Download: IEP goal tracker

Your child’s IEP includes annual goals. While the school is required to update you on progress toward the goals, you may want to keep track on your own, too.

This IEP goal tracker can help you stay on top of your child’s IEP goals, present level of performance, and progress. It can also help you keep track of questions or observations you might want to raise with the IEP team.

Tracking progress doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to fill out this downloadable IEP goal tracker. (Most of it can be found right on your child’s IEP.)

• The goals on your child’s current IEP
• Your child’s present level of performance
• The smaller steps (sometimes called benchmarks or short-term objectives) it will take to meet the goal. If you don’t know what they are, you can ask the IEP team, “What skills should I expect my child to be learning to make progress toward this goal?”

The downloadable goal tracker includes an example you can follow as you fill out the chart.

It’s important to gather information to help you keep track of questions you want to ask the school about your child’s progress. Collect work samples and progress reports. And take note of any difficulty your child is having with homework.

Often, the goals on an IEP will be numbered. If that’s not the case with your child’s IEP, you may want to number them yourself. Then you can match the goal numbers to the work samples you’ve gathered. That can help you be more organized when you show the team examples that relate to a specific goal.

You’re an important part of the IEP team, and the more you know about annual goals, the better. Learn how to tell if your child’s goals are SMART. And know what to consider when the team is developing goals.