IEP Goals and Objectives

What are IEP Goals and Objectives? There is always some confusion with parents, especially those who are new to the IEP process, about what exactly are IEP Goals.

Basically, IEP Goals are the part of the IEP that states what the child will do and by what date they will do it. The components of the IEP Goals are usually prepared as "smart" goals:

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Timely

So what is the difference between IEP Goals and Objectives?

Goals are written for the entire year and should be completed by the end of the IEP year or session.

Objectives, on the other hand, are subsets of the Goals and are presented on a timeline between the time the IEP is written and the end of the school year or annual IEP. If the IEP is written in October, there may be two Objectives between that time and the end of the year.

If the Goal by June of 2010 is to learn 80 sight words on a 3rd grade level, Objective #1 may be to learn 30 sight words by December 15, 2009 and Objective #2 would be to learn another 30 sight words by March 15, 2010. By the end of the year in June 2010, all 80 sight words will have been learned and the Goal will have been met.