SMART GOAL WRITING GUIDE
Current Baseline Data
1. By When
By when will criteria be
reached (This is the final
date to determine if the
goal/objective has been met)
2. Who
The student
3. Will Do What
Specify what the student
will do that is observable
and measurable. To be
observable & measurable,
the description should clearly
state what the behavior looks
like with no ambiguity as to
what is to be measured.
Describe as though you were
taking a picture of the
behavior.
Sources of Baseline Data
4. At What Level of
Proficiency
At what level of
proficiency, (Examples:
number of times, % of
observations, number of
specific behaviors in a
behavior chain shown)
5. Under What
Conditions
Under what conditions
(What variables are
present? Examples: in what
location, during what
activity, with what staff)
6. Measured By Whom
& Measurement
Method & Materials
Who: Teacher? Aide?
Counselor? Psychologist
Considerations:
Data Collection:
Recording in a record book,
teacher-made rating sheet,
random/continuous time
sampling, classroom based
assessment, work samples
What level of
competence are you
striving for?
(Do not describe how the
student feels or thinks; this is
not readily measurable.)
Observation techniques:
3/5 observations in 3 weeks
of observations
By 6/18
Frank
Given visual reminders For 70% of his
to raise his hand and a interactions over a
list of appropriate
period of 3 weeks.
comments or
conversational sentence
starters, Frank will raise
his hand to make ontopic comments.
During morning small
and large group
instruction
As measured by
teacher/aide event
recording on an IEP
team approved form.
By 6/18
Frank’
Asking offtopic/redundant
questions and making
off-topic comments
without permission to do
so
During morning small
and large group
instruction
As measured by
teacher/aide event
recording on an IEP
team approved form
Will decrease to 10
times per morning
over a period of two
weeks
SMART GOAL TEMPLATE
Current Baseline Data
1. By When
2. Who
3. Will Do X
Sources of Baseline Data
4. At What Level of
Proficiency
5. Under What
Conditions
6. Measured By Whom &
Measurement Method &
Materials