Use SMART goals to address student behavior on your campus in a way that is both actionable and achievable.
We’d like all of these things to happen sooner than later. Those are all worthy aspirations for your behavior team. You might even have something similar written on chart board paper in your conference room under the title of “Big Rocks”.
But there is a problem with all of those statements. You’re not going to achieve any of them. At least you’re not going to know if you achieved any of them. They aren’t trackable or actionable.
When it comes to student behavior in your school…you need to create goals that are aligned with your behavior rubric and need to leverage your available data sources to track and recalibrate if necessary. That’s why you need SMART behavior goals.
A behavior rubric is a tool used by educators to assess and communicate student behavior expectations. It outlines clear and specific behaviors that students should demonstrate, along with corresponding consequences for both positive and negative behaviors.
Behavior rubrics help create a positive and consistent school culture by providing students with clear expectations and consequences. Your rubric is the foundation of your behavior management plan.
A SMART goal is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal. It is a framework used to set objectives that are clear and actionable, with specific criteria for success.
These goals will require clear and accurate data. That means you must have good practices around data collection and analysis such as using a behavior data dashboard. You could also use a behavior management tool like LiveSchool to keep accurate, real-time data.
One of the key benefits of behavior rubrics and SMART goals is that they provide a framework for tracking progress. By breaking down larger goals into smaller, measurable objectives, schools can easily track their progress over time.
This not only helps to maintain motivation but also allows for adjustments to be made if necessary.
Another benefit of these tools is that they encourage self-reflection and self-awareness. By setting specific goals and tracking progress, school leaders can assess their strengths and weaknesses and make changes as needed.
Now that we have a good sense of what a SMART goal is and how they pertain to your behavior rubric, let’s get started setting your goals.
First, let’s pick an area of improvement on your campus. For the sake of this exercise I’m going to set my goal around improving student tardiness but you can replace that for your specific target area and follow along.
Before we dive into the key pieces let’s set some ground rules for making an effective goal statement:
1. Use clear, specific language
We want to avoid using slang, trying to infuse humor, or being overly emotional with our goals. For instance we would want to say “...students will be on-time for class.”
We would not want to say “...students will stop causing a ruckus in the hallways and get where they need to be so we can all regain our sanity.”
2. Start your goal statement with “To” or “By” + a Verb
Get right to the point. What do we want to accomplish? In this case, ours would start like this: “To improve student punctuality…”
3. Avoid using negative language
Try to use language similar to that you would use when setting school-wide expectations. Notice I didn’t address student tardiness…I was aiming for student punctuality.
We want to increase how often they do the right things, this will in turn decrease how much they do the wrong things.
Now that we have basic criteria, let’s set about aligning your target with the SMART goal criteria.
Creating specific goals means defining the goal in precise and clear terms. It involves identifying what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and what resources or steps are necessary.
In this case, I want to increase how often my students arrive to class on time. I have less control over what time they arrive to school, so instead I’ll be specifically focusing on the transitions between classes.
The ability to niche down, or narrow your scope is key here. The strategies I’d use to encourage my students to transition between classes in a timely manner are different than the strategies I’d use to encourage them to get to school in the first place.
You might consider narrowing your focus down by type of infraction, grade level, time of day, or even tailor it to a specific demographic. For instance, I could focus on improving the punctuality of my 10th graders returning from lunch.
The more you niche down, the more the strategies start to materialize and the goal becomes clearer.
Creating measurable goals means defining a goal in a way that allows progress to be tracked and measured. This involves identifying specific, quantifiable criteria that can be used to determine whether or not the goal has been achieved.
For my example, I don’t want to say that I’m simply going to improve student punctuality. I need to define what that means and where I’m going to be able to pull the data from. This is how I’d address our example:
“To improve 10th grade punctuality returning from lunch by 10% (measured by Infinite Campus attendance data)...”.
For a goal to be achievable, it means that it is realistic and can be accomplished with the available resources. The goal should also be challenging enough to inspire growth and progress but not so difficult that it feels impossible to achieve.
For my example, taken from a large high school with nearly 2,000 students and around 250 in each grade level, it’s probably not feasible for me to totally eliminate student tardiness. But I can improve it.
This means I need to set the goal around a percentage that would be impactful if achieved, but not so grand that I actually can’t accomplish it. For this exercise we will shoot for 20% improvement. Which, if we normally logged 100 tardies a month, we would then see only 80.
This is also where we will identify the steps we plan to take to achieve our goal. In order to improve student punctuality by 20%, I’ll be reinforcing the behavior with PBIS Points for those arriving on time and we will be rewarding those who are on-time for class everyday this month with an Old School Cookout.
For a goal to be relevant, it means that it is aligned with school's overall priorities. The goal should be important and meaningful, and it should contribute to the overall mission or vision.
A relevant goal is one that makes sense in the context of the larger picture and is worth pursuing. This one is largely a yes or no criteria for your goal. In our case, our goal directly impacts student achievement so yes, it would be a worthy and relevant goal.
We are concerned about them arriving on-time for class. If we were concerned with how they arrived to class that may not be relevant and worthy of our time.
