Writing Meaningful and
Measurable IEP Goals
The Linked System
Misty D. Goosen, Ed.S.
Chelie Nelson, M.A. CCC-SLP
Who wants to be an …
IEP expert?
Which of the following is most likely not to be a
skill that would become a goal for a child?
A) skills that are a
priority for the
child’s family
B) skills that will
enhance the child’s
independence
C) skills not likely to
develop without
intervention
D) skills that will be
taught as part of the
curriculum
Who wants to be an …
IEP expert?
Which of the following types of assessment is
most helpful to developing goals?
A) Screening Tests
C) Curriculum Based
Assessments
B) Standardized
Assessments
D) The assessment class
final examination
Who wants to be an …
IEP expert?
Writing meaningful and measurable goals is …
A) Frustrating
C) Something I will
have to do
B) Helpful for families
D) All of the above
Who wants to be an …
IEP expert?
Which of the following is not a helpful step to the
process of writing meaningful and measurable goals?
A) Gathering test
scores
C) Selecting meaningful
skills
B) Collaborating with the
child’s family
D)Summarizing
assessment results
Who wants to be an …
IEP expert?
Which of the following is not important to
writing meaningful and measurable goals?
A) Addressing
functional skills
C) Be observable and
measurable
B) Be based on
standardized
assessments
D) Be skills generalizable
across settings
First Things First
Developmental
Delay
Functional
Assessments
Present Levels
of Academic
Achievement
and Functional
Performance
Meaningful and
Measurable
Goals
Early Childhood Disability
Definition: Developmental Delay
means such a delay in one or more
developmental areas for children aged
three through age nine that special
education and related services are
required.
*It is at the discretion of the LEA to use
this category for children three to five
years only.
Questions in the Eligibility
Process for ECD
1) Are the resources needed to support the child to
participate in activities appropriate for children of
the same age beyond those available through
general education or other resources?
2) Is there evidence of a severe discrepancy between
the performance of the child and his/her peers, or
of a severe discrepancy between the child’s ability
and performance in the area(s) of concern?
3) Is the presence of an exceptionality substantiated
by convergent data from multiple sources?
Appropriate Activities:
 Age appropriate developmental abilities or
milestones that typically developing children
of the same age would be performing or
would have achieved.
 For preschool, general education curriculum
means age appropriate activities which may
include early childhood standards.
Why is this important?
 If we can answer specifically how a child’s disability is
effecting his/her ability to participate in age
appropriate activities we will have very functional
information for writing our PLAAFP and Goals.
 Standardized tests will provide little or no information
here.
 Good assessment practices will make it easier to
write measurable (and functional) goals down the
road.
Functional Assessments
Functional Assessments
Curriculum Based Assessments
Observations
Performance Based Assessments
Present Levels of Academic Achievement
and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)
Present Levels of Academic
Achievement and Functional
Performance (PLAAFP)
 A summary statement which describes the student’s
current academic achievement and functional
performance in the areas of need as determined by
an evaluation.
 IDEA 2004 changed from PLEP to PLAAFP. The Kansas
Regulations have not been completely updated, and
therefore some of the citations my reflect IDEA 97 language.
 The change from PLEP to PLAAFP makes it clear that all
aspects of a child’s performance are important and
continues to establish the expectation for grade level
performance in the regular education curriculum (for
preschoolers appropriate activities).
The Purpose of the
PLAAFP
 To identify and prioritize the specific needs of
a child and establish baseline performance in
the general curriculum which is used to
develop individualized, meaningful and
measurable goals.
 For preschool children this means the PLEP
(*PLAAFP) should state how the disability
affects the child’s participation in appropriate
activities. KSA 72-987 (b) (1) (B).
The PLAAFP should:
 Be stated in terms that are specific, measurable,
and objective.
 Describe current performance, not past
performance.
 Describe the student’s performance in general
curriculum/appropriate activities.
 Prioritize and identify needs that will be written as
goals.
 Provide baseline data for each need.
What else might go in the
PLAAFP ?
