SMART Goals FAQs

1. What does SMART stand for?
       S: Specific and Strategic
       M: Measurable
       A: Action-oriented
       R: Rigorous, Realistic, and Results-Focused
       T: Timed and Tracked
   
   
2. What do I need SMART Goals for?
   As part of your evaluation, you will be asked to set goals at the beginning of the year, and then to document your attempts to meet those goals. You will develop two goals: a student learning goal (SLG) and a professional practice goal (PPG). As part of goal-setting you will analyze your students and yourself, and make an honest assessment of where things are going well and where they need to improve.
   
3. How do I submit my SMART Goals?
   Varies by district. Many districts use Teachpoint, where you will need to fill out your self-assessment form, goal setting form, and educator plan form. If you use Teachpoint, login credentials should be provided to you.
   
4. How do I determine areas of strength and high priority concern?
   For your students, you might draw information from MCAS testing, a diagnostic pretest, and/or anecdotal evidence from observations. Things you could look for are: performance on assessments, performance on specific types of questions (open response/word problems), organization, collaboration skills, attitude toward mathematics/learning mathematics, etc.
   
   For yourself, you need to use the teacher rubric. You need to look at the various standards/indicators/elements, and determine where you are strong and where you need to improve. Again, you should try to use some hard evidence to support this if possible. You should list the specific element and state why you feel it is an area of strength. For example, you might choose element I-A-I - Subject Matter Knowledge as a strength, and write "I-A-I - Teacher completed rigorous course of study in mathematics as an undergraduate and in mathematics education as a graduate student." On ther other hand, you may choose element III-C-1 - Parent and Family Engagement as an area of high-priority concern, and write "III-C-1 - Teacher needs to do more to ensure they are engaging family members on a regular basis for at-risk students."
   
5. How is the self-asssessment related to the goal-setting?
   If possible, they should be linked. That is, once you identify areas of high-priority concern, it would behoove you to then set goals that address those areas of concern.
   
6. Why should I pay a lot of attention to my SMART Goals?
   Although they seem tedious, SMART Goals give you a structured means to think about how you can improve your practice and student learning outcomes on your own terms. While it may seem tempting to select an "easy" goal that you can easily achieve, but this will not lead to personal growth for you.

• In order to strengthen students' ability to effectively respond to open response questions, I will institute a system for weekly open response activities. By the end of the year, 90% of students will score at the proficient or advanced level on open response questions, as measured based on performance on MCAS/PARCC/PSAT/SAT open response questions and evaluated using the rubric for the respective test.
  • Specific/Strategic - The goal specifically is focused on improving performance on open-response, and proposes using a routine to give students practice with the skills required to be successful on such questions.
  • Measurable - The goal provides a specific number of students to meet the goal -- 90% -- and provides a system by which to evaluate whether that percent has been met -- the rubric associated with the practice questions.
  • Action-oriented - The goal requires the teacher to take action to implement a new routine in addition to what they are already doing, and includes a feedback component that allows people on all sides to reflect on the experience.
  • Rigorous, Realistic, and Results-Focused - The 90% number is quite ambitious but is at least one that will push the teacher to work hard to rise to.
  • Timed and Tracked - The goal specifically states that the goal is for students to get to the benchmark by the end of the year. The teacher can specify in their educator plan how they wa

Examples of SMART Goals, Professional Practice

• In order to improve my classroom management abilities, I will use peer observation to get a sense of strategies used by my colleagues that would help me better manage my classroom. Each week, I will visit at least one of my colleagues for a period of no less than fifteen (15) minutes, and make a log of my experience. By the end of the year, I will observe 100% of the teachers in my department and at least 10% of the teachers in another department, and I will try and reflect upon at least 1-2 strategies that I observe.
  • Specific/Strategic - The goal is specifically focused on classroom management and using peer management to gain insight into techniques that could be brought into the teacher's classroom.
  • Measurable - The goal sets goals of weekly observations, observing the entire department that teacher belongs to, and observing 10% of another department, as well as a specific number of strategies to try and reflect upon. This can be measured as laid out in the teacher's educator plan.
  • Action-oriented - The goal pushes the teacher to use their personal prepartory ("prep") time to develop themselves as a teacher, which is difficult given the temptation to stay in one's room and focus on staying on top of one's own classes.
  • Rigorous, Realistic, and Results-Focused - The goal is very realistic by asking only for one 15-minute observation for week -- although this could be adjusted based on how much time in the day/week the teacher realistically has available. Observing 100% of the department and 10% of another department is certainly rigorous and will require the teacher to work hard to push themselves into many different teachers' classrooms.
  • Timed and Tracked - The teacher is required to work on the goal weekly -- through the observations. Completion of the goal, as stated, will also be measured at the end of the year. Outside of the reflections, tracking progress on the goal will likely need to occur throughout the year but will be formalized in the teachers educator plan.