To make time-bound goals, establish a specific timeline for achieving the goal. This timeline should include target dates or deadlines for each step of the process leading up to the ultimate goal.
It's important to make sure the timeline is realistic and takes into account any potential delays or obstacles that may arise.
For my tardy example I’d like to focus on one month. This is enough time for my strategies to play out and should give us enough data to account for daily inconsistencies that could contribute positively or negatively to our result.
Lastly, before you start identifying strategies, we need to create our goal statement. Using the criteria I laid out above, my statement would read as follows:
“To improve 10th grade student punctuality after lunch by 20%, teachers will be reinforcing that behavior with LiveSchool points. At the end of the month, all of those who have arrived on-time everyday will receive an invite to our cookout party. We will be monitoring our progress through Infinite Campus student attendance data.”
By crafting a very precise goal like this, you give your students something very achievable. More importantly, you give your staff the ability to enact change in their school. That’s powerful.
See below for some additional examples of SMART behavior goals:
“To improve our students use of appropriate language by 10% this week, teachers will be reinforcing the use of positive language with LiveSchool points.”
“By the end of the school year, 90% of students will be able to stay on task by raising their hand to ask questions and by completing their assignments without needing to be reminded.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to resolve conflicts peacefully by using "I" statements, by taking a break when they are feeling angry, and by seeking help from a teacher when they are having trouble resolving a conflict.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to follow classroom rules by raising their hand to ask questions, by staying in their seats when they are supposed to, and by putting away their belongings when the bell rings.”
“By the end of the first semester, 90% of students will be able to take turns by waiting their turn, by sharing materials with others, and by playing cooperatively with others.”
For more on targeting specific behavior targets check out: “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
We’d like all of these things to happen sooner than later. Those are all worthy aspirations for your behavior team. You might even have something similar written on chart board paper in your conference room under the title of “Big Rocks”.
But there is a problem with all of those statements. You’re not going to achieve any of them. At least you’re not going to know if you achieved any of them. They aren’t trackable or actionable.
When it comes to student behavior in your school…you need to create goals that are aligned with your behavior rubric and need to leverage your available data sources to track and recalibrate if necessary. That’s why you need SMART behavior goals.
A behavior rubric is a tool used by educators to assess and communicate student behavior expectations. It outlines clear and specific behaviors that students should demonstrate, along with corresponding consequences for both positive and negative behaviors.
Behavior rubrics help create a positive and consistent school culture by providing students with clear expectations and consequences. Your rubric is the foundation of your behavior management plan.
A SMART goal is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal. It is a framework used to set objectives that are clear and actionable, with specific criteria for success.
These goals will require clear and accurate data. That means you must have good practices around data collection and analysis such as using a behavior data dashboard. You could also use a behavior management tool like LiveSchool to keep accurate, real-time data.
One of the key benefits of behavior rubrics and SMART goals is that they provide a framework for tracking progress. By breaking down larger goals into smaller, measurable objectives, schools can easily track their progress over time.
This not only helps to maintain motivation but also allows for adjustments to be made if necessary.
Another benefit of these tools is that they encourage self-reflection and self-awareness. By setting specific goals and tracking progress, school leaders can assess their strengths and weaknesses and make changes as needed.
Now that we have a good sense of what a SMART goal is and how they pertain to your behavior rubric, let’s get started setting your goals.
First, let’s pick an area of improvement on your campus. For the sake of this exercise I’m going to set my goal around improving student tardiness but you can replace that for your specific target area and follow along.
Before we dive into the key pieces let’s set some ground rules for making an effective goal statement:
1. Use clear, specific language
We want to avoid using slang, trying to infuse humor, or being overly emotional with our goals. For instance we would want to say “...students will be on-time for class.”
We would not want to say “...students will stop causing a ruckus in the hallways and get where they need to be so we can all regain our sanity.”
2. Start your goal statement with “To” or “By” + a Verb
Get right to the point. What do we want to accomplish? In this case, ours would start like this: “To improve student punctuality…”
3. Avoid using negative language
Try to use language similar to that you would use when setting school-wide expectations. Notice I didn’t address student tardiness…I was aiming for student punctuality.
We want to increase how often they do the right things, this will in turn decrease how much they do the wrong things.
Now that we have basic criteria, let’s set about aligning your target with the SMART goal criteria.
Creating specific goals means defining the goal in precise and clear terms. It involves identifying what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and what resources or steps are necessary.
In this case, I want to increase how often my students arrive to class on time. I have less control over what time they arrive to school, so instead I’ll be specifically focusing on the transitions between classes.
The ability to niche down, or narrow your scope is key here. The strategies I’d use to encourage my students to transition between classes in a timely manner are different than the strategies I’d use to encourage them to get to school in the first place.
You might consider narrowing your focus down by type of infraction, grade level, time of day, or even tailor it to a specific demographic. For instance, I could focus on improving the punctuality of my 10th graders returning from lunch.
The more you niche down, the more the strategies start to materialize and the goal becomes clearer.
Creating measurable goals means defining a goal in a way that allows progress to be tracked and measured. This involves identifying specific, quantifiable criteria that can be used to determine whether or not the goal has been achieved.
