Formula for Writing Compliant and Measurable Annual Goals

Given (stimulus/condition), student will (student response) from (baseline) to (target) as measured by (unit of measure) by end date (duration).

Components

Stimulus/Condition: Define the stimulus or condition under which you are expecting the student to perform an identified skill. (“Given…”)
Student response: Identify what you want the student to do. (“Student will…”)
Baseline: State the baseline data from which you are going to measure growth. (“from…”)
Target: State the target data that will show growth. (“to…”)
Unit of Measure: Identify how that growth will be measured, with which tool. (“as measured by…”)
Duration: Identify the dates that you expect that goal to be accomplished within the IEP year. (“by end date…”)

Units of measure

Annual goal units of measure can include any of the following:

Accuracy: the number of times a behavior or skill occurs (e.g., 75%, 14/15, 10 consecutive times)
Duration: length of time and event (e.g., attends to task for 15 minutes)
Rate: number of times within timed period (e.g., words per minute or times per week)
Cumulative counts: number of times without a time reference (e.g., greets teacher on five occasions)

Next: Examples of Annual Goals