The document provides guidance on developing measurable annual goals for a student's Individualized Education Program (IEP). It explains that annual goals should be directly related to the student's current performance levels, focus on skills that can reasonably be achieved in one school year, and include specific, measurable criteria. Short-term objectives and benchmarks should also be included to track progress towards the annual goals. Examples are provided of current performance levels, a measurable annual reading goal, and related benchmarks/objectives for a sample student.

1. IEP
Individualization of
Contents
Prepared By:
Pauline R. Velarde
Mary Jean Pampilon

2. Present
Educational
Level

3. Formulate a
Statement of the
Student’s Present
Level of Academic

4. The IEP team reviews the existing evaluation data
on the student, including information and
concerns shared by the parents. The team also
reviews any other current pertinent data related to
the student’s needs and unique characteristics,
such as information provided by parents; progress
toward desired outcomes for adult life; current
classroom-based assessments; the most recent
revaluation; input from the student’s special and
general education teachers and service
providers; and, as appropriate.

5. The following guidelines should be followed in developing
the
statement of the present level of academic achievement of
functional
performance.
• Statements should be written in easy-to-understand
language that is free of educational jargon.
• Information must be current.
• Statements should reflect the results of the
assessment data. Statements that relate scores to
the student’s level of functioning should
accompany test scores. Raw test scores are not
sufficient.

6. The following guidelines should be followed in developing
the
statement of the present level of academic achievement of
functional
performance.
• There should be a direct relation between the
present level of academic achievement of
functional performance and the other
components of the IEP. Thus, if the statement
describes a problem with a student’s reading, the
reading problem should be addressed under
both the goals and objectives and the specific
special education and related services to be
provided.

7. Determine the Four Need Areas
• Academic and Educational
Achievement and Learning
Characteristics
• Social Development
• Physical Development
• Management Needs

8. Academic and Educational Achievement and
Learning Characteristics
The student’s current levels of
knowledge and development in subject
and skill areas, including, as
appropriate.
 Activities of daily living .
Level of intellectual functioning
 Adaptive behaviour.
Expected rate of progress in acquiring
skills and information.
Learning style.

9. Social Development
The degree and quality of the student’s:
Relationships with peers and adults
Feelings about self
 Social adjustment to school and
community environment

10. Physical Development
The degree or quality of the student’s:
 Motor and sensory development
 Health
 Vitality
 Physical skills or limitations that pertain
to the learning process

11. Management Needs
Environmental modifications
Human resources
Material resources

12. Consideration of Special Factors
Special Factor 1: Students Who Demonstrate
Behaviours That Impede Learning
Special Factor 2: Students With Limited English
Proficiency
Special Factor 3: Students With Visual Impairments
Special Factor 4: Students With Communication
Needs
Special Factor 5: Students Who May Need Assistive
Technology Devices and Services

13. Goals and
Long Term
Goals
Objectives

14. Annual Goals
Annual goals are statements that identify what knowledge,
skills, and behaviours a student is expected to be able to
demonstrate within the period of time from the time the IEP
is implemented until the next scheduled review. Annual
goals must be identified that meet the student’s needs, as
identified in the present levels of performance.
Goal is a measurable statement that describes what a
student is reasonably expected to accomplish from the
specialized educational program during the school year.

15. Annual Goals
For each annual goal, the IEP must
indicate the benchmarks and short-term
instructional objectives and evaluative
criteria, evaluation procedures, and
schedules to be used to measure progress
toward the annual goal.

16. Annual Goals
The IEP team writes annual goals that:
Show a direct relationship to the present levels of
educational performance.
 Describe only what the student can reasonably be
expected to accomplish within one school year or
the 12-month term of the IEP.
 Are written in measurable terms.
Prepare the student for his or her desired lifelong
activities, when planning for the school-to-adult life
transition.

17. Annual Goals
The goal must include at least three parts:
1. Expected change in performance: Specifies the
anticipated change in performance from a baseline and
usually reflects an action or can be directly observed.
2. Proposed area of change: Identifies skill, knowledge,
understanding, or behaviour.
3. Proposed criteria: Specify the amount of growth, how
much and how frequent, or to what standard or level of
proficiency.

18. Annual Goals
Step-by-Step Procedures for Determining
Measurable Annual Goals
Step A: Determine the Skills the Student
Requires to Master the Content of the
Curriculum.
Step B: How Far . . . by When?
Step C: Determine Short-Term Instructional
Objectives.

