Developing Goals

Video Transcription

Hi, my name is Ashley. And today's lesson is titled Developing Goals. In today's lesson, we will identify how goals should be developed. We'll look at the role of collaboration when developing your goals. We'll define SMART goals and then review how goals are evaluated.

How should goals be developed? Goals should clearly state what needs to be accomplished. A well-developed goal is important to everyone in the improvement or development process. Goals should specifically address the problem. They should be clear and specific. Goals should be aligned with school and district goals. And the most important purpose of the goal is that it is focused on improvement of students and encourages and increases student achievement.

Goals that are well developed have even greater benefits. They allow teachers to easily track their progress and increase alignment to district and school goals. They inspire teachers to reach their goals. And they're connected to student achievement and encourage collaboration and changes in instruction.

How should collaboration be used to develop goals? Teachers and coaches must work together to focus on improvement. They should buy into the process by agreeing that they both will work towards accomplishing the goal. Both people involved should identify together what will be the main focus of the plan. In some cases when there is an improvement plan as a result of a performance evaluation, performance goals may be brought on by the evaluator.

Now let's take a look at the process of collaborative goal development. Like we mentioned before, the teacher and coach work together to decide the changes that need to be made. These changes should be implemented quickly but still complement the teacher and the needs of the students.

The teacher and the coach review the teacher's previous performance to decide what has worked in the past in order to determine the next steps to take in order to make effective changes. Once the data has been reviewed, the two prioritize the concerns by allowing the most important goal to be addressed first.

Feedback is provided. It's important that the two are honest with one another to effectively get different points of views and collaborate on changes that need to be made. And as with any goal development, reflection should take place. The teacher and coach should reflect on what has worked and what has not. This process will be repeated a number of times as instructional needs change. As an instruction improves, student achievement should also improve.

This process might not move at the same speed for everyone. For example, teachers who normally struggle with classroom management may have a longer time before seeing results. On the other hand, some changes may occur quickly-- for example, changes to lesson delivery.

What are SMART goals? Instructional coaching goals should be written in SMART goal format. Achieving goals and overall success are more likely with SMART goals. A SMART goal is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

Consider the following questions when developing your SMART goals. What specifically needs to be accomplished and what actions need to be taken? How will I measure the goal that has been attained? Is the goal attainable? How is the goal relevant? How long will I work on the goal before I measure or adjust my plan?

Here are two examples to further explain what SMART goals are all about. Ms. Lester wants 85% of her third grade students to be proficient in their multiplication facts by the end of the third grade. She will measure their knowledge with weekly multiplication assessments. Her goal is attainable. A big part of the third grade curriculum is students learning multiplication facts. And she would easily be able to provide assessments week after week to monitor their progress.

It's also attainable because students will have the entire school year to become proficient. This goal is relevant because, as what was stated before, third grade is the year where multiplication facts are pushed in elementary school. Students must have a good understanding of multiplication facts to progress to other math concepts in other grades. This goal will be revisited after each assessment to see if other strategies needs to be made.

Mr. Howard wants 80% of his ninth grade students to pass the end-of-the-year tests for earth science. He will use the data from the science test to measure this goal. However, he will also use bi-weekly assessments to measure students' progress as they get closer to the end-of-the-year assessment. This is an attainable goal. Mr. Howard will also adapt his instruction and make his instruction more engaging to increase student achievement. The goal is relevant to the students, and it is timely. Data will be reviewed every two weeks to make sure students are on track and progress is being made.

How are goals evaluated? When evaluating goals, educators should consider the following. What do I want to achieve? What might help me get the results I want? Is my goal written in SMART format? How will I demonstrate when the goal has been met? Goals should identify what is being measured and what will determine success.

Let's recap what we have discussed in today's lesson. We understand that goals should be clear and specific and focus on student achievement. Collaboration between the coach and teacher are used to develop goals. We identified SMART goals as being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. And we looked at two examples that demonstrate how SMART goals can be developed. Lastly, we can evaluate our goals by asking ourselves reflective questions, such as what do I want to achieve?

Review your goals. Are they clear and specific? Are they written in SMART format? Now it's your turn to apply what you've learned in this video. The Additional Resources section will be super helpful. This section is designed to help you discover useful ways to apply what you've learned here. Each link includes a brief description so you can easily target the resources you want.