Be S.M.A.R.T. About RTI in Your School

When we begin to execute Response to Intervention (RTI) in our schools, we know we have to generate strong, solid goals to guide us in our implementation. Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has as one of his seven correlates, "Begin with the end in mind." As we envision RTI in our schools, there needs to be agreement concerning the end product — student achievement — and we need to work collectively to reach that outcome.

There has been a lot of attention given to the use of S.M.A.R.T. goals as a means to monitor a vision. S.M.A.R.T. goals are simplistic in nature and powerful in results. Businesses have been using S.M.A.R.T. goals for years and, as noted below in the definition taken from Wikipedia, the Dufours use S.M.A.R.T. goals as they work with educators all over the country as they apply Professional Learning Community concepts in schools. S.M.A.R.T. goals drive the dream and they bring meaning to the effort. S.M.A.R.T. goals promote collaboration and they organize the team, and they instill the focus needed to maintain the energy of implementation. If RTI is being done in your school, you know the importance of teamwork, collaboration, and focus. S.M.A.R.T. goals bring all three of these actions together in very meaningful ways.

Below you will find a portion of the definition for S.M.A.R.T. goals taken from Wikipedia:

S.M.A.R.T.Goals Definition:

The letters for S.M.A.R.T. goals typically stand for:

S — Specific
M — Measurable
A — Achievable
R — Realistic
T — Time-based

Richard and Becky Dufour (August 2008) have popularized the term, "S.M.A.R.T. Goals" in schools and districts throughout the United States. Grade level and department teams of teachers determine their S.M.A.R.T. goal. The S.M.A.R.T. goal helps to focus the team on one goal which the whole team is accountable for achieving. Teams are continuously asking three questions:

 

1. What do we want our students to learn?
2. How will we know if they learn it?
3. What will we do if they don't learn it?

The three questions at the end of this Wikipedia definition are at the core of Professional Learning Communities (PLC), as well as at the core of RTI. We need to respond when students are not learning. The most important word in each of the three Dufour questions above is the word "We."  Working together, we create the conditions that lead to student success. We are held to our achievement data, bound by a time-schedule, with identified specific outcomes that can be monitored frequently as we push toward our vision of student achievement. S.M.A.R.T. goals create a healthy "level of concern" that compels us to keep on track-together. We respond quickly when students are not learning. Here are two ways that schools can use S.M.A.R.T. goals in their schools:

1. S.M.A.R.T. Goals As They Relate to District and School Building Initiatives
   In their book, Learning by Doing (2006), The Dufours have created a wonderful process for using S.M.A.R.T. goals to promote change in schools. The RTI process fits in nicely with PLC concepts and its focus on learning. When implementing RTI in your school, I strongly recommend that you use the PLC ideas to create a strong framework for school improvement. PLC's ask that schools move from strategic planning objectives and to use S.M.A.R.T. goals in two very specific ways. They suggest that districts and schools have only a few long-term S.M.A.R.T. "global" goals, and that the collaborative teams in schools establish team goals related to these district and school long-term goals. By doing so, teams can benchmark their effectiveness as they work together for improvement. When implementing RTI, overall goals for implementation translate to team goals that focus on student achievement and that provide immediate feedback to team effectiveness.
2. S.M.A.R.T. Goals As They Relate to Individual Students
   As a principal I have seen the value of the use of S.M.A.R.T. goals for school improvement. As an educator, I have really seen the value of writing S.M.A.R.T. goals for individual students. S.M.A.R.T. goals for an individual student is just good sense, especially for students receiving services at Tiers 2 and 3. Imagine if you will a team of educators meeting together to talk about individual students who need support for specific skills in reading. Using S.M.A.R.T. goals, the team creates specific instructional plans for each individual student, shows how the team will measure student growth, has clear, established benchmarks for achievement which are based on the specific abilities of the child, and has a specific time-line that is checked and monitored frequently by the team to ensure student success. Seems very simplistic! It is if you have good instructional data and a strong curriculum.

Isn't that what RTI is all about? Doesn't the use of S.M.A.R.T. goals just make good sense? RTI and the use of S.M.A.R.T. goals is a marriage made in heaven, at both the building level and when providing a framework for monitoring achievement and instructional effectiveness in a timely, simplistic, and organized manner as we work with individual students.  Use S.M.A.R.T. goals to drive your RTI initiative in your school, and you will be amazed at the success you will have. I guarantee it!