For my example, I don’t want to say that I’m simply going to improve student punctuality. I need to define what that means and where I’m going to be able to pull the data from. This is how I’d address our example:
“To improve 10th grade punctuality returning from lunch by 10% (measured by Infinite Campus attendance data)...”.
For a goal to be achievable, it means that it is realistic and can be accomplished with the available resources. The goal should also be challenging enough to inspire growth and progress but not so difficult that it feels impossible to achieve.
For my example, taken from a large high school with nearly 2,000 students and around 250 in each grade level, it’s probably not feasible for me to totally eliminate student tardiness. But I can improve it.
This means I need to set the goal around a percentage that would be impactful if achieved, but not so grand that I actually can’t accomplish it. For this exercise we will shoot for 20% improvement. Which, if we normally logged 100 tardies a month, we would then see only 80.
This is also where we will identify the steps we plan to take to achieve our goal. In order to improve student punctuality by 20%, I’ll be reinforcing the behavior with PBIS Points for those arriving on time and we will be rewarding those who are on-time for class everyday this month with an Old School Cookout.
For a goal to be relevant, it means that it is aligned with school's overall priorities. The goal should be important and meaningful, and it should contribute to the overall mission or vision.
A relevant goal is one that makes sense in the context of the larger picture and is worth pursuing. This one is largely a yes or no criteria for your goal. In our case, our goal directly impacts student achievement so yes, it would be a worthy and relevant goal.
We are concerned about them arriving on-time for class. If we were concerned with how they arrived to class that may not be relevant and worthy of our time.
To make time-bound goals, establish a specific timeline for achieving the goal. This timeline should include target dates or deadlines for each step of the process leading up to the ultimate goal.
It's important to make sure the timeline is realistic and takes into account any potential delays or obstacles that may arise.
For my tardy example I’d like to focus on one month. This is enough time for my strategies to play out and should give us enough data to account for daily inconsistencies that could contribute positively or negatively to our result.
Lastly, before you start identifying strategies, we need to create our goal statement. Using the criteria I laid out above, my statement would read as follows:
“To improve 10th grade student punctuality after lunch by 20%, teachers will be reinforcing that behavior with LiveSchool points. At the end of the month, all of those who have arrived on-time everyday will receive an invite to our cookout party. We will be monitoring our progress through Infinite Campus student attendance data.”
By crafting a very precise goal like this, you give your students something very achievable. More importantly, you give your staff the ability to enact change in their school. That’s powerful.
See below for some additional examples of SMART behavior goals:
“To improve our students use of appropriate language by 10% this week, teachers will be reinforcing the use of positive language with LiveSchool points.”
“By the end of the school year, 90% of students will be able to stay on task by raising their hand to ask questions and by completing their assignments without needing to be reminded.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to resolve conflicts peacefully by using "I" statements, by taking a break when they are feeling angry, and by seeking help from a teacher when they are having trouble resolving a conflict.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to follow classroom rules by raising their hand to ask questions, by staying in their seats when they are supposed to, and by putting away their belongings when the bell rings.”
“By the end of the first semester, 90% of students will be able to take turns by waiting their turn, by sharing materials with others, and by playing cooperatively with others.”
For more on targeting specific behavior targets check out: “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
We’d like all of these things to happen sooner than later. Those are all worthy aspirations for your behavior team. You might even have something similar written on chart board paper in your conference room under the title of “Big Rocks”.
But there is a problem with all of those statements. You’re not going to achieve any of them. At least you’re not going to know if you achieved any of them. They aren’t trackable or actionable.
When it comes to student behavior in your school…you need to create goals that are aligned with your behavior rubric and need to leverage your available data sources to track and recalibrate if necessary. That’s why you need SMART behavior goals.
A behavior rubric is a tool used by educators to assess and communicate student behavior expectations. It outlines clear and specific behaviors that students should demonstrate, along with corresponding consequences for both positive and negative behaviors.
Behavior rubrics help create a positive and consistent school culture by providing students with clear expectations and consequences. Your rubric is the foundation of your behavior management plan.
A SMART goal is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal. It is a framework used to set objectives that are clear and actionable, with specific criteria for success.
These goals will require clear and accurate data. That means you must have good practices around data collection and analysis such as using a behavior data dashboard. You could also use a behavior management tool like LiveSchool to keep accurate, real-time data.
One of the key benefits of behavior rubrics and SMART goals is that they provide a framework for tracking progress. By breaking down larger goals into smaller, measurable objectives, schools can easily track their progress over time.
This not only helps to maintain motivation but also allows for adjustments to be made if necessary.
Another benefit of these tools is that they encourage self-reflection and self-awareness. By setting specific goals and tracking progress, school leaders can assess their strengths and weaknesses and make changes as needed.
Now that we have a good sense of what a SMART goal is and how they pertain to your behavior rubric, let’s get started setting your goals.
First, let’s pick an area of improvement on your campus. For the sake of this exercise I’m going to set my goal around improving student tardiness but you can replace that for your specific target area and follow along.
