My son’s school sent me a draft of his IEP goals for next year- high school and they all say the same thing- Will obtain a C in _____. I know those are not good goals, but am not sure what kind of goals to write since he has learning disabilities that are pretty severe and he is going to need help in math-prealgebra, language, biology, and his electives. Is there anywhere that you can find examples of appropriate goals online or does anyone have any suggestions. What other advice to any parents have for the transition to high school?
Goals for IEP High School
We carefully helped him select the courses he plans to take. He is planning to do the Core 40 so he can get a diploma, but is taking the career path courses, as he wants to be learn a vocation and enter that after high school. They want to put him in Algebra, but I am going to insist that he be placed in Pre-Algebra since he does not have those skills down yet. As for reading, he is at about the 6-7th grade level, but comprehension of what he reads is low. Generally the school is pretty good, but can’t vouch for how well they are tracked. He will receive resource room instruction for math and language I have been told. I would just really like to have goals that focus on his how his disability affects his academic performance because seems a goal of C is really not encouraging him to achieve higher if he can and sets him up for failure if he can’t achieve the C. Guess I just don’t think letter grades are a good way to assess a student’s progress.
Re: Goals for IEP High School
Okay… how does his disability affect his academic performance? What are his strengths and how do *they* affect his academic performance? (The answer could be “not at all” unfortunately, is it?) What kinds of grades has he been getting? How does he do on tests?
In a way, there’s nothing wrong with those goals… as long as they have ideas for how to help him achieve them.
Will they just basically be tutoring him, helping him limp through the asisgnments with that unspoken agreement wtih the teachers that he needs to pass (or no agreement, just hoping?) HOw good is his background knowledge? Is he really ready for the courses he’s taking?
If he basically needs stuff read to him then that’s what should be included (as well as the goals of “will get a C”). In an ideal world if that’s the problem he should also be learnign to read… but if they haven’t done it yet, unless you’re lucky with a teacher who knows that stuff it’s not very likely.
How tracked is this school? Is he in college prep classes or ones that are glorified babysitting, or somthing in the middle? (Different schools are very different… if this one is like the last one I tuaght in, my advice would be: HOMESCHOOL.)