19. Annual Goals
Step-by-Step Procedures for Determining Measurable
Annual Goals
Step D: Determine Benchmarks.
• Benchmarks are the major milestones that the
student will demonstrate that will lead to the annual
goal. Benchmarks usually designate a target point in
time for a behaviour to occur (for example, the
amount of progress the student is expected to make
within specified segments of the year).

20. Short Term Objectives or
Benchmarks
Short-term objectives or benchmarks are
measurable, intermediate steps between an
individual’s present level of performance and the
annual goal. Objectives should be based on a
logical breakdown of the annual goal and reflect
advancement toward that goal. They therefore
must be provided for each area in which present
levels of performance and annual goals have
been stated.

21. Annual Goals
Step E: Determine the Evaluative Criteria
How well a student does could be measured in terms such as:
Frequency (e.g., 9 out of 10 trials)
• Duration (e.g., for 20 minutes)
• Distance (e.g., 20 feet)
• Accuracy (90 percent accuracy)
The period of time a skill or behaviour must occur could be
measured in terms such as:
Number of days (e.g., over three consecutive days)
•Number of weeks (e.g., over a four-week period)
•Occasions (e.g., during mathematics and English classes, on six
consecutive occasions)

22. Annual Goals
Step F: Determine Evaluation Procedures to Measure
the Student’s Progress.
Step G: Determine the Evaluation Schedules to
Measure the Student’s Progress.

23. Annual Goals
Short-term objectives and benchmarks should
include the following three components to
ensure that they can be evaluated:
1. Objective criteria
• fewer than five disruptions per day for three
consecutive days.
2. Evaluation procedures
• as observed and recorded by the teacher’s
paraprofessional.

24. Annual Goals
Short-term objectives and benchmarks should
include the following three components to
ensure that they can be evaluated:
3. Schedules
• each day.

25. Annual Goals
Step H: Determine How Progress Toward Annual Goals
Will Be Measured.

26. EXAMPLE
Individualized Education Program (IEP)
Student Name: Johnny
Current Performance Levels/Measurable Annual
Goals
Goal 1 – Specific Goal Focus: Reading

27. EXAMPLE
Current Performance Level: What can the student
currently do?
Johnny’s phonological awareness has greatly
improved. He identifies and produces rhymes,
alliterates (realizes that the first sounds of words are the
same and identifies this), identifies the first, last, and
medial sounds in words, and can identify all sounds in
words with up to five sounds. Johnny knows the
difference between a paragraph, sentence, syllable,
word, and sound. He counts the syllables in words with
up to six syllables and blends three syllables to form
words.

28. EXAMPLE
Johnny’s sight word vocabulary has increased. He is
reading and spelling regular and irregular sight words, such
as there, their, and they’re. Johnny knows all consonant
and short vowel sounds. He knows welded sounds (am, an,
ing) and consonant digraphs (sh, th, ph, ck, wh, ch). He has
learned to blend sounds to read and spell words without
guessing. When given the Teacher’s College Assessment,
Johnny read at a level which correlates to the end of
Grade 1. He is reading real and nonsense closed syllable
words with consonant digraphs, trigraphs, welded sounds,

29. EXAMPLE
Measurable Annual Goals: What challenging, yet
attainable, goal can we expect the student to meet
by the end of this IEP period? How will we know that
the student has reached this goal?
Given specialized instruction in phonological
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension using evidence based methodologies,
Johnny’s literacy skills will increase so that he can read
more complex text as measured by biweekly probes
(readings, chartings, drills, etc.) across three
consecutive sessions by the end of the IEP period.

30. EXAMPLE
Benchmark/Objectives: What will the student need
to do to complete this goal?
Johnny will:
• Read closed syllable real and nonsense words with
blends with 100% accuracy as measured by
chartings and oral reading across three
consecutive sessions
• Read grade level regular and irregular sight words
with 100% accuracy as measured by chartings and
oral reading across three consecutive sessions

31. EXAMPLE
• Continue to work on phonological awareness skills by
producing rhymes, elision (the omission of a sound or
syllable, as in I’m, let’s) of syllables and sounds,
blending sounds and syllables, and segmenting
words into sounds with 100% accuracy as measured
by teacher observations of oral activities across three
consecutive sessions
• Identify the story elements and retell a narrative using
key elements from the beginning, middle, and end as
measured by teacher observations during oral
retellings across three consecutive sessions

32. Thank
you!

33. References
•http://www.commlearn.com/s
pecial-education/smart-
iep-part-three/
•15451_Intro_&_Cl_1_Pierang
elo (IEPs)