It is true that every work setting has its pros and cons. It is also true that working in the school setting is not for everyone (according to my advisor in graduate school, schools are where the less ambitious SLPs end up *exasperated sigh*). I personally LOVE working in the schools! What I do not love is being a part of the teacher evaluation process.

I believe it is important to continually be challenged and encouraged to grow in our field. I just wish the evaluation process for SLPs in the school was more specific to our particular area of expertise. Regardless, every October I find myself drafting the perfect professional goals.

When I started in the schools, my CF supervisor told me to set a professional goal that was realistic. Now I know, you are probably thinking that IS what the “R” in SMART stands for, but let me explain further. Realistic meaning, something you are already doing, but just need a little motivation to finalize or fine tune. Professional goal setting season is not the time to plan a lofty over-haul in your speech room. Please, be realistic with yourself!

I know when I started out, I turned to some of my favorite SLP bloggers for ideas. So, I wanted to log my goals here, for future reference and to help others:

2017-2018

Student Learning Goal 

By the end of the 2017-2018 school year, my K-3 students will demonstrate at least moderate growth in using attributes to describe familiar nouns in a structured therapy setting.

• By the end of September, 2017, I will administer a pre-test to all K-3 students on my caseload with objectives on their IEP pertaining to describing to determine their individual baselines in providing attributes when describing a given noun.
• Throughout the 2017-2018 school year, I will implement a multi-sensory, systematic method of describing items by attributes. During once or twice weekly language therapy sessions, students will receive direct instruction, guided practice, and independent opportunities to utilize targeted strategies in order to improve their describing skills.
• By November 17, 2017, I will document student progress towards meeting their describing learning objectives on their progress reports.
• By March 16, 2018, I will document student progress towards meeting their describing learning objectives on their progress reports.
• By June 1, 2018, I will administer a post-test to the same set of students to determine their growth in providing attributes when describing a given noun.

Professional Practice Goal

By the end of the 2017-2018 school year, I will build up Tier I speech/language interventions in the kindergarten general education classrooms as part of the Response to Intervention (RTI) model to provide universal support to all students in foundational speech and language skills and improve early identification of students in need of more targeted interventions.

• In Fall, 2017, I will send out a survey to all of the kindergarten classroom teachers to identify the areas of speech/language development (e.g., following 2 step directions, wh-questions, story re-tell, turn-taking/topic maintenance, phonological awareness, basic concepts, vocabulary, early grammar) in which most of their students will benefit, and which day/time would work best for their schedule.
• By November 30, 2017, I will collaborate with two kindergarten classroom teachers to plan and implement one universal language lesson in each classroom.
• By December 7, 2017, I will meet with the kindergarten classroom teachers to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the universal language lesson and identify changes that can be made to increase its educational efficacy moving forward.
• By March 2, 2018, I will collaborate with the kindergarten classroom teachers to plan and implement at least one universal language lesson per classroom during the second term of the school year.
• By March 9, 2018, I will meet with the kindergarten classroom teachers to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the universal language lessons, discuss the impact of the lessons on the students’ speech and language skills, and offer carry-over strategies for the classroom.
• By May 25, 2018, I will collaborate with the kindergarten classroom teachers to plan and implement at least two universal language lessons per classroom during the third term of the school year.
• By June 1, 2018, I will meet with all of the kindergarten classroom teachers to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the universal language lessons, discuss the impact of the lessons on the students’ speech and language skills, and select topics for the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year.

---

2018-2019

Student Learning Goal 

By the end of the 2018-2019 school year, my students will demonstrate at least moderate growth in knowledge and understanding of speech/language goals by stating their individualized targets at the end of each session with 80% accuracy in four out of five sessions.

• At the start of the school year, I will create goal visuals in student-friendly language specific to each student to be displayed in front of the student during sessions as a visual reminder of their speech-language targets. During each therapy session, I will review which goals we will be working on, and then at the end of the session each student will tell what was targeted.
• After initial familiarization with speech/language targets, I will have each student fill out an individual profile that lists his/her general goal areas and why these areas are important. These will be displayed in the therapy room and reviewed periodically throughout the year as needed.
• I will have my students working on articulation, phonology, and/or fluency fill out a self-rating scale at the beginning and end of the school year to help them think about why working on speech is important and monitor the emotional impact of these disorder types.
• I will use progress monitoring checks at least once per trimester to assess student progress with their individual goals. I will review progress individually with each student, and he/she will review their goals and then update their personal goal graph sheet with their progress each trimester.

Professional Practice Goal 

During the current school year, I will increase my collaboration with other school professionals and explore new therapy approaches to help provide the least restrictive environment for my students.