Before we dive into the key pieces let’s set some ground rules for making an effective goal statement:
1. Use clear, specific language
We want to avoid using slang, trying to infuse humor, or being overly emotional with our goals. For instance we would want to say “...students will be on-time for class.”
We would not want to say “...students will stop causing a ruckus in the hallways and get where they need to be so we can all regain our sanity.”
2. Start your goal statement with “To” or “By” + a Verb
Get right to the point. What do we want to accomplish? In this case, ours would start like this: “To improve student punctuality…”
3. Avoid using negative language
Try to use language similar to that you would use when setting school-wide expectations. Notice I didn’t address student tardiness…I was aiming for student punctuality.
We want to increase how often they do the right things, this will in turn decrease how much they do the wrong things.
Now that we have basic criteria, let’s set about aligning your target with the SMART goal criteria.
Creating specific goals means defining the goal in precise and clear terms. It involves identifying what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and what resources or steps are necessary.
In this case, I want to increase how often my students arrive to class on time. I have less control over what time they arrive to school, so instead I’ll be specifically focusing on the transitions between classes.
The ability to niche down, or narrow your scope is key here. The strategies I’d use to encourage my students to transition between classes in a timely manner are different than the strategies I’d use to encourage them to get to school in the first place.
You might consider narrowing your focus down by type of infraction, grade level, time of day, or even tailor it to a specific demographic. For instance, I could focus on improving the punctuality of my 10th graders returning from lunch.
The more you niche down, the more the strategies start to materialize and the goal becomes clearer.
Creating measurable goals means defining a goal in a way that allows progress to be tracked and measured. This involves identifying specific, quantifiable criteria that can be used to determine whether or not the goal has been achieved.
For my example, I don’t want to say that I’m simply going to improve student punctuality. I need to define what that means and where I’m going to be able to pull the data from. This is how I’d address our example:
“To improve 10th grade punctuality returning from lunch by 10% (measured by Infinite Campus attendance data)...”.
For a goal to be achievable, it means that it is realistic and can be accomplished with the available resources. The goal should also be challenging enough to inspire growth and progress but not so difficult that it feels impossible to achieve.
For my example, taken from a large high school with nearly 2,000 students and around 250 in each grade level, it’s probably not feasible for me to totally eliminate student tardiness. But I can improve it.
This means I need to set the goal around a percentage that would be impactful if achieved, but not so grand that I actually can’t accomplish it. For this exercise we will shoot for 20% improvement. Which, if we normally logged 100 tardies a month, we would then see only 80.
This is also where we will identify the steps we plan to take to achieve our goal. In order to improve student punctuality by 20%, I’ll be reinforcing the behavior with PBIS Points for those arriving on time and we will be rewarding those who are on-time for class everyday this month with an Old School Cookout.
For a goal to be relevant, it means that it is aligned with school's overall priorities. The goal should be important and meaningful, and it should contribute to the overall mission or vision.
A relevant goal is one that makes sense in the context of the larger picture and is worth pursuing. This one is largely a yes or no criteria for your goal. In our case, our goal directly impacts student achievement so yes, it would be a worthy and relevant goal.
We are concerned about them arriving on-time for class. If we were concerned with how they arrived to class that may not be relevant and worthy of our time.
To make time-bound goals, establish a specific timeline for achieving the goal. This timeline should include target dates or deadlines for each step of the process leading up to the ultimate goal.
It's important to make sure the timeline is realistic and takes into account any potential delays or obstacles that may arise.
For my tardy example I’d like to focus on one month. This is enough time for my strategies to play out and should give us enough data to account for daily inconsistencies that could contribute positively or negatively to our result.
Lastly, before you start identifying strategies, we need to create our goal statement. Using the criteria I laid out above, my statement would read as follows:
“To improve 10th grade student punctuality after lunch by 20%, teachers will be reinforcing that behavior with LiveSchool points. At the end of the month, all of those who have arrived on-time everyday will receive an invite to our cookout party. We will be monitoring our progress through Infinite Campus student attendance data.”
By crafting a very precise goal like this, you give your students something very achievable. More importantly, you give your staff the ability to enact change in their school. That’s powerful.
See below for some additional examples of SMART behavior goals:
“To improve our students use of appropriate language by 10% this week, teachers will be reinforcing the use of positive language with LiveSchool points.”
“By the end of the school year, 90% of students will be able to stay on task by raising their hand to ask questions and by completing their assignments without needing to be reminded.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to resolve conflicts peacefully by using "I" statements, by taking a break when they are feeling angry, and by seeking help from a teacher when they are having trouble resolving a conflict.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to follow classroom rules by raising their hand to ask questions, by staying in their seats when they are supposed to, and by putting away their belongings when the bell rings.”
“By the end of the first semester, 90% of students will be able to take turns by waiting their turn, by sharing materials with others, and by playing cooperatively with others.”
For more on targeting specific behavior targets check out: “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
We’d like all of these things to happen sooner than later. Those are all worthy aspirations for your behavior team. You might even have something similar written on chart board paper in your conference room under the title of “Big Rocks”.
But there is a problem with all of those statements. You’re not going to achieve any of them. At least you’re not going to know if you achieved any of them. They aren’t trackable or actionable.
