Goals and Objectives

The goals are required by federal law to be challenging, ambitious, and measurable, and based on the identified needs of the student. These goals should include what a student is reasonably expected to accomplish in a 12 month period. They must also be guided by grade-level content standards, with attempts made at participation in the general education setting whenever reasonably possible.

These goals should also include benchmarks or short-term objectives, which should help IEP team members to determine whether a student is making educational progress. These goals eventually lead to a corresponding special education service. They are based on the identified academic and functional needs identified in the PLAAFP statements.

Each goal has four key elements: the target behavior, the conditions under which the target behavior is exhibited, the criterion of acceptable performance, and finally, the timeframe within the student must meet the criterion.

Use the acronym SMART to help IEP teams develop well-written, measurable goals:

Specific

Measurable

Actively phrased

Realistic

Time-limited

• Don’t make goals which are unmeasurable.

• Don’t make unreasonable goals

• Goals cannot be unambitious

• Goals must be individualized. Prewritten goals do not meet the requirements of IDEA.