Tag Archives: SMART Goals

4 Important Reasons to Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals with Your Students

So, teaching is one of the most complex jobs that exists – I’m sure that you agree. And every year, more seems to get put on our plates – CCSS, SEL, UDL, BIPs, CBAs…. The Alphabet Soup gets added to every year, and nothing ever seems to get taken off the plate.

So, with all of that, why am I advocating that you use S.M.A.R.T. Goals in your classroom? Isn’t that just one more Alphabet Soup- with 5 letters! Well, I think it’s more than that. I think S.M.A.R.T. Goals are the best strategy to help you accomplish ALL of the other things you are asked to do. Read on to find out why it is the one thing that I will never take off my plate!

Goal-Setting Leads to Increases in Student Achievement

Goal-setting has been thoroughly researched, and all the research points to the same thing – when done well, goal-setting helps students understand where they are, where they need to be, and empowers them to get there! Here is a quick summary of some of the research on how this powerful strategy increases student achievement.

  • Visible Learning by John Hattie – This meta-analysis found that goal-setting has a .92 effect size – that is almost a whole year of growth just by teaching students to set goals. That’s a lot of bang for your buck! Imagine what would happen in your classroom if you just worked on goal-setting with one subject area – for example, Reading. Your students would grow enormously! (Check out this blog post to find out how I rolled out Reading S.M.A.R.T. Goals in my classroom.)
  • Classroom Instruction that Works by Robert Marzano – This book is an oldie, but a goodie. It’s another meta-analysis of thousands of studies. Marzano found that goal-setting can help students grow by 18-41 percentile points on standardized tests. Again, that’s a lot of gain!
  • Goal Setting to Increase Student Academic Performance – This is a small scale study in just one district, and I think the results are encouraging and realistic. When teachers were supported by the school district in effective strategies for teaching students to set goals, students achieved at higher rates. For example, in fourth grade, the 60% made adequate yearly growth. The next year, with the same group of students, 69% made adequate yearly growth. The difference? Their district supported teachers by teaching them how to set goals with students. That’s it! I know my principal would be delighted if my test scores went up like that!

Goal-Setting Fosters a Culture of Learning

This well-written blog post by Chase Nordengren does a great job of explaining how goal-setting with students has a positive effect on your classroom culture. I especially love the section titled “From Mandate to Ownership” which describes one school district’s attempts to roll out goal-setting in multiple classrooms. Key take aways:

  • Go slow to go fast. An intentional, focused start to the process is important for building a long-term culture.
  • Allow teachers and students to modify the process to fit their needs. I especially love the way the post describes the cookie-cutter worksheets that the district provided, and how those morphed into teacher-created worksheets, and eventually, into student-created work.

Goal-Setting Empowers Students

Early in my career, I tried to bring goal-setting to my classroom. I typed up a list of approved goals for my students, based on their test scores, etc. And then, I tried to “steer” students to choose the goal I wanted them to. And, it didn’t work. Students were NOT motivated by MY goals (shocker!) Students did not make the achievement gains I was hoping for. So, I gave up and put my time into other strategies. Maybe you’ve had the same experience.

Then, a few years ago, I came back to goal-setting. This time, I taught students to create S.M.A.R.T. Goals (for more on that, check out this blog post and while you’re there, grab the FREE resource!). What I realized is, R is the most important part of the S.M.A.R.T. Goal – Relevance. If you want to motivate your students, help them find goals that are relevant and important to THEM, not to you.

I created this video to help teach my students about setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Add it it your Edpuzzle account today – it covers the basics for students in about 3 minutes!

Student Goal-Setting Makes Parent-Teacher Conferences a Breeze!

Probably my favorite benefit is how easy it is to prepare for and run my Parent-Teacher Conferences when students are in charge. In fact, they do the prep work and they run the conference! My main job in the conference is to facilitate the conversation. I use this Student Data Binder from TPT to organize all of the data and goals, and then students run the conference. It really is that easy!

So, do you want to build a learning culture that empowers students and leads to great achievement? Of course you do! Then you are ready to teach students goal-setting in YOUR classroom. But…

Where to Begin?

