Crafting IEP goals involves considering input from the IEP team, including parents, regarding current levels and concerns. If helping your child make progress in math is one of your objectives going into the IEP meeting, understanding what makes a great math goal can be critical. Here are some tips from our article Math Goals in the IEP:
Have a vision for your child's math learning. How does what they are learning in class translate to your vision for their future?
Talk to your child's math teacher about their approach. Do they focus on explicit instruction of discrete skills, or inquiry-based instruction that requires more communication support?
Follow the MATHS acronym. Goals should be Measurable, Ambitious, Toward access to grade-level standards, High leverage (meaning focusing on an important content area), and with Stakeholder input (meaning involving collaboration from the whole IEP team).
Incorporate your child's strengths to learn new material, such as visual-spatial, processing, fluid reasoning, etc.
Use the "big ideas" of math found in the state standards.
Use the Standards of Mathematical Practice that help kids translate math skills to the real world.
Incorporate the grade-level standards so that your child can participate in math lessons with their peers instead of being pulled out of class. Write communication and collaboration with peers into the IEP goals.
Make sure not to repeat the same goals from year to year.
Avoid writing too many skills into one IEP goal.
Think about tools that can be included in the IEP goal to help your child learn, such as tactile manipulatives or a calculator to check answers.
Writing great math goals means supporting the teacher in making math inclusive and accessible, and by engaging kids in math in a way that actually makes real-world sense to them.
Save your favorite resources and access a custom Roadmap.
Get Started
