The team creates annual goals that build the skills your child needs now to make progress toward their future goals.
Annual goals are what the school is providing right now to help your child get from one level to the next in the identified areas. The areas are determined by your child’s identified needs as they relate to their disability. For example, a child with a reading comprehension disability would logically have a reading comprehension goal. They would not have a math goal.
Talking with your child’s IEP team about what the disability means and how it connects to educational access is important. Additionally, these annual goals support the long term vision your child has shared in their PSGs. This is called aligned annual goals and helps the student and school address the needed skills to achieve long term PGS. For example, if a student identifies they will be a registered nurse, how are the annual goals supporting the academic, social, communication or physical requirements needed to achieve this. For example, a nurse must read college level textbooks and understand how to chart and write to perform their job. Do the IEP goals for a student with a reading comprehension goal reflect the need for this and provide instruction and strategies for the child to make progress?
Annual Goals: My Checklist for the School:
- The "Crucial Link": At least one goal must clearly connect to life after high school. If the goal is "using a planner," the IEP should say that this is being taught so they can succeed in college or a job.
- The Starting Line (Baseline): Every goal needs to show where my child is starting right now with hard numbers. (Example: "Sam currently uses a planner 2 days a week.")
- The Finish Line (Goal): It must show exactly where we want them to be by the end of the year. (Example: "...to 4 days a week.")
- The "SMART" Test (Understanding "SMART" Goals) - check every goal against this list:
- Specific: Does it say exactly what they will do?
- Measurable: Can we count it or see it happen?
- Achievable: Is it realistic for my child this year?
- Relevant: Does it actually help them reach their big future goals?
- Time-bound: Does it have a date for when we will check their progress?
Questions I can ask the team:
- "Which of these goals is the 'Bridge Goal' that connects today's learning to their future career or college?"
- "What data or test results did you use to pick the 'Starting Line' (baseline) for this goal?"
- "How often will you send me updates so I can see if they are on track to hit the 'Finish Line' by the end of the year?"
- Parent Tip: If a goal feels too vague—like "Sam will improve his behavior"—ask the team to make it "SMART.”
Goal: Annual goals are the stepping stones that your child will work on in the immediate future to get to their long term goals. Clear learning paths, instruction and measurement that your child understands can create buy in to learn.