IEP reading goals
Literal comprehension IEP goals
6 example goals for literal comprehension, each with a condition, behavior, criterion, measure and time frame.
Short answer
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. Keep the text at the student's reading level so the goal measures understanding, not decoding.
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.
When does a literal comprehension goal make sense?
Literal comprehension is understanding what the text says directly: who is in the story, what happened, in what order, and what a paragraph is mostly about. It's the floor for every harder kind of comprehension.
Before writing a comprehension goal, check decoding and fluency. A student who reads a passage at 80% accuracy can't show comprehension of it, and the right goal is a word-reading goal. If the student understands the same text when it's read aloud, decoding is the barrier.
Retelling is a strong measure. Ask the student to tell what happened and score it against a list of the key points. It shows what stuck without the prompts a question gives.
Example literal comprehension goals
By the annual review, after reading a short story at their instructional level, the student will answer who, what, where and when questions with 4 of 5 correct on 3 consecutive probes, measured by five teacher questions per story.
- Condition
- After reading a short story at their instructional level
- Behavior
- Answer who, what, where and when questions
- Criterion
- With 4 of 5 correct on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- Five teacher questions per story
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, after reading a story at their instructional level, the student will retell it, naming the characters, setting, problem and ending with at least 4 of 5 elements on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a retell checklist.
- Condition
- After reading a story at their instructional level
- Behavior
- Retell it, naming the characters, setting, problem and ending
- Criterion
- With at least 4 of 5 elements on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A retell checklist
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, after reading a story at their instructional level, the student will put 5 events in the order they happened with all 5 in order on 3 of 4 probes, measured by a sequencing task with event cards.
- Condition
- After reading a story at their instructional level
- Behavior
- Put 5 events in the order they happened
- Criterion
- With all 5 in order on 3 of 4 probes
- Measure
- A sequencing task with event cards
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, after reading an informational paragraph at their instructional level, the student will state the main idea in one sentence matching the key point on 4 of 5 paragraphs, measured by a main idea task scored with a key.
- Condition
- After reading an informational paragraph at their instructional level
- Behavior
- State the main idea in one sentence
- Criterion
- Matching the key point on 4 of 5 paragraphs
- Measure
- A main idea task scored with a key
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, given a question about an informational text, the student will find and point to the sentence that answers it for 4 of 5 questions on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a text evidence task.
- Condition
- Given a question about an informational text
- Behavior
- Find and point to the sentence that answers it
- Criterion
- For 4 of 5 questions on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A text evidence task
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, after reading a grade-level passage of about 300 words, the student will write a 3- to 5-sentence summary with the main idea and key details scoring 3 of 4 on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a summary rubric.
- Condition
- After reading a grade-level passage of about 300 words
- Behavior
- Write a 3- to 5-sentence summary with the main idea and key details
- Criterion
- Scoring 3 of 4 on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A summary rubric
- Time frame
- By the annual review
From baseline to target: a worked example
A third grader reads grade 2 text with 96% accuracy but answers only 2 of 5 literal questions after reading. When the same story is read to her, she answers 4 of 5. Her retell is a list of disconnected details.
Decoding is fine at this level, so the team writes a retell goal (4 of 5 story elements) and a question goal (4 of 5). The teacher uses a story map before retelling and teaches the student to stop after each page and say what happened in one sentence.
Short-term objectives
- By the end of the first grading period, the student will name the characters and setting of a story read at instructional level on 3 of 4 probes.
- By the end of the second grading period, the student will retell the problem and ending of a story on 3 of 4 probes.
- By the end of the third grading period, the student will retell a story with 4 of 5 elements on 3 of 4 probes.
How do you measure progress?
- Use new passages each time at the same level and of similar length.
- Write the questions or the retell checklist before you give the passage, so scoring stays consistent.
- Let the student look back at the text for question tasks, unless the goal is about memory; say which in the goal.
Common mistakes
- Measuring comprehension on text the student can't decode.
- Writing "will improve comprehension" with no task, level or criterion.
- Using only yes-or-no questions, which a student can guess half the time.