Jonny will increase to 50 correct digits per minute, when given a 2 minute math probe by the end of the term.

Activity  The student will __________________ when given ___________________ for____________.  Sally will utilize 5 point de-escalation scale to remain in class, when given instruction in relaxation techniques for 3 out of 5 periods per day.

Activity  It looks different in ET-  Use the text field  Not enough to have the STIO’s be measurable  Use curriculum to pull out what the gen. ed students are doing (or are expected to do) and make it a benchmark  Common Core will make it easier