When it comes to student behavior in your school…you need to create goals that are aligned with your behavior rubric and need to leverage your available data sources to track and recalibrate if necessary. That’s why you need SMART behavior goals.
A behavior rubric is a tool used by educators to assess and communicate student behavior expectations. It outlines clear and specific behaviors that students should demonstrate, along with corresponding consequences for both positive and negative behaviors.
Behavior rubrics help create a positive and consistent school culture by providing students with clear expectations and consequences. Your rubric is the foundation of your behavior management plan.
A SMART goal is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal. It is a framework used to set objectives that are clear and actionable, with specific criteria for success.
These goals will require clear and accurate data. That means you must have good practices around data collection and analysis such as using a behavior data dashboard. You could also use a behavior management tool like LiveSchool to keep accurate, real-time data.
One of the key benefits of behavior rubrics and SMART goals is that they provide a framework for tracking progress. By breaking down larger goals into smaller, measurable objectives, schools can easily track their progress over time.
This not only helps to maintain motivation but also allows for adjustments to be made if necessary.
Another benefit of these tools is that they encourage self-reflection and self-awareness. By setting specific goals and tracking progress, school leaders can assess their strengths and weaknesses and make changes as needed.
Now that we have a good sense of what a SMART goal is and how they pertain to your behavior rubric, let’s get started setting your goals.
First, let’s pick an area of improvement on your campus. For the sake of this exercise I’m going to set my goal around improving student tardiness but you can replace that for your specific target area and follow along.
Before we dive into the key pieces let’s set some ground rules for making an effective goal statement:
1. Use clear, specific language
We want to avoid using slang, trying to infuse humor, or being overly emotional with our goals. For instance we would want to say “...students will be on-time for class.”
We would not want to say “...students will stop causing a ruckus in the hallways and get where they need to be so we can all regain our sanity.”
2. Start your goal statement with “To” or “By” + a Verb
Get right to the point. What do we want to accomplish? In this case, ours would start like this: “To improve student punctuality…”
3. Avoid using negative language
Try to use language similar to that you would use when setting school-wide expectations. Notice I didn’t address student tardiness…I was aiming for student punctuality.
We want to increase how often they do the right things, this will in turn decrease how much they do the wrong things.
Now that we have basic criteria, let’s set about aligning your target with the SMART goal criteria.
Creating specific goals means defining the goal in precise and clear terms. It involves identifying what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and what resources or steps are necessary.
In this case, I want to increase how often my students arrive to class on time. I have less control over what time they arrive to school, so instead I’ll be specifically focusing on the transitions between classes.
The ability to niche down, or narrow your scope is key here. The strategies I’d use to encourage my students to transition between classes in a timely manner are different than the strategies I’d use to encourage them to get to school in the first place.
You might consider narrowing your focus down by type of infraction, grade level, time of day, or even tailor it to a specific demographic. For instance, I could focus on improving the punctuality of my 10th graders returning from lunch.
The more you niche down, the more the strategies start to materialize and the goal becomes clearer.
Creating measurable goals means defining a goal in a way that allows progress to be tracked and measured. This involves identifying specific, quantifiable criteria that can be used to determine whether or not the goal has been achieved.
For my example, I don’t want to say that I’m simply going to improve student punctuality. I need to define what that means and where I’m going to be able to pull the data from. This is how I’d address our example:
“To improve 10th grade punctuality returning from lunch by 10% (measured by Infinite Campus attendance data)...”.
For a goal to be achievable, it means that it is realistic and can be accomplished with the available resources. The goal should also be challenging enough to inspire growth and progress but not so difficult that it feels impossible to achieve.
For my example, taken from a large high school with nearly 2,000 students and around 250 in each grade level, it’s probably not feasible for me to totally eliminate student tardiness. But I can improve it.
This means I need to set the goal around a percentage that would be impactful if achieved, but not so grand that I actually can’t accomplish it. For this exercise we will shoot for 20% improvement. Which, if we normally logged 100 tardies a month, we would then see only 80.
This is also where we will identify the steps we plan to take to achieve our goal. In order to improve student punctuality by 20%, I’ll be reinforcing the behavior with PBIS Points for those arriving on time and we will be rewarding those who are on-time for class everyday this month with an Old School Cookout.
For a goal to be relevant, it means that it is aligned with school's overall priorities. The goal should be important and meaningful, and it should contribute to the overall mission or vision.
A relevant goal is one that makes sense in the context of the larger picture and is worth pursuing. This one is largely a yes or no criteria for your goal. In our case, our goal directly impacts student achievement so yes, it would be a worthy and relevant goal.
We are concerned about them arriving on-time for class. If we were concerned with how they arrived to class that may not be relevant and worthy of our time.
To make time-bound goals, establish a specific timeline for achieving the goal. This timeline should include target dates or deadlines for each step of the process leading up to the ultimate goal.
It's important to make sure the timeline is realistic and takes into account any potential delays or obstacles that may arise.
For my tardy example I’d like to focus on one month. This is enough time for my strategies to play out and should give us enough data to account for daily inconsistencies that could contribute positively or negatively to our result.