 In developing each child’s IEP,
the team must consider:




Strengths of the child
Concerns of the parents
Behavior, if it impedes anyone’s learning
Communication needs of the child (Assistive
Technology 34 C.F.R. 300.346(a))
PLAAFPs must include statements,
as appropriate, regarding:









Health
Vision
Hearing
Social /emotional status
General intelligence
Educational performance
Communicative status
Motor abilities
Vocational skills/ transition
Example
Emily uses single words, signs, and a few two and three-word
combinations to communicate her wants and needs at home
and school. She initiates social interactions with her peers and
labels objects in her environment. Her parents report that she
has just begun to say, "I love you." Typically, children Emily's
age use four to five word sentences to communicate their wants
and needs. During a 20 minute play period with peers, Emily
used 18 single word utterances (5 utterances also included a
sign) and 1 two-word combination ("my shoe"). When two-word
combinations were modeled for Emily, she imitated only the last
word of the phrase. Emily's parents would like Emily's
communication skills to increase, so that she might better
express her wants, needs and thoughts.
Writing Meaningful and
Measurable Goals
Considerations for Meaningful
Goals
 Priority to the team
 Not likely to develop without intervention
 Enhanced behavioral repertoire
 Address multiple areas simultaneously
 Match child’s developmental level
 May not be necessary to select skills that are
part of daily occurrences
Meaningful and Measurable
Goals are:
 Functional for the child
 Usable across settings, people, and materials
 Observable and measurable
 Addressable within the child’s daily
environment
 Developmentally appropriate
Relationship between the
PLAAFP and Annual Goals:
 The PLAAFP and annual goals must have a
direct relationship. Each area of need
identified in the PLAAFP must be addressed
somewhere in the IEP. Most will be
addressed by annual goals, but they may be
addressed in other ways.
Measuring Achievement:
 The same criteria that was used to measure
the child’s achievement in the PLAAFP must
be used in the Annual Goal when
documenting progress.
Measurable Annual Goal
 A statement that describes what a child with a
disability can reasonably be expected to
accomplish within a twelve-month period in
the child’s special education program. There
should be a direct relationship between the
annual goals and the PLAAFP.
Measurable Annual
Goals must :
 Be related to meeting the child’s needs that
result from the child’s disability or giftedness,
to enable the child to be involved in and
progress in the general or advanced
curriculum and meeting each of the child’s
other educational needs that result from the
child’s disability or giftedness. K.S.A. 72-961
sec. 12(b)(2).
So What Test
 The child will do X, Y, Z....so what? So what
will the ability to execute these skills do for
the child? If there is a good answer, the
goals, are appropriate. If there is no good
answer, then the goals are probably
inappropriate.
The Stranger Test
 Are the goals written so someone who
did not write them could use it to
develop appropriate instructional plans
and assess student progress?
To Make A Goal Measurable
Include These 4 Elements:
 Time Frame - Specifies the amount of time in the
goal period (e.g., 36 weeks, 12 months, 1 year).
 Conditions - Specifies the manner in which progress
toward the goal is measured and involves the
application of skills or knowledge.
 Behavior - Clearly identifies the performance which
is being monitored; reflects an action which can be
directly observed.
 Criterion - Identifies how much, how often, or to what
standards the behavior must occur in order to
demonstrate that the goal has been achieved.
Example
 Time Frame - By September 9th, 200X,
 Conditions - when given a directive,
 Behavior - Rex will follow a one-step direction,
 Criterion - within one minute without help, three
times a day for two weeks.
Example
 Time Frame - In 16 weeks,
 Conditions - while holding onto an adults hand,
 Behavior - Kennedy will walk without stopping to
rest
 Criterion - from the classroom to the playground,
one time a day for 2 consecutive weeks.
Some Rules to Remember:
1. Goals which use participation as criteria or
focus on a one-time event are not
appropriate.
Johnny will participate in the field trip.
Fred will participate in the holiday skit.
2. Annual goals must reflect observable
behavior by the child that can be objectively
measured.
