Writing+Standards+Based+Goals+for+APE

According to Sherrill’s (2004b), there are four parts to writing a complete and measureable goal. The parts are situation, task, criteria and outcome. The situation tells the reader when he/she will observe the goal within the lesson. An example may be stated as “During the teacher monitored/guided practice lesson segment…” or “When engaged in a striking activity with modeling…” The task will be what the students will be expected to perform, “the students will…” The third part is making the goal measureable by adding the criteria. It is often best to stay away from criteria in the form of percentage, as it can be hard to prove success. Instead of saying 80 percent, it is best to use 4 out of 5 trials. The final part to writing a complete and measureable goal is the outcome. What is the purpose for writing the goal? What benefit will the students get out of successfully performing this goal? This is written by stating “in order to…”
 * Goals: **

It is good to try to write a goal in the order of situation, task, criteria and outcome, but it is not required to write it in this order. The reader should be able to find these four parts with ease.

To ensure a goal is written in a way that it can be monitored for progress, the goal should be //specific// to a skill or concept. It should be //measureable// and the student should be able to //attain// the progress in the //time// allotted. A goal traditionally is written for achievement in a year (365 days). If a goal is achieved early, the educational team including the parents and student meet to discuss a new goal. A goal that is not met in the year should be modified based on the new present levels of performance and written for attainment in a year. Goals should be individualized and based on collected data that indicates present level of performance, thus saying it should be relevant.

The word SMART is used to help recall **S**pecific, **M**easureable, **A**ttainable, **R**elevant, and **T**ime-bound.

A sample goal: When participating in a running activity, (Student’s Name) will maintain constant movement for at least 5 minutes at a moderate pace (between 120 – 140 beats per minute), 4 out of 5 trials in order to enhance cardiorespiratory endurance.

The break down of the sample goal: //__ Situation __//// : // When participating in a running activity //__ Task __//// : // (Student’s Name) will maintain constant movement for at least 5 minutes at a moderate pace (between 120 – 140 beats per minute) //__ Criteria __//// : // 4 out of 5 trials //__ Outcome __//// : // in order to enhance cardiorespiratory endurance. A comprehensive physical education program follows a curriculum that focuses on the three learning domains (psychomotor, cognitive, and affective). Goals may be written for any of the three domains where the student’s disability is hindering their participation in physical education and the ability to meet the curricular benchmarks.

Steps to developing a goal: 1. Collect data using teacher observation, student work sheets, peer assessments, teacher checklists and rubrics, student and parent surveys. 2. Analyze the data and determine the areas the student is performing well and the areas the students are demonstrating difficulty. 3. Create the goal focused on a specific area the student is demonstrating difficulty. 4. Imbed the goal into the daily curricular lessons taught throughout the year, giving the students an opportunity to practice and make progress towards the goal. 5. Monitor the progress and determine if the goal is achieved or needs to be modified.

** Objectives:  ** The skills necessary to support growth towards meeting the goal are considered the objectives. Traditionally, a goal has two or three objectives that are benchmarks to meeting the goal. The objectives are written similar to how a goal is written. They contain the //situation, task, and criteria.// Note, the goal contains the outcome, but is not necessary for the objective. The student will meet the objectives in order to achieve the goal.

Sample Goal: When participating in a running activity, (Student’s Name) will maintain constant movement for at least 5 minutes at a moderate pace (between 120 – 140 beats per minute), 4 out of 5 trials in order to enhance cardiorespiratory endurance.

Sample Objective # 1: When participating in a 10 minute running activity with verbal prompting and modeling, (Student’s Name) will maintain constant movement for 2 minute intervals that include a 20 second rest between interval, 4 out of 5 trials.

//__ Situation __//// : // When participating in a 10 minute running activity with verbal prompting and modeling //__ Task __//// : // (Student’s Name) will maintain constant movement for 2-minute intervals that include a 20 second rest between interval //__ Criteria __//// : // 4 out of 5 trials

Sample Objective #2: When participating in a running activity with verbal prompting and modeling, (Student’s Name) will maintain constant movement for at least 3 minutes at a moderate pace (between 120 – 140 beats per minute), 4 out of 5 trials.

//__ Situation __//// : // When participating in a running activity with verbal prompting and modeling, //__ Task __//// : // (Student’s Name) will maintain constant movement for at least 3 minutes at a moderate pace (between 120 – 140 beats per minute) //__ Criteria __//// : // 4 out of 5 trials

Please check out the following Powerpoint for writing and updating goals. On the additional file you will find example goals matched with the appropriate MD PE Standard.