Having clear goals is an important part of using any strategy aimed at supporting students. Goals provide a purpose and direction for actions. Clearly articulating the intended outcomes of a strategy ensures that there is a way to evaluate whether the strategy has been effective. Additionally, involving students in the process of setting goals can enhance their self-determination skills and increase their motivation.
- Be clear about behaviours the student needs to demonstrate. You will need information about the student’s current performance in order to identify the next skills or knowledge they need to acquire. You may be interested in increasing or decreasing a particular behaviour, improving the quality of student work, increasing the quantity of work or increasing or decreasing the time they spend enaged in a behaviour.
- Set a specific and measurable goal. Setting a goal involves specifying the specific behaviour you will measure to determine if the strategy has been successful. The goal needs to be described in such a way that you can collect data to objectively measure whether the goal has been achieved. Just remember that the goals you set need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely).
- Specific – Ensure that you can describe the goal in a way that is clear and unambiguous. Think about what you will see the student do when they have accomplished the goal. For example, “do better in maths” is too vague, whereas “correctly calculate the answer to word problems requiring addition” clearly describes what the student needs to do.
- Measurable – When a specific goal has been clearly stated, both you and the student can identify what is expected and accurately observe, record progress, and track whether they have demonstrated that behaviour or skill. In some cases, the student may be able to use a self-monitoring system to track their own progress towards their goal. For example, how often did the student request help, how many maths problems did they complete independently and correctly.
- Appropriate or Achievable – The goal is appropriate given the student’s current age and overall skills and current performance of the targeted skill or behaviour. This means that with instruction and practice, the student can reasonably be expected to reach the goal within a reasonable timeframe. For example, if the student is currently 5 years of age, it would not be appropriate to expect them to attend to a task for more than a maximum of 15-20 minutes. If they currently complete 2 steps in a task, it would be appropriate to think they could complete 3 to 4 steps. Some students may find a challenging goal motivating, but this may induce anxiety in others, and some students may view not meeting a specific goal as failure even if significant progress has been made.
- Relevant – The goal is relevant to thestudent’s current learning needs. It should be something that is meaningful to the student and will increase their capacity to do things that are important to them.
- Time-bound – The goal includes a timeframe for the task. Although this can be part of the criterion such as “the student will complete three tasks within the class period”, it is more important to specific the timeframe you think it will take to achieve the goal (e.g., three weeks, one semester, etc…). This will also be the indicator for when you will collect data to evaluate whether the goal has been achieved and the extent to which the strategy has been effective.
- Review the student’s goals regularly. If the student is still working towards a goal at the end of the projected time, it may be necessary to revise the goal to ensure it is appropriate. Once the student has achieved their goal, you will need to decide what the next goal will be and whether the priorities for that student have changed.