Lastly, before you start identifying strategies, we need to create our goal statement. Using the criteria I laid out above, my statement would read as follows:
“To improve 10th grade student punctuality after lunch by 20%, teachers will be reinforcing that behavior with LiveSchool points. At the end of the month, all of those who have arrived on-time everyday will receive an invite to our cookout party. We will be monitoring our progress through Infinite Campus student attendance data.”
By crafting a very precise goal like this, you give your students something very achievable. More importantly, you give your staff the ability to enact change in their school. That’s powerful.
See below for some additional examples of SMART behavior goals:
“To improve our students use of appropriate language by 10% this week, teachers will be reinforcing the use of positive language with LiveSchool points.”
“By the end of the school year, 90% of students will be able to stay on task by raising their hand to ask questions and by completing their assignments without needing to be reminded.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to resolve conflicts peacefully by using "I" statements, by taking a break when they are feeling angry, and by seeking help from a teacher when they are having trouble resolving a conflict.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to follow classroom rules by raising their hand to ask questions, by staying in their seats when they are supposed to, and by putting away their belongings when the bell rings.”
“By the end of the first semester, 90% of students will be able to take turns by waiting their turn, by sharing materials with others, and by playing cooperatively with others.”
For more on targeting specific behavior targets check out: “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
Jordan resides in Lexington, Kentucky. He has experience in Public Education as an Administrator, Science Teacher, and as a Coach. He has extensive experience with School Discipline, PBIS, SEL, Restorative Practices, MTSS, and Trauma-Informed Care.
Principals all want their students to behave better. Every classroom would be improved with fewer distractions. Teachers everywhere would like student engagement to increase. Students would be more successful if they were suspended less.
We’d like all of these things to happen sooner than later. Those are all worthy aspirations for your behavior team. You might even have something similar written on chart board paper in your conference room under the title of “Big Rocks”.
But there is a problem with all of those statements. You’re not going to achieve any of them. At least you’re not going to know if you achieved any of them. They aren’t trackable or actionable.
When it comes to student behavior in your school…you need to create goals that are aligned with your behavior rubric and need to leverage your available data sources to track and recalibrate if necessary. That’s why you need SMART behavior goals.
A behavior rubric is a tool used by educators to assess and communicate student behavior expectations. It outlines clear and specific behaviors that students should demonstrate, along with corresponding consequences for both positive and negative behaviors.
Behavior rubrics help create a positive and consistent school culture by providing students with clear expectations and consequences. Your rubric is the foundation of your behavior management plan.
A SMART goal is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal. It is a framework used to set objectives that are clear and actionable, with specific criteria for success.
These goals will require clear and accurate data. That means you must have good practices around data collection and analysis such as using a behavior data dashboard. You could also use a behavior management tool like LiveSchool to keep accurate, real-time data.
One of the key benefits of behavior rubrics and SMART goals is that they provide a framework for tracking progress. By breaking down larger goals into smaller, measurable objectives, schools can easily track their progress over time.
This not only helps to maintain motivation but also allows for adjustments to be made if necessary.
Another benefit of these tools is that they encourage self-reflection and self-awareness. By setting specific goals and tracking progress, school leaders can assess their strengths and weaknesses and make changes as needed.
Now that we have a good sense of what a SMART goal is and how they pertain to your behavior rubric, let’s get started setting your goals.
First, let’s pick an area of improvement on your campus. For the sake of this exercise I’m going to set my goal around improving student tardiness but you can replace that for your specific target area and follow along.
Before we dive into the key pieces let’s set some ground rules for making an effective goal statement:
1. Use clear, specific language
We want to avoid using slang, trying to infuse humor, or being overly emotional with our goals. For instance we would want to say “...students will be on-time for class.”
We would not want to say “...students will stop causing a ruckus in the hallways and get where they need to be so we can all regain our sanity.”
2. Start your goal statement with “To” or “By” + a Verb
Get right to the point. What do we want to accomplish? In this case, ours would start like this: “To improve student punctuality…”
3. Avoid using negative language
Try to use language similar to that you would use when setting school-wide expectations. Notice I didn’t address student tardiness…I was aiming for student punctuality.
We want to increase how often they do the right things, this will in turn decrease how much they do the wrong things.
Now that we have basic criteria, let’s set about aligning your target with the SMART goal criteria.
Creating specific goals means defining the goal in precise and clear terms. It involves identifying what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and what resources or steps are necessary.
In this case, I want to increase how often my students arrive to class on time. I have less control over what time they arrive to school, so instead I’ll be specifically focusing on the transitions between classes.
The ability to niche down, or narrow your scope is key here. The strategies I’d use to encourage my students to transition between classes in a timely manner are different than the strategies I’d use to encourage them to get to school in the first place.
You might consider narrowing your focus down by type of infraction, grade level, time of day, or even tailor it to a specific demographic. For instance, I could focus on improving the punctuality of my 10th graders returning from lunch.
The more you niche down, the more the strategies start to materialize and the goal becomes clearer.
Creating measurable goals means defining a goal in a way that allows progress to be tracked and measured. This involves identifying specific, quantifiable criteria that can be used to determine whether or not the goal has been achieved.
