S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Examples for Professional Development (PD)
The S.M.A.R.T. goals framework is a useful tool that districts can use to create effective PD goals
and action plans. Goals with an action plan and benchmarks that have the following characteristics
are S.M.A.R.T.
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S = Specific and Strategic*
M = Measurable
A = Action Oriented
R = Rigorous, Realistic and Results Focused (the 3 Rs)
T = Timed and Tracked
*For Fund Code 274, S.M.A.R.T. goals that specifically target outcomes for students with
disabilities and complement the district's or school's existing process, initiatives, and outcome
measures are both specific and strategic.
SCHOOL GOAL
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GOAL
Student performance on complex learning*
tasks in grades 9-12, in all content areas, will
increase by 10% over the next year. (The
school will measure this goal through Pre,
mid, and post testing on the district’s interim
assessment.)
Over the next year, the school will (1) define
complex learning tasks and increase staff exposure
to complex tasks; (2) foster an understanding of
what complex learning looks like and how to
achieve it; (3) establish protocols for how staff will
model and promote complex learning in
classrooms; and (4) use student data to identify
challenges and possible solutions to complex
learning (both challenges in teaching, as well as
challenges in student learning).
Successful fulfillment of the goal will be measured
by looking at student performance on complex
tasks at the mid-year and end of the year (post)
assessment. Teachers will also utilize the complex
learning rubric throughout the year to determine
student progress towards the goal.
*“…[C]omplex learning tasks are considered to be any learning tasks that involve understanding, remembering,
combining or using more than one discrete item. Complex learning will occur during a learning task where exacting
instruction (instruction requiring a student to engage with one or two elements, and then stop and wait for the next
instruction) is not provided, and completion requires engagement with many elements, be they content elements or
options for undertaking and completing the task. In a language-learning scenario, if students are asked to check a
vocabulary item in a dictionary, they are not engaged in complex learning. However, if they are asked to prepare a
presentation in a second language (either by themselves or with peers), they are engaged in complex learning, since
it involves engagement with multiple elements and steps that are interconnected (e.g. planning how to use time,
deciding who will perform different tasks, understanding content, checking language, synthesizing content, combining
ideas)” (Carson, 2012, p.7).1
1
Carson, L. (2012). Developing a deeper understanding of learning processing during unguided complex learning tasks: Implications for
language advising. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 3(1), 6-23.
DISTRICT GOAL
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GOAL
ELA MCAS scores will increase yearly to result
in a 2.3 point increase in CPI in order to reach
our 2017 ELA CPI goal of 85.4.
All teachers in grades 1- 10 will (1) have the
opportunity to attend the district’s 7-day summer
professional development reading program, which
is differentiated by elementary, middle, and high
school; (2) receive 6 hours of initial coaching
support from September to November to enable
the inclusion of effective strategies in lesson
planning; and (3) meet in grade-level teams to
discuss and monitor student progress bi-weekly to
ensure that students are increasing their reading
comprehension skills. Fulfillment of the goal will
be measured by looking at student performance
on common assessment reading tasks bi-monthly.