That’s a great question! If setting goals with your students seems daunting, begin by starting with data collection. Start small, just one subject area if you are an elementary teacher. Download this FREE S.M.A.R.T. Goal template. Use the example included in the resource, and the video from MsCottonsCorner on YouTube to teach students the basics.

If you need resources that will help with all kinds of data tracking, goal setting and reflection, grab this Student Data Binder on TPT. And then, dive in. Even a little goal-setting goes a long way, and once you begin, your confidence will grow and you will find ways to make the process even better for your students!

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals with Students

Goal setting is an important strategy for motivating students and raising their achievement. Done correctly, it will empower your students, giving them ownership and voice over their learning. For more on how I set goals with students, check out these blog posts:

In this blog post, I will go into detail about how to write S.M.A.R.T. goals with students. S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based. That simple recipe can result in very strong goals that will motivate your students! At the bottom of this post you will find the video that I use to present S.M.A.R.T. Goals to my students. Add it to your Edpuzzle account – it’s just about 3 minutes long and packed with great information for students!

First, feel free to download this free SMART Goal template from my TPT store. The template walks students through the acronym and gives a sample goal. Using the template for your first lesson makes setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals a piece of cake! And if you need Data Tracking and Goal Setting Sheets, check out this Student Data Binder, which includes more than 110 Students Sheets to bring goals and data tracking to your classroom!

S = Specific

The first part of the acronym stands for specific. I find that students often make goals like, “I want to be a better reader” or “I want to get a higher grade”. Neither of those goals are specific, and so, most likely, the student will fail. What, exactly, does a student need to do to improve in reading? Are they struggling to decode multi-syllabic words? Are they reading slowly and losing meaning? Do they need more practice with inferential thinking? To be effective, a goal should be very specific. That is the reason that I DON’T set goals in the first month of school. First, we have to gather data. Then, we use the data to pinpoint a Specific area for improvement.

M = Measurement

A goal must be measurable, or the student will not know if they’ve succeeded. Measurable does not always mean percentages, though. For example, in my classroom, students often set goals around reading new genre or a certain number of books. Those are very worthwhile goals, and likely to lead to improved reading achievement. And they are completely measurable, although not a percentage or a score. In Math, my students often set a goal around time spent practicing. For example, one student set a goal of doing Multiplication by Heart at least 20 times in the month of December. I can’t wait to get back to school and find out if she met her goal! If she did, she is sure to improve in her mastery of multiplication facts!

A = Achievable

I often find that students set really large, exciting goals. For example, this year one student said they wanted to read 100 chapter books. When I asked them how many books they read last year, they thought the number was 12 books. So, I asked them if they thought 100 was achievable. Together, we decided to see if they could read 10 books in October, and they did! The student felt excited, I felt excited, and in one month they read almost as many books as they had in an entire year. That is a win! By helping them find an achievable goal, I helped that student find success! (They went on to read 11 books in November!)

R = Relevant

A common mistake I see in this category is students making a goal around increasing their reading level. The truth is, that goal is not relevant to them. While you, the teacher, know that they need to increase their fluency and comprehension by practicing their inference skills in order to reach the next level, the student does not know that. Changing reading levels is a mystery to students (and probably to parents). As teachers, we go to college to learn that type of information, but the student does not have our advantage. So, the goal needs to be relevant to the student. This also ties into being Specific. Relevant goals for students center around discrete skills or tasks, like mastering the multiplication facts, using more dialogue in their narrative writing and reading more non-fiction texts.

T = Time-based

A goal has a start and stop time. Period. This is usually pretty easy for students to understand. In my classroom, we generally set monthly goals. I find that a month is a short enough time period that students will maintain their enthusiasm and focus on the goals. But, it is a long enough time period that students can see important growth. I think quarters or trimesters also work well for goal setting time periods.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals have been such a motivator for many of my students. Use the FREE Goal Setting Student Sheet and give them a try in your classroom. I think you’ll find that, when students set meaningful goals, they generally achieve them and learning happens!

This Student Data Binder includes over 110 Student Sheets for Data Tracking and Goal Setting!

And check out this video from Ms. Cotton’s Corner on YouTube! It’s perfect for teaching students about S.M.A.R.T. Goals! Enjoy!

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