For my example, I don’t want to say that I’m simply going to improve student punctuality. I need to define what that means and where I’m going to be able to pull the data from. This is how I’d address our example:
“To improve 10th grade punctuality returning from lunch by 10% (measured by Infinite Campus attendance data)...”.
For a goal to be achievable, it means that it is realistic and can be accomplished with the available resources. The goal should also be challenging enough to inspire growth and progress but not so difficult that it feels impossible to achieve.
For my example, taken from a large high school with nearly 2,000 students and around 250 in each grade level, it’s probably not feasible for me to totally eliminate student tardiness. But I can improve it.
This means I need to set the goal around a percentage that would be impactful if achieved, but not so grand that I actually can’t accomplish it. For this exercise we will shoot for 20% improvement. Which, if we normally logged 100 tardies a month, we would then see only 80.
This is also where we will identify the steps we plan to take to achieve our goal. In order to improve student punctuality by 20%, I’ll be reinforcing the behavior with PBIS Points for those arriving on time and we will be rewarding those who are on-time for class everyday this month with an Old School Cookout.
For a goal to be relevant, it means that it is aligned with school's overall priorities. The goal should be important and meaningful, and it should contribute to the overall mission or vision.
A relevant goal is one that makes sense in the context of the larger picture and is worth pursuing. This one is largely a yes or no criteria for your goal. In our case, our goal directly impacts student achievement so yes, it would be a worthy and relevant goal.
We are concerned about them arriving on-time for class. If we were concerned with how they arrived to class that may not be relevant and worthy of our time.
To make time-bound goals, establish a specific timeline for achieving the goal. This timeline should include target dates or deadlines for each step of the process leading up to the ultimate goal.
It's important to make sure the timeline is realistic and takes into account any potential delays or obstacles that may arise.
For my tardy example I’d like to focus on one month. This is enough time for my strategies to play out and should give us enough data to account for daily inconsistencies that could contribute positively or negatively to our result.
Lastly, before you start identifying strategies, we need to create our goal statement. Using the criteria I laid out above, my statement would read as follows:
“To improve 10th grade student punctuality after lunch by 20%, teachers will be reinforcing that behavior with LiveSchool points. At the end of the month, all of those who have arrived on-time everyday will receive an invite to our cookout party. We will be monitoring our progress through Infinite Campus student attendance data.”
By crafting a very precise goal like this, you give your students something very achievable. More importantly, you give your staff the ability to enact change in their school. That’s powerful.
See below for some additional examples of SMART behavior goals:
“To improve our students use of appropriate language by 10% this week, teachers will be reinforcing the use of positive language with LiveSchool points.”
“By the end of the school year, 90% of students will be able to stay on task by raising their hand to ask questions and by completing their assignments without needing to be reminded.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to resolve conflicts peacefully by using "I" statements, by taking a break when they are feeling angry, and by seeking help from a teacher when they are having trouble resolving a conflict.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to follow classroom rules by raising their hand to ask questions, by staying in their seats when they are supposed to, and by putting away their belongings when the bell rings.”
“By the end of the first semester, 90% of students will be able to take turns by waiting their turn, by sharing materials with others, and by playing cooperatively with others.”
For more on targeting specific behavior targets check out: “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
Principals all want their students to behave better. Every classroom would be improved with fewer distractions. Teachers everywhere would like student engagement to increase. Students would be more successful if they were suspended less.
We’d like all of these things to happen sooner than later. Those are all worthy aspirations for your behavior team. You might even have something similar written on chart board paper in your conference room under the title of “Big Rocks”.
But there is a problem with all of those statements. You’re not going to achieve any of them. At least you’re not going to know if you achieved any of them. They aren’t trackable or actionable.
When it comes to student behavior in your school…you need to create goals that are aligned with your behavior rubric and need to leverage your available data sources to track and recalibrate if necessary. That’s why you need SMART behavior goals.
A behavior rubric is a tool used by educators to assess and communicate student behavior expectations. It outlines clear and specific behaviors that students should demonstrate, along with corresponding consequences for both positive and negative behaviors.
Behavior rubrics help create a positive and consistent school culture by providing students with clear expectations and consequences. Your rubric is the foundation of your behavior management plan.
A SMART goal is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal. It is a framework used to set objectives that are clear and actionable, with specific criteria for success.
These goals will require clear and accurate data. That means you must have good practices around data collection and analysis such as using a behavior data dashboard. You could also use a behavior management tool like LiveSchool to keep accurate, real-time data.
One of the key benefits of behavior rubrics and SMART goals is that they provide a framework for tracking progress. By breaking down larger goals into smaller, measurable objectives, schools can easily track their progress over time.
This not only helps to maintain motivation but also allows for adjustments to be made if necessary.
Another benefit of these tools is that they encourage self-reflection and self-awareness. By setting specific goals and tracking progress, school leaders can assess their strengths and weaknesses and make changes as needed.
Now that we have a good sense of what a SMART goal is and how they pertain to your behavior rubric, let’s get started setting your goals.
First, let’s pick an area of improvement on your campus. For the sake of this exercise I’m going to set my goal around improving student tardiness but you can replace that for your specific target area and follow along.
