Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives – Define what your child will achieve:

Measurable IEP Goals should always be geared towards a child’s specific disability(ies).

To write Measurable IEP goals, begin with a list of the child’s identified areas of disability (obtained from evaluations and/or classroom data).

For each deficit area, ask yourself, “What would success look like in this area? What do we expect to see the child DOING?”

The desired behaviors must be observable, measurable tasks. Measurable IEP goals don’t contain UNmeasurable words such as demonstrate, understand, comprehend, improve, etc. How will you know if a child understands? Comprehends? Has improved?

You will measure a child’s progress by observing a specific behavior. Therefore, the actual behavior should be stated in the goal. Based upon what success will look like, formulate specific, measurable IEP goals using the following steps:

1) State the Target Outcome:
• Read 5th grade-level texts fluently and accurately
• Spell the first 700 Frequently Used Words accurately

2) State the Conditions of Demonstration:
• Across all settings
• In classroom work prior to editing

3) State the Standards Criteria:
• At 150 words per minute
• With 98% accuracy in all spontaneously written work

4) Assemble the above criteria into objective, measurable IEP goals similar to these:

• Y.C. will read 5th grade texts fluently and accurately in all settings at 150 words per minute.
• In classroom work, prior to editing, Y.C. will spell the first 700 Most Frequently Used Words accurately.Objective steps to leading to the main goal might be:
• Y.C. will fluently and accurately read the first 700 Most Frequently Used Words at 110 w.p.m. by November.
• Y.C. will fluently and accurately read the first 1200 Most Frequently Used Words at 125 w.p.m. by February.
• Y.C. will fluently and accurately read the first 1200 Most Frequently Used Words at 140 w.p.m. by May.

Measurable IEP Goals Quiz Question

Which goals are well-written and objective?

When Johnny has a question, he will raise his hand 8 out of 10 times.

Justin will answer 100 single-digit multiplication problems correctly in less than ten minutes on five consecutive tries.

Jenny will improve her reading skills by 70%.

Jill will climb five stairs without assistance

You might find it helpful to also read the government’s IDEA statement about measurable IEP goals.