IEP reading goals
IEP goals for vowel teams and long vowels
7 example goals for vowel teams and long vowels, each with a condition, behavior, criterion, measure and time frame.
Short answer
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. Measure on mixed lists so the student must notice the pattern.
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 vowel teams and long vowels goal make sense?
Short-vowel decoding gets a student through first-grade texts. After that, most words have a long vowel, a vowel team or an r-controlled vowel: rain, team, coat, light, farm. A student who reads every vowel as short reads "coat" as "cot" and loses the sentence.
This goal fits a student who reads short-vowel words well but misses words like "cake" and "street". Measure with mixed lists. If every word on a probe has ai, the student only has to say /ā/ for every word; mixing ai, ee and short vowels shows whether they notice the pattern.
Teach and measure a few patterns at a time. A goal covering all vowel teams at once is too broad to teach to and too broad to measure well.
Example vowel teams and long vowels goals
By the annual review, given 20 unpracticed words, half silent e and half short vowel ("cap", "cape"), the student will read each word aloud with 18 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a mixed silent e word list.
- Condition
- Given 20 unpracticed words, half silent e and half short vowel ("cap", "cape")
- Behavior
- Read each word aloud
- Criterion
- With 18 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A mixed silent e word list
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, given 20 unpracticed words with ai, ay, ee, ea and oa, the student will read each word aloud with 17 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive weekly probes, measured by a vowel team word list.
- Condition
- Given 20 unpracticed words with ai, ay, ee, ea and oa
- Behavior
- Read each word aloud
- Criterion
- With 17 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive weekly probes
- Measure
- A vowel team word list
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, given 20 unpracticed words with ar, or, er, ir and ur, the student will read each word aloud with 18 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes, measured by an r-controlled word list.
- Condition
- Given 20 unpracticed words with ar, or, er, ir and ur
- Behavior
- Read each word aloud
- Criterion
- With 18 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- An r-controlled word list
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, given 20 unpracticed words with oi, oy, ou and ow, the student will read each word aloud with 17 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a diphthong word list.
- Condition
- Given 20 unpracticed words with oi, oy, ou and ow
- Behavior
- Read each word aloud
- Criterion
- With 17 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A diphthong word list
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, given a grade 2 decodable passage that includes taught vowel patterns, the student will read the passage aloud with at least 95% accuracy on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a passage-reading probe.
- Condition
- Given a grade 2 decodable passage that includes taught vowel patterns
- Behavior
- Read the passage aloud
- Criterion
- With at least 95% accuracy on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A passage-reading probe
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, given 10 dictated words with taught vowel teams, the student will spell each word with the correct vowel spelling with 8 of 10 correct on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a dictation probe.
- Condition
- Given 10 dictated words with taught vowel teams
- Behavior
- Spell each word with the correct vowel spelling
- Criterion
- With 8 of 10 correct on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A dictation probe
- Time frame
- By the annual review
By the annual review, given 20 one-syllable words with any taught vowel pattern, mixed, the student will read each word aloud with 19 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes, measured by a mixed vowel pattern list.
- Condition
- Given 20 one-syllable words with any taught vowel pattern, mixed
- Behavior
- Read each word aloud
- Criterion
- With 19 of 20 correct on 3 consecutive probes
- Measure
- A mixed vowel pattern list
- Time frame
- By the annual review
From baseline to target: a worked example
A second grader reads 18 of 20 short-vowel words but only 7 of 20 vowel team words. She reads "boat" as "bot" and "rain" as "ran", so she sees the first vowel and ignores the second.
The team sets 17 of 20 on mixed vowel team lists. The teacher starts with ai and ee only and has the student underline the vowel team before reading. Probes in November reach 12 of 20, and the teacher adds oa and ea.
Short-term objectives
- By the end of the first grading period, the student will read mixed short-vowel and silent e words with 16 of 20 correct.
- By the end of the second grading period, the student will read words with ai, ay and ee with 16 of 20 correct.
- By the end of the third grading period, the student will read words with ai, ay, ee, ea and oa with 16 of 20 correct.
How do you measure progress?
- Mix the patterns on every probe, plus a few short-vowel words, so the student has to decide which sound to use.
- Note whether the student reads the vowel team as short, as the wrong long vowel, or skips it.
- Words with ea need care: "head" and "bead" use the same letters for different sounds. Leave words like "read" off lists, where either reading is a real word, and test them in sentences instead.
Common mistakes
- Writing one goal for all vowel teams, r-controlled vowels and diphthongs at once.
- Using lists where every word has the same vowel team.
- Teaching "when two vowels go walking" as a rule. It fails for many common words, so teach each team with its sound.