Before we dive into the key pieces let’s set some ground rules for making an effective goal statement:
1. Use clear, specific language
We want to avoid using slang, trying to infuse humor, or being overly emotional with our goals. For instance we would want to say “...students will be on-time for class.”
We would not want to say “...students will stop causing a ruckus in the hallways and get where they need to be so we can all regain our sanity.”
2. Start your goal statement with “To” or “By” + a Verb
Get right to the point. What do we want to accomplish? In this case, ours would start like this: “To improve student punctuality…”
3. Avoid using negative language
Try to use language similar to that you would use when setting school-wide expectations. Notice I didn’t address student tardiness…I was aiming for student punctuality.
We want to increase how often they do the right things, this will in turn decrease how much they do the wrong things.
Now that we have basic criteria, let’s set about aligning your target with the SMART goal criteria.
Creating specific goals means defining the goal in precise and clear terms. It involves identifying what you want to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and what resources or steps are necessary.
In this case, I want to increase how often my students arrive to class on time. I have less control over what time they arrive to school, so instead I’ll be specifically focusing on the transitions between classes.
The ability to niche down, or narrow your scope is key here. The strategies I’d use to encourage my students to transition between classes in a timely manner are different than the strategies I’d use to encourage them to get to school in the first place.
You might consider narrowing your focus down by type of infraction, grade level, time of day, or even tailor it to a specific demographic. For instance, I could focus on improving the punctuality of my 10th graders returning from lunch.
The more you niche down, the more the strategies start to materialize and the goal becomes clearer.
Creating measurable goals means defining a goal in a way that allows progress to be tracked and measured. This involves identifying specific, quantifiable criteria that can be used to determine whether or not the goal has been achieved.
For my example, I don’t want to say that I’m simply going to improve student punctuality. I need to define what that means and where I’m going to be able to pull the data from. This is how I’d address our example:
“To improve 10th grade punctuality returning from lunch by 10% (measured by Infinite Campus attendance data)...”.
For a goal to be achievable, it means that it is realistic and can be accomplished with the available resources. The goal should also be challenging enough to inspire growth and progress but not so difficult that it feels impossible to achieve.
For my example, taken from a large high school with nearly 2,000 students and around 250 in each grade level, it’s probably not feasible for me to totally eliminate student tardiness. But I can improve it.
This means I need to set the goal around a percentage that would be impactful if achieved, but not so grand that I actually can’t accomplish it. For this exercise we will shoot for 20% improvement. Which, if we normally logged 100 tardies a month, we would then see only 80.
This is also where we will identify the steps we plan to take to achieve our goal. In order to improve student punctuality by 20%, I’ll be reinforcing the behavior with PBIS Points for those arriving on time and we will be rewarding those who are on-time for class everyday this month with an Old School Cookout.
For a goal to be relevant, it means that it is aligned with school's overall priorities. The goal should be important and meaningful, and it should contribute to the overall mission or vision.
A relevant goal is one that makes sense in the context of the larger picture and is worth pursuing. This one is largely a yes or no criteria for your goal. In our case, our goal directly impacts student achievement so yes, it would be a worthy and relevant goal.
We are concerned about them arriving on-time for class. If we were concerned with how they arrived to class that may not be relevant and worthy of our time.
To make time-bound goals, establish a specific timeline for achieving the goal. This timeline should include target dates or deadlines for each step of the process leading up to the ultimate goal.
It's important to make sure the timeline is realistic and takes into account any potential delays or obstacles that may arise.
For my tardy example I’d like to focus on one month. This is enough time for my strategies to play out and should give us enough data to account for daily inconsistencies that could contribute positively or negatively to our result.
Lastly, before you start identifying strategies, we need to create our goal statement. Using the criteria I laid out above, my statement would read as follows:
“To improve 10th grade student punctuality after lunch by 20%, teachers will be reinforcing that behavior with LiveSchool points. At the end of the month, all of those who have arrived on-time everyday will receive an invite to our cookout party. We will be monitoring our progress through Infinite Campus student attendance data.”
By crafting a very precise goal like this, you give your students something very achievable. More importantly, you give your staff the ability to enact change in their school. That’s powerful.
See below for some additional examples of SMART behavior goals:
“To improve our students use of appropriate language by 10% this week, teachers will be reinforcing the use of positive language with LiveSchool points.”
“By the end of the school year, 90% of students will be able to stay on task by raising their hand to ask questions and by completing their assignments without needing to be reminded.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to resolve conflicts peacefully by using "I" statements, by taking a break when they are feeling angry, and by seeking help from a teacher when they are having trouble resolving a conflict.”
“By the end of the school year, 80% of students will be able to follow classroom rules by raising their hand to ask questions, by staying in their seats when they are supposed to, and by putting away their belongings when the bell rings.”
“By the end of the first semester, 90% of students will be able to take turns by waiting their turn, by sharing materials with others, and by playing cooperatively with others.”
For more on targeting specific behavior targets check out: “How Heritage Middle School Used 700K LiveSchool Points to Improve Targeted Behaviors”.
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