How can students be actively engaged in transition planning?
Page 6: Monitoring Progress toward Goals
Recall that the IEP team works together to develop the student’s postsecondary goals and corresponding annual IEP goals. These long-term goals are easier to achieve when they are broken into more manageable short-term goals. As they prepare for postsecondary transition, students should work on a series of short-term goals, with one building on the next. This should continue until they eventually reach the long-term goal or the team recognizes that the long-term goal needs to be revised.
The student should be involved in monitoring their own progress toward their goals and making decisions based on their performance. Educators can help structure students’ involvement with the help of an instructional tool such as the Zarrow Center’s Take Action. The table below depicts the seven components of the Take Action goal attainment process, each with a description and lead-in statement to help students complete the component.
|
Take Action Component |
Description | Lead-In Statement |
|
Short-Term Goal |
Every long-term goal should be divided into short-term goals—manageable tasks and activities that can be completed within a few weeks. This will help ensure that the student stays motivated through frequent small successes. | One thing I need to do to meet my goal is … |
|
Objective |
The objective describes what the student wants to achieve for the week and specifies how often an activity or task must be completed. | I’ll be happy with my progress this week if I … |
|
Motivation |
Motivation is what drives the student to achieve a long-term goal. Motivation should be maintained so the student remains engaged until the goal is mastered. | I want to do this because … |
|
Strategy |
A strategy is the method(s) the student will use to meet the objective. | I will use strategies such as … |
|
Schedule |
The schedule outlines the specific days and times the student will implement the strategy. | I will do this on … |
|
Support |
A support is an individualized accommodation or modification that will help the student meet a short-term goal. | I will need … |
|
Feedback |
Feedback is information about a student’s performance, which can be provided visually, orally, or in writing. | I will know how I’m doing by … |
Source: Adapted from Martin et al. (2014).
For Your Information
As part of monitoring their progress, students can collect and organize information (e.g., work samples, checklists, graphs, charts) to share with the IEP team. These data can be critical in informing the development of new transition goals.
At predetermined intervals (e.g., weekly, every few weeks), the educator and student should meet to discuss the student’s progress. If the student has met the short-term goal, it is time to move on to the next. If the student has not met the goal, the student and educator should work together to determine why. For example, unexpected events like absences due to illness might have caused the student to miss essential opportunities to work toward the goal. In other cases, the educator and student might recognize that some necessary supports were not implemented appropriately or that the original goal was unrealistic. Whatever the case, after the educator and student have figured out why the goal was not met, they can brainstorm what to do differently during their next attempt.
Keep in Mind
Goal setting and attainment is one of the key elements of self-determination. The cycle of setting a goal, developing a plan, acting on that plan, evaluating progress, and making adjustments as needed empowers students to see themselves as active agents who can influence their own success.
Returning to the Challenge
After learning about the Take Action tool, Mr. Longoria feels it provides a useful framework for Nia and Jeremy to actively monitor their progress. Select each student’s photo to see how they used the tool’s components and lead-in statements to break down and track one of their annual IEP goals.
Nia
Annual Goal: Within a retail setting, Nia will initiate communication with customers (e.g., ask questions, offer assistance) at a rate of 5 times per hour across 3 consecutive workdays.
|
Take Action Component |
Nia’s Example |
|
Short-Term Goal |
One thing I need to do to meet my goal is … to ask simple questions of my customers at the fabric store. |
|
Objective |
I’ll be happy with my progress this week if I … ask three customers per day at my job placement a question about what they are shopping for. |
| Motivation | I want to do this because … I want to get a job in the fashion industry. |
|
Strategy |
I will use strategies such as … watching my coworkers interact with customers and practicing my questions before work. |
|
Schedule |
I will do this on … the afternoons when I work. |
|
Support |
I will need … my coworkers to allow me to shadow them when they are interacting with customers, and I will need my supervisor to provide opportunities to practice. |
|
Feedback |
I will know how I’m doing by … meeting with my supervisor each week. |
Jeremy
Annual Goal: Given a 3-4 step visual recipe and a list of ingredients, Jeremy will independently complete all steps to prepare a meal or snack (e.g., sandwich, cereal) at least 3 times a week.
|
Take Action Component |
Jeremy’s Example |
|
Short-Term Goal |
One thing I need to do to meet my goal is … get ingredients for a recipe. |
|
Objective |
I’ll be happy with my progress this week if I … can find all of the ingredients without help from my teacher. |
|
Motivation |
I want to do this because … I need the right ingredients to make my food taste good. |
|
Strategy |
I will use strategies such as … looking at the pictures of the ingredients and checking them off when I find them. |
|
Schedule |
I will do this … before lunch in Mr. Longoria’s classroom. |
|
Support |
I will need … a recipe card with pictures and labeled ingredients. |
|
Feedback |
I will know how I’m doing by … checking with Mr. Longoria to make sure I have the right ingredients. |
High-Leverage Practices
High-leverage practices (HLPs), developed by CEEDAR and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), are essential special education techniques that all teachers of students with disabilities should master for use across a variety of classroom contexts. The information on this page aligns with the following HLPs.
HLP 5: Interpret and communicate assessment information to collaboratively design and implement educational programs.
HLP 6: Use student assessment data, analyze instructional practices, and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes.
HLP 11: Identify and prioritize long- and short-term learning goals.
