Stop Googling IEP Goals for Middle School Math - Steal Mine Instead!
Are you wasting precious planning time on a digital dumpster dive for examples of middle school math IEP goals? Well, step away from the search bar, my friend! That dead-end road is paved in pop-up ads, and you don't have time for that. Come on in, and let me show you a better way.
Welcome to Dividing by Zero, where exceptional educators achieve the impossible.
I'm Dayna, an experienced middle school math teacher with an M.Ed. in Special Education.
I am not a bot.
I am not some fancy educational consultant who hasn't been in the classroom since every teacher's name became "bruh."
I am a real-life, full-time, public school teacher who specializes in teaching math to tweenagers in grades 6-8. I built this site in hopes of helping other teachers survive and thrive in the world of middle school math special education.
Whether you're new to special education or a seasoned pro looking to streamline your systems, I'm glad you're here. Now let's write some IEP goals!
But first, a word of caution...
It may go without saying, but I'm gonna go ahead and say it:
You should never copy and paste goals from the Internet into your IEPs!
As professional special educators, we individualize each goal by tailoring it to the unique needs of one specific student. Even if we have multiple students working on the same skill, we know that different students will need different supports in order to demonstrate different levels of mastery.
With that being said, there's no need to start from scratch every time you sit down to write goals for your middle school math students. You can write high-quality, standards-based IEP goals that perfectly align with the S.M.A.R.T. framework for every kid every time without re-inventing the wheel.
The key to writing personalized goals in an efficient, standardized way lies in starting with the right template.
When I say template, what I'm talking about is a sentence stem that’s structured to include all the required elements of a SMART goal. Here’s my go-to sentence stem:
“Within (time frame), when provided with (supports), (Student Name) will (perform skill), improving accuracy from a baseline of (x%) correct to an average of (x%) correct over (x) data collections.”
I love this sentence stem because it’s flexible, understandable, and aligned with best practices for writing SMART goals and objectives.
Okay, that's all well and good, but what about the specific skills? You came here looking for a goal bank for middle school math, after all.
My free IEP goal bank lists 15 standards-based skills that align with some of the biggest ideas in middle school math. Specifically designed for grades 6-8, this time-saving Google Sheet can be searched, filtered and edited to meet your needs. Best of all, each goal on the list links to low-cost resources you can use for baseline assessment and progress monitoring.
Want to take a peek inside? Here's a quick video tour:
If you're looking for even more support in writing IEP goals for grades 6-8, I've got you.
I combined my free IEP goal bank with my signature sentence stem to create an interactive IEP goal template for Google Sheets.
Designed to make the goal-writing process foolproof, this upgraded version of the IEP goal bank includes editable dropdown menus and autofill features so you can craft fully customized goals to copy and paste into any other application. Think of it as Mad Libs for middle school math IEPs.
Whether you grab the freebie or the full enchilada, I hope it makes your life a whole lot easier. Happy goal writing, and be sure to reach out with your questions.
~Dayna