Goal Writing

To improve our goal writing:  Remember: goals are statements about the power or impact of our instructional programs.  Goals need to be clearly defined.  Identify specific skills deficits through screening measures using CBM.  Target a few, but important goals and objectives.  Ensure goals are measurable and linked to validated progress monitoring approaches.

CBM to write RTI goals CBM scores are easily translated into goals for RTI intervention. Using CBM to write goals lets us accurately compare performance because: –Test administration of CBM is consistent (and quick!) –Scoring procedures are consistent –Difficulty level of test is always consistent

Components of Goals  Current/Present Level of Performance  What the student is currently able to do in the targeted area.  Can be taken from Fall, Winter, Spring Universal Screenings or separate screenings.  Intervention Goal  Growth anticipated for specific time period  Should be ambitious  Must be specific  Must be measurable

Setting the Goal Level  Determine an appropriate goal!  Be ambitious! Select the level that you want to see the student achieve within a specific amount of time.  Research has shown that ambitious goals can lead to better student achievement:  How ambitious you are should depend on:  How often you can feasibly provide services  How confident you are in the power of your instructional programs and resources  Age of the student

Ambitious Goals  Using the Realistic Rate of Improvement (ROI) is not ambitious:  Based on progress made by students in general ed. classroom who are NOT receiving additional intervention.  Point of RTI is to help kids catch up  Realistic ROI will never be help students catch up because they will be learning at the same pace as students receiving no intervention; students receiving intervention need to learn at a faster pace.

Determining Ambitious Growth Rates/ROI  Identify the realistic rate of improvement  For AIMSweb, this would be the 50th%ile rate of improvement.  Add 0.5 to 1.0 to the realistic rate of improvement to get the ambitious growth rate.

Selecting Length of Time  Determine how much time to allow until the goal can be feasibly reached.  RTI goals written to reflect length of intervention:  Depends on how long interventionist needs to effectively teach skill.  Individualized based on student need.  Recommend six, nine, or twelve weeks

Use Growth Rate to Determine Goal How much growth students make in a week’s time. Formula to determine how much growth you would like to see in a specific amount of time. *Goal = ________________________________ + Current Performance Level (_____________________ X ____________________) # weeks until goal reviewed Ambitious Growth Rate

Basic Format for writing meaningful progress monitoring goals AreaGoal Format ReadingIn (#) weeks (Student name) will read (#) Words Correctly in 1 minute from randomly selected grade (#) passages SpellingIn (#) weeks (Student name) will write (#) correct letter sequences and (#) correct words in 2 minutes from randomly selected grade (#) spelling lists. Early LiteracyIn (#) weeks (Student name) will read (#) Nonsense Words Correctly presented with randomly selected list of nonsense words.

Although there may be variations in specific wording, or word order, these goal formats form the basis for frequent progress monitoring.

If you need further assistance, contact your school psychologist or an instructional program facilitator.