Goals

Add the student’s IEP goals to a draft IEP document. In most cases you only type the goal statement and let Suggest fill in the rest.

Add a goal

Open a draft IEP document and select Add Goal in the IEP GOALS panel. This walkthrough shows the quickest way through the goal form.

  1. Type the goal statement

    Write or paste the goal as it appears in the IEP in Goal statement, for example: “Given a grade-level passage, Marcus will identify the main idea and two supporting details with 75% accuracy.”

    The goal statement is the only thing you need to type before Suggest.

  2. Select Suggest

    Spectra IEP reads the statement and fills in everything it can: domain, goal type, baseline, target and how the goal is measured.

    Suggest fills in the form from the statement.

  3. Read the tips

    The green note tells you what was filled in. A yellow Check note points to something to verify, such as a baseline that wasn’t in the statement and was set to 0. Close a note with ×.

    Notes after Suggest: what was filled in, and what to check.

  4. Name the goal

    Enter a short Goal Name so you can recognize the goal in lists. It’s required. Check the Domain.

    Goal Name is required; Suggest doesn’t fill it.

  5. Check how it’s measured

    Under HOW WILL IT BE MEASURED?, check the Goal type, baseline, target and target date. The WHAT SPECTRA WILL DO box sums up the goal in plain words, including when it counts as met.

    Read the summary: it is exactly how Spectra IEP will evaluate the goal.

  6. Save the goal, then the document

    Select Save at the bottom of the form. The goal appears in the IEP GOALS list, and Cancel closes the form without adding it. The goal is stored only when you select Save in the top bar of the IEP document page. See Save your changes.

How Suggest works

Suggest uses AI to turn your goal statement into the goal’s settings. It only fills in what it can find in the statement and never saves anything by itself. If something isn’t in the statement, like a baseline, it uses a placeholder and tells you to check it.

You can also fill in the whole form yourself, or select Suggest first and then change any field.

Goal fields

Goal form

The main fields, in the order they appear.

Goal statement
The goal as written in the IEP. Suggest reads it.
Goal Name
A short name for finding the goal quickly. Required.
Domain
The area the goal belongs to. See Domains.
Goal type
What kind of result you record. See Goal types.
Reach target by
The target date. If left empty, the IEP’s annual review date is used.
When is the goal met
The mastery criterion. Default: 3 out of 3 See Mastery criterion.

Domains

Every goal belongs to one domain: Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Communication, Social, Behavior, Adaptive Behavior, Fine Motoric, Gross Motoric, Transition or Vocational.

Goal types

The goal type decides what you record in each observation and how progress is calculated.

Goal typeWhat you recordExample goal
CountHow many times something happensAsks for help appropriately 4 times per session
Percentage (Trials correct/total)Correct trials out of total trialsIdentifies the main idea with 75% accuracy
Yes/NoWhether the student did itBrings all materials to class
DurationHow long something lastsStays on task for 10 minutes
Rating ScaleA score on a scaleScores 3 or higher on a 4-point rubric
Rate (per unit of time)How many per unit of timeReads 90 words correct per minute

Mastery criterion

The mastery criterion says when the goal counts as met. The default is that the target is reached in 3 of the last 3 sessions. The line under the summary box shows the current rule. To change it, select Change next to it (Hide closes the settings again).

Here the goal is met when the target is reached in 2 of the last 3 sessions.
How should results be grouped?
Whether each session is one result, or results are combined by day or by week. See Session and weekly goals.
When is the goal met?
In how many of the last results the target must be reached.

Session and weekly goals

Most goals are session goals: each observation session gives one result. Some goals only make sense over a longer period, for example “Marcus will have no more than 2 outbursts per week.” For these windowed goals, set How should results be grouped? to Combine each day in one result or Combine each week in one result.

A weekly goal: each week’s total is one result, and the goal is met in 2 of the last 3 weeks.

Spectra IEP adds up what you record in the sessions of each day or week, and each total counts as one result. The mastery criterion then counts days or weeks instead of sessions. Goals like this one, where a lower number is better, work too: the goal is met when the total is at or below the target.

Edit or remove a goal

While the IEP document is a draft, each goal in the list has Edit and Discard. Edit opens the goal form again; Discard removes the goal. As with new goals, the changes are stored when you select Save in the top bar.

Edit and Discard are only available while the document is a draft.

Once the document is activated, its goals are locked and can’t be edited or removed.