IEP Goals: A Basic Formula for Success – California Hands & Voices

By: Kristen Stratton, J.M. CA Hands & Voices

In the hundreds of Individual Education Plans (IEPs) I have helped write as an advocate, I find the goal writing process to be the most important but often the most rushed part of the meeting. The majority of parents who call me to consult on their children’s IEPs seem to be concerned about their child’s academic placement or the services being offered or not offered. However, quite often when I ask if the child is making progress on their IEP goals or what the most recent progress report said, their response is, ”I don’t know.”

This is no attack on the parents. As a parent of children on IEPs myself, I completely understand the overwhelming and often rushed process of most annual IEPs (now called plan reviews in some states). The jargon and acronyms fly around the IEP table or across the computer screen. The school teams seem to have a singular objective: to get the IEP done.

This is no attack on the school teams either. The IEP caseloads for most case carriers are significant and staff members are often feel spread incredibly thin.

However, an IEP is a legally binding document. Its content matters. The accuracy in which we collect data and report a child’s progress, matters.

Truly, IEPs are designed to write themselves. There is a natural flow to most of the document. Whether it’s SIRAS or SEIS or another IEP software program or even paper and pencil IEP documents; the layout may differ but the content is very similar.

The child’s present levels are discussed, areas of need are identified, measurable goals based on those areas of need are developed, based on those goals the appropriate supplemental aids, accommodations, and related services are determined and finally placement is decided. Placement is often the focus: where can that entire IEP package be delivered in the least restrictive environment possible?

Now that’s a whole lot of jargon in that paragraph. If some of those terms were unfamiliar, I highly recommend purchasing the Hands and Voices Advocacy Manual (I don’t get any kickbacks!) and reading the Procedural Safeguards offered to you at least annually by the IEP team. If you don’t know where the Procedural Safeguards are hiding in your house, just ask your child’s case carrier for a copy.

Anyway, back to the goals…

IEP goals drive the services and placement conversation in the meeting. What skills are we working on? At what academic level is the child working? What are their social, emotional, self-advocacy, behavioral, and vocational goals? All of those components impact which classroom(s) is most appropriate, which curriculum path, which service provider, which placement…

This is why writing appropriate and measurable goals is vital to determining if the IEP is allowing the child to make meaningful progress and if it’s not, what we as an IEP team need to do differently to ensure progress is being made.

No matter which IEP software or IEP document layout a school is using, the key components of an IEP goal remain the same:

Goals should:

state the area of need the goal is addressing,
have a baseline which establishes the child’s present level of performance in that area of need and that present level should have a data point in it (meaning that present level should be measurable),
have a reasonably calculated target to reach one year from now which should also be measurable (meaning what growth do we want to see in one year’s time),
indicate how progress on the goal will be measured (i.e. student work samples, teacher charter data, observation),
indicate which qualified professional on the child’s IEP team will provide support for and report progress on that goal, and
indicate which state curriculum standard or other educational needs the goal is written to address.

Here is an example of all 6 of those points.

Let’s say we are writing a goal for Johnny. Johnny is currently a first grade student with mild unilateral hearing loss. Based on his aided audiogram and the functional listening evaluation conducted in the classroom, when in a quiet listening environment and support with his FM system, Johnny has auditory access to all the letter sounds. Johnny’s primary expressive and receptive language is English. He is learning his letter sounds in order to learn to read. When Johnny’s teacher tested all the students at the start of year, she was able to identify how many letter sounds Johnny could match to the corresponding English letter. Johnny did a great job but this is definitely an area of need. Johnny was able to match 18 of 26 letter sounds. This is an important foundational reading skill and “reading” is the identified area of need.

Here’s the goal broken down…

Area of Need- Reading (sometimes teams are even more specific and will write things like “letter sounds/decoding”)
Baseline- Johnny can receptively identify the 18 out of 26 letter sounds. (Ideally the teacher would also list which letter sounds he does and does not know as part of the baseline). When given a letter sound and a field of 3 letters to choose from, he will correctly match the letter sound with the corresponding printed letter with 80% accuracy in 4 out of 5 opportunities with only 1 visual prompt.
Annual Goal- By May 1, 2024, In a quiet environment and with the support of his FM system, when presented with a letter sound Johnny will receptively identify 26 out of 26 letter sounds, by choosing the corresponding printed letter from a field of 3 with 80% accuracy in 4 out of 5 opportunities and no more than 1 visual prompt.
Measured by- As measured by teacher-charted data or student work samples
Person responsible- Special Education Teacher
Standard-California curriculum standard RF.1.3- Reading: Foundational Skills, Phonics and Word Recognition, know and apply grade level phonics and words

Here in the case of Johnny, we aren’t worried about the prompting levels

Let’s try a different scenario…

Sammy is a Deaf child who attends his local state School for the Deaf. He is a 6^th grade student in middle school and is participating in an alternative skills curriculum and is placed in a separate setting classroom for all of his core curriculum classes (Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science). Sammy is working on increasing the amount of time he can attend to a task that is non-preferred. This is an important “vocational” skill and is the identified area of need.

