goals

Annual Goals

Annual goals are measurable statements describing what a child can reasonably be expected to accomplish with specially designed instruction and related services in the next 12 months. They should be related to the present levels of performance and be written for specially designed instruction. The annual goals should specifically address the areas of the curriculum that are affected by the student's disability.

An annual goal must be:

measurable

functional

meaningful

descriptive

observable

comprehensive

Inappropriate Annual Goal	Appropriate Annual Goal
Jimmy will improve his reading skills.	Jimmy will demonstrate reading skills at the 2nd grade level as identified in the general curriculum with 80% accuracy.

Short Term Objectives (Benchmarks)

Benchmarks, or short term objectives, are measurable steps and criteria that reflect progress toward annual goals and meet the child's educational needs resulting from the disability. They are intermediate steps between the present levels of performance of a child with a disability, and the annual goals that are developed for that student. There must be at least 2 objectives for each annual goal, and should reflect the educational needs of the student listed on the first page of the IEP.

Short term objectives:

are measurable.

specify the behavior to be performed.

are general indicators of progress.

often specify conditions under which the student will perform the
behavior.

may be a sequential or building block skill.

often indicate a time frame.

are a logical breakdown of the major components of an annual goal.

may include projected dates to accomplish the skill or behavior and/or
certain times when these will be demonstrated.

Short term objectives should be based on annual goals and must state:

Who - the person who will perform the behavior
Will do what - The specific, measurable and observable behavior or skills to be performed, including a verb that tells what the student will do.
Under what conditions - indicates what specific assistance will be given the student to accomplish the skill. May also include in what settings or circumstances the skill will be performed.
How well - The level at which the student must perform the skill to accomplish the step for meeting the annual goal. May be expressed in fractions, percentages, frequency rates, scores, or phrases.

Inappropriate short term objective	Appropriate short term objective
Susie will improve her addition skills.	Susie will independently complete 15 two digit addition problems with 80% accuracy.

Making Objectives Measurable

Many special educators have difficulty making IEP objectives measurable. The first step is to make sure that the student's present levels of performance are expressed clearly. Then, make the objective measurable by defining it in terms of something that you can count or observe. This can be expressed as a grade or age performance level, percentile, or result of the behavior.

Not Measurable	Measurable
Susie will improve her reading skills.	Susie will improve her decoding skills and reading comprehension to the 3rd grade level.
Tony will complete his class assignments.	Tony will complete 80% of the modified daily assignments in the regular classroom.


	TPS Statement of non-discrimination: "Tulsa Public Schools is an equal opportunity organization and does not discriminate in its educational and employment policies and programs on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, veteran status, or disability. For information, contact the Director of Compliance at (918)746-6357."

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