Reflection and Revision of SMART Goals

Video Transcription

In this tutorial, I'll model the process of reflecting on your team's progress in initiative implementation. This reflection can lead to the next step of developing updated SMART goals. Let's get started.

Let's say that my world language PLC has developed this SMART goal for all French 1 students. As action steps in working towards this goal, we have implemented a variety of high-yield instructional strategies. We've increased alignment to the curricular standards of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. And we've collected a great deal of formative assessment data that we are now going to analyze in order to evaluate our progress towards this goal.

In formative assessments on December 1st, 65% of students demonstrated proficiency with this skill. On January 7th, 86% of students were demonstrating proficiency after we'd spent a few days on intense review after winter break. Unfortunately, a week after that, the number of students demonstrating proficiency had actually decreased.

So the team now has some reflecting to do. In a plus/minus/delta chart, the team records their thoughts. In the plus column, the team notes that the couple of days of intense focus on verb conjugation really seemed to help. And in general, the high-yield instructional strategies do seem to be working. But in the minus column, the team notes that without continued focus on verb conjugation students don't seem to be recalling the skill in the long term.

So in the delta column, the team suggests that perhaps each teacher should be reviewing the skill on a regular basis in order to keep student skills sharp. The teachers agreed to spend just five minutes reviewing verb conjugation at least three times each week.

So based on their reflection, the team decides to modify the timeline for the SMART goal. Instead of February 1st, they now have indicated March 1st as the desired date of achievement for the goal. So through this process of reflection and evaluation, the team was able to identify an issue and come up with a solution to address it in a timely fashion.

We need to keep in mind that SMART goals are organic pieces of our action plans, and if the data or the current reality indicates a need for a change, we need to feel that we have permission to make changes as necessary. This cycle of continuous team reflection is an important element in the implementation of a site-based initiative.

After revising a SMART goal, it can be beneficial for your team to reflect on that process. You might consider how the review of the data gave you insight into your SMART goal. In my model revision, we saw how the data helped the teachers pinpoint the specific issue that was happening with their students. And this helped them to develop a solution that would address that particular issue.

Next, consider how the plus/minus/delta chart helped you to evaluate your SMART goal. One of the great features of a plus/minus/delta chart is that it is so adaptable, yet still provides such a useful framework for nearly any type of reflection. Finally, ask yourselves how the process of revising the SMART goal will ultimately benefit your team and your students. In my model revision, not only will the team benefit from increased progress towards their goal, but students will also directly benefit as teachers implement strategies that increase students' ability to retain the valuable skill identified in the goal.

So now it's your turn to stop and reflect. If possible, with your team, follow the process I modeled for you to reflect on and potentially revise one of your SMART goals. So 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. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.