Teaching · Special Education

Know how a goal is measured before the first data point.

Choose the measure that fits the skill, set the baseline and the criterion in the same unit, and decide how many sessions in a row count as mastery. The summary writes the measurement statement, catches a criterion that points the wrong way and says how soon mastery could first be shown.

Start a goal What you get

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Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the New special education teacher kit, $39 for 31 items.

The goal worksheet

One record per goal; a student code plus a number keeps several goals apart (RJ-1, RJ-2). The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with: For each goal, the behavior and conditions, the measure, method and data plan, baseline, criterion and consistency, generalization and reporting, with a written measurement statement and the problems to fix.
Who it is for: Special education teachers and case managers writing IEP goals, with speech-language pathologists and other related service providers who measure their own goals.
Format: Browser worksheet. Several saved records; printed with the summary or as a blank worksheet; CSV with one row per goal; export and import a file.
Access: $12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the New special education teacher kit ($39) and the Special Education toolkit ($99), and 2 more bundles. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives: The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support: Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

Drawn for this page. A goal needs a starting point, a finish line and proof the student got there more than once.

How to use it

Start a record with the student’s code and a goal number.
Write the behavior as something you can see or count, and its conditions.
Pick the kind of measure, the method, who takes data and how often.
Enter the baseline and criterion in the same unit and the sessions in a row that count as mastery.
Read the measurement statement in the summary and fix anything it flags before it goes in the IEP.

Start a goal

What the worksheet is for

What the IEP must say

IDEA requires each IEP to include measurable annual goals, a description of how progress toward them will be measured, and when periodic reports on that progress will be provided, for example with report cards. The method and the criterion are what make a goal measurable in practice.

Choosing a criterion

Accuracy fits skills with right and wrong answers; rate fits fluency, where speed and accuracy both matter; duration and latency fit behavior that unfolds over time; a help scale fits skills learned with prompts. Asking for the criterion across several sessions in a row guards against one good day. Skills that must be right every time, such as crossing a street, call for 100%.

Two titles, one worksheet

The catalog listed a goal measurement method organizer and a goal mastery criteria organizer. The method and the criterion are decided together, so one page holds both. It does not set goals for a student or decide eligibility. Records use a code, never a name, and stay in this browser.

Sources

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.320(a)(2) and (a)(3) (measurable annual goals; how progress will be measured and when reports are provided).
Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1, 580 U.S. 386 (2017) (an IEP reasonably calculated to enable progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances).
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson. (Chapters on measuring behavior: count, rate, duration, latency, percentage, trials to criterion.)
National Center on Intensive Intervention. Progress monitoring resources (intensiveintervention.org).
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99.

The example student is made up. The worksheet helps write one goal’s measurement; the IEP team sets goals together with the family. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.