5 Setting Goals
Goal development and writing
Having appropriate goal is an important piece to ensuring that activities and lessons are working towards goals. Setting goals for students should involve the entire team working with that student. Goals should be relevant to the student and should be realistic. When looking at a goal you should be able to tell:
- what skill you are working on,
- the students’ progress toward the goal,
- whether we are looking to increase the skill or decrease a behavior
- and what is the final result we are working toward with the student.
Having goals written in this manner and with input from the team can make sure that everyone is on the same page and working together to help the student succeed and reach their potential. Be sure to ask questions to gain understanding and provide input when planning and pursuing goals.
Ongoing Data-Driven Decision-Making
Ongoing data-driven decision-making can helps reveal the best path to take with a student. Using the data collected about the student during instruction allows you to make decisions based upon how the student is performing in the moment.
Representing the data (graphing) in a manner that allows progress to be shown easily and understood by all allows for transparency in how the student is performing. Having data represented can help you recognize trends that then help shape instruction. Asking questions about the data and its representation can help get everyone on the same page and working toward the goals of the student.