Writing Goals
Requirements
- Goals should be drafted after educators have completed an analysis of student data, considered school priorities, and completed a self-assessment.
- Each teacher must have at least one Student Learning and one Professional Practice goal.
- Educators in a department or on a team may share goals when appropriate. A shared goal, however, does not preclude a specific goal designed for individual professional improvement.
Best Practices
- Goals should be aligned so that student learning goals drive professional practice goals, i.e. achieving the professional practice goal should lead to achieving the student learning goal.
- Ultimately, goals must prioritize teachers’ areas of greatest need and be consistent with school and district goals.
- Goals should be SMART: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Results-focused, & Time-bound.
- After goals are written and approved, the educator will provide more specificity in his or her action plan. Therefore, some of the components that make a goal SMART may be better suited for inclusion in an action plan rather than the actual statement of the goal itself.
Examples
Based on the fact that less than 5% of students in SEI K2 currently recognize more than 20% of the taught Reading Street high-frequency words on the pre-assessment, my goal is that 85% of students will be able to recognize 85% of these words on the same assessment by June 1.
Sample Professional Practice Goal:
In order to help students improve their oral language skills, I will increase the amount of student talk during mini-lessons from 10% to 25% as measured by the amount of time that students are given opportunities to “turn and talk.” I will measure my progress by asking another educator in my school to observe my class bi-monthly.
Templates for writing goals
A student learning (SL) goal needs to specify what your students are going to achieve – the student outcome – and how you will know how students reached the goal (how it will be measured).
Suggested template for writing a Student Learning Goal. Feel free to modify as necessary – we are providing this template for educators to have a sense of the components needed to draft a complete goal:
Based on the fact that _______ (x %) of students currently score ________ on the _______ (assessment), my goal is that by _________ (when) _______ (x %) will score ________ on the same assessment.
As you prepare to write a SMART Student Learning goal, answer each of the following questions:
Specific
- Population: Which students will meet the goal?
- Learning Content: What is being taught over the period the goal covers? Will the goal apply to student learning of all content, or specific skills and standards?
Measurable
- Assessment: What assessment(s) will be used to measure student progress toward the goal?
Attainable
- Baseline: What is the starting level of students’ content knowledge? What are the baseline skills needed to learn the content?
- Rigor: How much student growth should be expected in order for the goal to be both challenging and reasonable?
Results-focused
- Target: What is the expected level of growth in student knowledge and/or skill at the end of the time period?
Time-bound
- Deadline: When will the overall progress toward the goal be measured?
Next Steps: A goal that is really “SMART” requires an action plan that includes benchmarks for tracking progress and evidence of change/progress toward the ultimate goal.
A professional practice (PP) goal names an action that is going to be taken by the teacher – something the teacher will do. Student outcomes do not need to be specified. The teacher’s action must be linked to the rubric – the goal should use terms that are in the rubric and should reflect the language in a specific Element (for example, should specify “differentiation”).
Suggested template for writing a Professional Practice Goal. Feel free to modify as necessary – we are providing this template for educators to have a sense of the components needed to draft a complete goal:
In order to _______________, I will ____________________. I will measure my progress towards these goals by ____________.
As you prepare to write a SMART Professional Practice goal, answer each of the questions below:
Specific
- Rubric: Which element of the rubric is connected to this goal?
- Student Learning: How will achieving this goal impact student learning?
Measurable
- Actions: What educator actions will be involved in meeting the goal? How frequently?
- Measures: How will progress toward the goal be monitored?
Attainable
- Baseline: How does this goal relate to the educator’s current practice?
- Rigor: Does this goal push the educator’s practice while maintaining realistic expectations?
Results-focused
- Target: What is the expected outcome at the end of the time period covered by the goal?
Time-bound
- Deadline: When will the overall progress toward the goal be measured?
Next Steps: A goal that is really “SMART” requires an action plan that includes benchmarks for tracking progress and evidence of change/ progress toward the ultimate goal.
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