IEP reading goals
IEP reading goals by skill
84 example goals across 13 reading skills, each written in five parts with a baseline example, short-term objectives and how to measure it.
Short answer
A measurable IEP reading goal has five parts: a time frame, a condition (what the student is given), a behavior, a criterion (how well), and a measure (how it is checked). Example: by the annual review, given a grade 2 passage, the student will read 90 words correct per minute with 95% accuracy.
These are example goals for discussion. Each student's goals are written by the IEP team from that student's own assessment data. This page is not legal advice.
Goals by skill
Phonemic awareness IEP goals
A phonemic awareness IEP goal names a spoken task (blending, segmenting, deleting or substituting sounds), the word type, a criterion such as 9 of 10 words, and how it is measured.Letter sound IEP goals
A letter-sound IEP goal states which letters or spellings, how the student responds (says the sound), the criterion (for example, 26 of 26 or 40 correct sounds per minute) and how it is measured.Decoding IEP goals for CVC words
A CVC decoding goal says the student will read consonant-vowel-consonant words (like sit, mop, fan) or made-up CVC words, with a criterion such as 18 of 20 correct or 40 correct sounds per minute, measured on new word lists every week or two..IEP goals for decoding digraphs and blends
A digraph and blend goal says the student will read one-syllable words with digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck) and blends (st, fl, mp), with a criterion such as 18 of 20 correct.IEP goals for vowel teams and long vowels
A vowel pattern goal says the student will read words with silent e, vowel teams (ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, igh) or r-controlled vowels, with a criterion such as 18 of 20 unpracticed words correct.IEP goals for multisyllabic words
A multisyllabic decoding goal says the student will read unpracticed words of two or more syllables, or words with prefixes and suffixes, with a criterion such as 16 of 20 correct, measured on word lists and grade-level passages..Sight word IEP goals
A sight word goal names the word set (for example, the Dolch primer list), the task (read each word within about 3 seconds), a criterion such as 48 of 52, and the measure.Reading fluency IEP goals
A reading fluency IEP goal names the passage level, the target in words correct per minute (WCPM), an accuracy criterion such as 95%, and the measure.Reading accuracy IEP goals
A reading accuracy goal states the passage level, the percent of words read correctly (often 95% or more), and how it is scored.Literal comprehension IEP goals
A literal comprehension goal says what the student reads, what they do (answer questions, retell, sequence events), the criterion (for example, 4 of 5 questions or 5 of 6 story elements) and the measure.Inferential comprehension IEP goals
An inferential comprehension goal says the student will answer questions whose answers are not stated in the text, such as why a character acted or what will happen next.Vocabulary IEP goals
A vocabulary goal names the words or word parts taught, what the student does with them, and a criterion such as 8 of 10 words.Spelling and encoding IEP goals
A spelling goal names the patterns (for example, CVC words, digraphs or silent e), the task (spell dictated words or sentences), the criterion (8 of 10 words, or a number of correct letter sequences) and the measure.
What are the parts of a measurable reading goal?
Every goal on these pages is written in the same five parts, so you can swap pieces to fit a student. The time frame is usually the annual review date. The condition says what the student is given: a list of 20 unpracticed words, a grade 3 passage, a dictated sentence. The behavior is what the student does, in words an observer could check: reads aloud, segments, spells, retells.
The criterion is the part most goals get wrong. "With 80% accuracy" alone isn't enough; say 80% of what, and how many times. Most goals here use a count (18 of 20) and a consistency check (on 3 consecutive probes), because one good day isn't mastery. The measure names the tool, such as a timed word list, a one-minute reading, or a retell checklist, so anyone on the team could give it and get a comparable score.
How do you go from a baseline to a target?
A goal starts from a baseline, the student's present level measured the same way the goal will be measured. If the goal is 18 of 20 CVC words, the baseline is a score on a 20-word CVC list. For fluency, take the median of three one-minute readings.
Then decide how much growth is ambitious but possible. For oral reading fluency, there is published data to lean on: the compiled norms from Hasbrouck and Tindal (2017) and weekly growth rates from Fuchs and colleagues (1993). For other skills, use the student's own trend over six to eight probes and the team's experience.