SMART Goals for School, Teacher, and Student! Success

The Process “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where—” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. --Lewis Carroll From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2002, p. 53)

The Process Marzano’s (2003) meta-analysis: the impact on student achievement of setting instructional goals ranged from 18 to 41 percentile points, meaning a student at the 50th percentile whose teacher sets clear instructional goals could achieve from the 68th to 91st percentile!

***Hope is not a strategy…. The Process Motto from the past: “I teach, I test, I hope for the best.” DuFour ***Hope is not a strategy….

The Process Think about a personal goal you have in your life. Why do you want to pursue this goal? What will it look like, feel like, sound like when you have achieved your goal? Write your goal with a results orientation. (The Power of Smart Goals, p. 11)

The Process Focus: means a clear vision about where you want to be, being true to your purpose, and asking: “How is this going to help students learn?”; focus means a perseverance to never give up; establishing clear, measurable, results-based goals.

The Process Reflection: the ability to pause, assess, and reflect; thinking about the data, reviewing assessments, seeking feedback, thorough evaluation of products and processes.

The Process Collaboration involves skills that are required to be an effective team: time, partnerships, action plans and strategies, trust, “we’re all in this together”

The Process Leadership Capacity: setting and monitoring goals together, focusing collaboratively on data, developing team structures

Key Questions What do we want to achieve? What are the outcomes we’re shooting for?

SMART Goals Strategic and Specific Measurable Attainable Results-based Time-bound

Strategic Focus on the “vital few”: high leverage areas where the largest gaps between vision and current reality exist

Specific Concrete, tangible evidence of improvements; targeting specific groups of students

Measurable Multiple measures; focus our efforts on what gets measured; (school goals are primarily summative, teacher both summative and formative)

Attainable Goals that motivate us to strive higher; almost but not quite within reach; we address goals through data conversations

Results-based Motivating, concrete benchmarks against which to measure our efforts; not process goals

Time-bound Builds internal accountability and commitment—a specific time frame

Personal goal Return to the personal goal you made earlier. Can you make the goal SMARTer? Apply the SMART criteria to the personal goal. How do you feel about your goal now? Has your motivation for achieving it increased?

GAN GAN: (greatest area of need) The greatest area of need determines your goal(s) Indicators: the evidence we look for to see if the goal is being achieved Measures: assessments you will use to gauge progress on the indicators Targets: allows you to track improvement by average and subgroup; “essential learning outcomes”

Self assessment Complete your self assessment. Where are your greatest areas of need? How do your GAN(s) align with district and school GAN(s)?

Develop your PDP Take each of your GAN(s) based on your self assessment and school and district goals and determine which teaching standards and elements each addresses. Develop a SMART goal for each GAN. Determine indicators, measures, and targets for each GAN.