• At the start of the school year, I will provide packets of information to each teacher, regarding each of their specific students on my caseload, their disorders and goals, and possible academic impact.
• I will collaborate with at least one general or special education teacher to plan and execute at least one co-taught inclusion lesson or center time in each trimester of the school year.
• I will collaborate with my IEP students’ classroom teachers to conduct at least one supplementary whole-class or small-group speech/language support lesson in each trimester. We will meet to determine which classrooms would benefit the most, which available times work best with my existing therapy schedule, and which topics would most benefit the students.
• I will collaborate with the kindergarten teachers to conduct at least two supplementary whole-class speech/language support lessons per kindergarten classroom each trimester. We will meet before and after each lesson to discuss areas of concerns and students in need of more support.
• I will trial the “5 Minute Articulation” approach with at least 5 different students this year in order to determine if shorter, more frequent sessions are more effective than being pulled out from the classroom for traditional, longer therapy sessions.

---

2019-2020

Student Learning Goal

By the end of the 2019-2020 school year, my K-3 students will demonstrate moderate growth in the area of following directions by participating in individualized intervention in which evidence-based strategies and targets for following directions are addressed (e.g., defining instructional verbs, expanding concept knowledge, improving sequencing, and developing auditory processing strategies).

• I will research evidence-based intervention targets and strategies in the skill area of following directions.
• I will generate a list of common instructional verbs and concepts used in K-3 classrooms to serve as functional targets during language intervention sessions.
• At the beginning of the school year, I will assess each student’s baseline performance using a pre-test consisting of structured following directions tasks (e.g.,defining instructional verbs; identifying spatial, quantitative, and temporal concepts; sequencing procedural events; and application of auditory processing strategies).
• By second term, I will provide the classroom teacher of each student with visuals and resources regarding the vocabulary, concepts, and strategies being taught in the language intervention sessions to support generalization.
• Each trimester, I will assess student progress toward acquisition of all four foundations of following directions (i.e., instructional vocabulary, concept knowledge, sequencing ability, and knowledge of auditory processing strategies).
• In May 2020, I will administer a post-test consisting of structured following directions tasks (e.g.,defining instructional verbs; identifying spatial, quantitative, and temporal concepts; sequencing procedural events; and application of auditory processing strategies) to assess student progress.

Professional Practice Goal

During the current school year, the speech/language department will improve communication with parents and guardians in order to encourage generalization of speech/language targets to the home and in the community.

• By October 2019, we will create individual educator pages on the Schools website featuring our contact information and a description of my role.
• Throughout the school year, we will send home monthly newsletters, which will include current focuses in the therapy room, thematic ideas for supporting positive communication skills at home, and a link to our individual educator page.
• By mid-year, we will add parent-friendly resources and references to our educator pages providing information about speech/language disorders, accommodations, and classroom impact.
• By mid-year, we will add home practice ideas for each area of speech-language pathology (i.e., articulation, receptive language, expressive language, fluency) to our educator pages.

---

2020-2021

Student Learning Goal

By the end of the 2020-2021 school year, my students with phonological IEP objectives will demonstrate moderate growth in the remediation of targeted phonological processes.

• By September 2020, I will identify students on my caseload who are candidates for a phonological approach to speech sound intervention.
• By October 2020, I will research two phonological approaches for speech sound intervention (e.g., complexity approach, cycles approach, multiple oppositions, minimal pairs, maximal oppositions, treatment of the empty set, etc.)
• By November 2020, I will assign the most appropriate phonological approach to each identified student and collect baseline data using a standard articulation probe.
• Every six weeks, I will assess student progress using their assigned phonological approach by readministering the standard articulation probe.
• By February 2021, I will provide each identified student a home practice program to support generalization.
• By June 2021, I will evaluate the effectiveness of the two new phonological approaches to speech sound intervention used during this school year by readministering the standard articulation probe and comparing the identified students’ performance to their performance on the baseline probe.

Professional Practice Goal

During the current school year, the speech/language department will expand knowledge and use of various technology resources and platforms for speech/language therapy in order to adapt and improve quality of intervention.

• By September 2020, each SLP will complete ten hours of professional development in the area of telepractice.
• By November 2020, the speech/language department will research five new technology resources and select at least three to implement in speech/language therapy sessions.
• By March 2021, each SLP will use at least three new technology resources a minumum of three times each in direct or asynchronous speech/language therapy sessions.
• By June 2021, the speech/language department will evaluate the effectiveness of each technology resource using a five-point scale for student engagement, ease of use, and range of use.

Thanks for reading!