– Examples - look, give, name, say, jump, zip, point
– Non-examples - increase, know, understand, try
Some Rules to Remember:
3. Goals are not measurable if they do not
contain objective conditions and criteria for
success.
– Thomas will improve his communication skills.
– Taylor will engage in problem solving with 85% accuracy.
– Katie will write her name to teacher satisfaction.
4. Measurable Annual Goals must be based on
appropriate standards.
– Two year old Sarah, will count from 1 to 100 with 80%
accuracy.
– Sally will write all the letters of the alphabet when called
upon by the teacher.
IDEA 2004 Short-Term
Objectives & Benchmarks
 IDEA 2004 eliminated the requirement to include
short-term objectives or benchmarks for each annual
goal for all but a small group of students who take
alternate assessments based on alternate
achievement standards.
 Preschool children do not participate in state
achievement testing, so on a federal level Short-Term
Objectives (STOs)/Benchmarks are not required.
Some LEAs may still require STOs/Benchmarks so
follow your local policy.
 Teams may still use STOs/Benchmarks, if they
choose.
Short Term Objectives
 Measurable intermediate steps between PLAAFP





and the Annual Goal
Include conditions under which skill is to be
performed
Behavior to be observed
Criteria for success
Break down Annual Goal into discrete sequential
components
Gauges progress toward Annual Goal
Example
Goal 1 By May 15, 200X, during play activities with peers, Emily will
spontaneously use 15 or more two-word combinations to express
her wants and needs during a 20 minute time period.
STO 1- By November 1, 200X, during play activities with peers, Emily will
imitate 10 or more two-word combinations, when an adult directly
models what Emily should say, to express her wants and needs,
during a 20 minute time period.
STO 2 - By January 15, 200X, during play activities with peers, Emily will
use 5 or more two-word combinations, when an adult models
possible two-word combinations while Emily plays, during a 20
minute time period.
STO 3- By March 15, 200X, during play activities with peers, Emily will
spontaneously use 5 or more two-word combinations to express
her wants and needs during a 20 minute time period.
Benchmarks
 Major milestones that describe content to be






learned/skills to be performed
Established expected performance levels
In developmentally appropriate order
Coincide with progress reporting periods
Gauges whether the child’s progress is sufficient to
achieve annual goal
Not to be confused with standards
Not to be confused with district benchmarks
Example
Goal 4 By May 15, 200X, when making pictures
or art projects, Emily will cut out simple shapes with
curved lines (circle and ovals) within 1/4 inch of the
lines in 2 of 3 opportunities.
Benchmarks
 Snips edges of paper
 Cuts paper in two
 Cuts shapes with straight lines (squares,
rectangles, triangles)
Example
 PLAAFP: At 36-months, Abigail is working on
developmental skills of early object use and functional
play with toys/objects. Abigail is able to perform
exploratory schemes (banging, shaking, throwing) as she
plays with toys/objects. She applies the same schemes to
all objects, and she does not demonstrate an
understanding of the functions of toys/ objects. Abigail
has learned to imitate her parents’ and other adults’
actions when provided with a model of combining two
schemes to manipulate a toy in a functional play activity.
Abigail’s parents want her to play with her toys without her
requiring their constant attention and modeling of actions.
Example
 PLAAFP: When given toys/objects, Abigail will perform 5
schemes with them (shake, roll, bang, throw, push). She
does not combine schemes into a functional play
sequence with toys/objects. Children between 18-24
months of age typically play with toys/objects by
combining schemes to see a cause-and-effect relationship
and to use objects according to their functions. By 36
months, children are beginning to engage in symbolic or
pretend play.
Example
 Annual Goal: In 36 weeks, when given the
opportunity to play with 6-8 different toys/objects,
Abigail will spontaneously link 4 discrete schemes
according to the toys/objects intended functions 3
times per observation period across 5 consecutive
play times.
 Benchmarks:
– Link 2 discrete schemes
– Link 3 discrete schemes