Area of Need- Vocational (or if the team wishes to be more specific, it could also be called “Time-on-Task” or even be a Behavior goal depending on the circumstances)
Baseline- Sammy currently attends to a non-preferred task for 5 minutes with as many as 5 visual prompts to remain on task.
Annual Goal- By May 1, 2024, Sammy will attend to a non-preferred task for 10 minutes with no more than 3 visual prompts to remain on task in 4 out of 5 opportunities.
Measured- As measured by teacher charted data
Person Responsible- Special Education Teacher
Addresses other educational needs
It should be noted that in cases where the child is in an alternative curriculum program (functional skills program), the goals must also include short-term objectives which demonstrate the way the goal will be scaffolded to ensure the goal is on target to be met after one year’s time.

After some repetition, the formula that builds and IEP goal becomes clear. The baseline and the goal should be measuring the same skill in the same way. The appropriate and qualified IEP team member should be identified and indicate how they will monitor the goal. The function of the goal, whether it supports access to the general educational curriculum or other educational needs is also identified.

Last example…

Tatiana is a high school freshman who is in all general education classes in a mainstream (hearing) school. She uses an American Sign Language interpreter to access the information in her classes. However, she is very shy and when her interpreter is not well illuminated, correctly positioned, or visually accessible in some situations on campus, she is too nervous to tell anyone. Tatiana has a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Itinerant teacher who is fluent in ASL and who is also Deaf. Her DHH itinerant has identified that self-advocacy is an important area of need for Tatiana’s IEP team to address via a “self-advocacy” goal. Tatiana already knows what she should be asking of her teachers and interpreter to ensure access. She has already practiced those conversations with her DHH Itinerant teacher in pull-out sessions last school year and it was a previous IEP goal that she would demonstrate understanding of the accommodations in her IEP, including accommodations specific to interpreter access.

Area of Need- Self-Advocacy
Baseline- When the ASL interpreter is not appropriately illuminated in a dark classroom, is too far from the speaker/instruction that Tatiana cannot see both the instruction and the interpreter without shifting vision back and forth, or when at assemblies or PE the Interpreter is not clearly visible, Tatiana currently does not advocate for better visual access by informing the Interpreter or appropriate staff member of the IEP accommodations regarding Interpreter use. Though she is able to explain to the DHH itinerant what she should do in these situations, Tatiana has not been observed to generalize this skill in the classroom and across settings. Her baseline is at 0 out of 3 opportunities.
Goal- When presented with a situation where the ASL Interpreter is not visibly accessible to her, Tatiana will demonstrate self-advocacy across settings by alerting the teacher/staff that she does not have appropriate visual access to the Interpreter and using the interpreter to facilitate communication with teacher/staff until the issue has been resolved in 2 out of 3 opportunities across 4 observations/trials.
Measured- As measured by teacher-charted data and observation
Persons Responsible- Deaf and Hard of Hearing Itinerant Teacher
Addresses other educational needs

I really could dive even deeper into the IEP writing process, and even more in detail about the implications of goal writing and the rest of the IEP development process, but there is only so much paper Hands and Voices can publish of my long-winded article.

In summary…If you remember nothing else, remember these things:

Goals should be easily read, easily understood, and easily implemented
Goals must be measurable
Goals should be laser-focused in the skill they wish to target. If there are too many targets in one goal its likely it won’t be implemented as intended, won’t be met by the annual review, and likely should be broken up into multiple goals instead
Keep track of the 6 items to check off when reviewing your child’s proposed goals
You have a say in your child’s goals. Ask for a draft copy of the IEP before the meeting and communicate your input, concerns, and ideas with the team members in advance of the meeting if you can.
Goals drive the services and placement.
Goals are how we determine if the placement and services are working. Check in with your child’s teacher, read the progress reports when they come (they are required to be sent how at a minimum at the same frequency as general education report cards).
If you child is not making progress and likely to not meet a goal, call a meeting. Don’t wait until the annual to fix the problem.
If you child is making great progress and is meeting and exceeding goals well in advance of the meeting, amend the goals and draft more ambitious ones for the remainder of the year.
When in doubt, don’t. Don’t agree verbally. Don’t sign anything. Take it home, think on it, sleep on it, call an ASTra advocate or consult with an experienced friend or professional. This is a legally binding document. Make sure you’re sure!

As much as the IEP process is an all-consuming part of our children’s lives, it’s definitely a season. Enjoy your kids and celebrate their accomplishments. Progress looks differently for everyone and every step forward (literally or figuratively) should be celebrated!

Resources

U.S. Supreme Court Decision Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, December 7, 2017

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Article written March 13, 2023