Districts and schools everywhere use goals to guide school performance. In order to be successful, those goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and time-bound. Students can seize the power of goal driven learning for themselves by employing those powerful strategies to their own learning. When composing goals to harness learning, consider the following components to write meaningful goals: State the intended goal using positive language (i.e. “I will…”) Include a way to measure the intended learning objective Specify a measurement schedule to monitor the goal’s progress If the goal is “large” break it into smaller, measurable parts Determine a completion date Goa
While school years end, learning is an ongoing activity, so don’t allow the end of an academic year to deter the pursuit of meaningful educational progress. Many times students and their parents are made to feel defeated by school staff with responses that reflect there is not sufficient time to pursue new interventions before the end of the school year. Neither sound educational practice, nor school code requirements would support a dismissive approach to the need for student support services. Begin by reviewing the educational data accumulated throughout the school year. Report cards, progress updates, and student work samples are meaningful data sources to support any educational conce
As the school year comes to an end, the IEP offers a service that can connect time away from school to ensure that student progress continues. The definition of “extended school year” states that special education and related services can be provided to a student with an IEP, beyond the normal school year term. For some students, extended school year can provide assistance after holiday breaks, like winter or spring break; for others, extended school year or ESY can be a bridge over the summer between the end of one school year and the start of another in order to support student skill attainment. School districts tend to provide ESY services that align with that district’s summer school pro
