Alaska IEP Goal Bank: Writing Measurable Goals That Meet 4 AAC 52

The IEP goal section is where most plans fall apart. Goals that sound reasonable in a meeting often turn out to be unmeasurable, unambitious, or completely disconnected from what the evaluation found. Alaska's regulations require more than the federal baseline — and understanding what a compliant, useful goal actually looks like changes how you review your child's IEP.

What Alaska's Benchmark Requirement Means for Goals

Under 4 AAC 52.140(g), Alaska requires that IEP goals include short-term objectives or benchmarks for all students — not just students taking alternate assessments. This is stricter than federal IDEA, which only requires benchmarks for students in alternate assessments.

Benchmarks are intermediate steps toward annual goals. If the annual goal is to read at 90 words per minute by year's end, a benchmark might be 60 words per minute by January and 75 by April. Benchmarks give you checkpoints to assess whether the IEP is working — if your child hasn't reached the January benchmark, the team should be adjusting the intervention, not waiting until June.

When you receive a draft IEP with goals but no benchmarks, you are looking at a regulatory violation under Alaska law. This is a document you can return with a written request for compliant goal writing before signing.

Anatomy of a Well-Written IEP Goal

Every measurable IEP goal contains four components:

• Condition — the context in which the skill is demonstrated ("given a 100-word unpracticed passage," "during unstructured social time," "when presented with a multi-step math problem")
• Student behavior — the observable, measurable skill ("will read aloud," "will initiate a greeting," "will correctly solve")
• Criterion — the level of accuracy or frequency that constitutes mastery ("at 95% accuracy," "4 out of 5 opportunities," "on 3 consecutive probes")
• Timeframe — when the goal will be met ("by [date]" or "by the annual review")

A goal that lacks any of these components is incomplete and will be difficult to measure, which means you have no way to know whether it's being addressed.

Reading Goals

Oral reading fluency:

• "By [date], given a grade-level unpracticed passage, [student] will read aloud at a rate of [X] words per minute with 95% accuracy, across 3 consecutive weekly probes."
• Benchmark: [X-15] words per minute by Q1 review; [X-8] by Q2 review

Reading comprehension:

• "By [date], after reading a grade-level passage independently, [student] will answer 4 of 5 literal comprehension questions correctly without re-reading the passage, across 4 of 5 consecutive probes."

Phonics/decoding (for early readers):

• "By [date], given a list of 20 nonsense words containing consonant blends, [student] will correctly decode 80% of words, across 3 of 4 consecutive weekly probes."

Writing Goals

Written expression:

• "By [date], given a writing prompt, [student] will produce a 5-sentence paragraph with a topic sentence, 3 supporting details, and a conclusion, with no more than 3 mechanical errors per paragraph, in 4 of 5 opportunities."

Sentence construction:

• "By [date], [student] will write 5 grammatically complete sentences using correct capitalization and terminal punctuation with 90% accuracy, across 4 consecutive written samples."

Spelling:

• "By [date], given weekly grade-level spelling words, [student] will correctly spell 80% of words on an unannounced spelling check, across 4 of 5 weekly probes."

Math Goals

Computation:

• "By [date], given a mixed probe of 20 addition and subtraction problems within 100, [student] will correctly complete 16 of 20 problems in 5 minutes, across 3 consecutive probes."

Problem-solving:

• "By [date], given grade-level word problems requiring 2-step solutions, [student] will correctly identify the operation needed and solve the problem with 75% accuracy across 4 of 5 consecutive probes."

Communication Goals

Expressive communication (verbal):

• "By [date], when requesting a desired item during structured activities, [student] will use a complete verbal request (carrier phrase + item) without a model prompt, in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 sessions."

AAC use:

• "By [date], [student] will independently use a speech-generating device to request preferred items in 4 of 5 opportunities during snack and free choice, as measured by daily communication logs."

Social communication:

• "By [date], during structured peer interaction, [student] will initiate a topic-related comment or question at least once per 10-minute session, across 4 of 5 consecutive sessions."

Behavioral and Self-Regulation Goals

Task initiation:

• "By [date], [student] will begin a non-preferred academic task within 2 minutes of a direction, with no more than 1 verbal prompt, across 4 of 5 opportunities per week."

Self-monitoring:

• "By [date], using a self-monitoring checklist, [student] will accurately rate their own on-task behavior during independent work within 10% of teacher rating, across 4 of 5 consecutive checks."

Emotional regulation:

• "By [date], when experiencing frustration, [student] will use a self-identified coping strategy (named in the BIP) before the behavior escalates to [target behavior], in 4 of 5 opportunities, as measured by incident data."

Social Skills Goals

• "By [date], during a structured social skills group, [student] will take a conversational turn (respond to a peer's question and ask a related question) in 3 of 4 opportunities, across 3 consecutive sessions."
• "By [date], [student] will identify 3 social problem scenarios and generate 2 appropriate responses per scenario with 80% accuracy, as measured by scenario assessment."

Transition Goals (Required by Age 16 Under 4 AAC 52.145)

Post-secondary education:

• "By [date], [student] will independently research 3 post-secondary programs aligned with stated career interests and complete a comparison chart identifying admission requirements, program length, and costs."

Employment:

• "By [date], [student] will complete a job application form independently with no more than 2 prompts, across 3 consecutive applications."

Independent living:

• "By [date], [student] will independently plan and prepare a simple 3-ingredient meal following a written recipe, with no adult prompts, across 4 of 5 consecutive opportunities."

Common Goal-Writing Errors to Flag

When reviewing your child's IEP goals, watch for these problems:

• Goals that describe services ("will receive speech therapy twice weekly") rather than skills — these are placement decisions, not goals
• Percentage criteria below 70% that would be considered failure in any other context
• Goals that have not changed from the previous year despite data showing the student met or failed the previous goal
• No baseline data referenced in the goal (you cannot know if a goal is ambitious without knowing where the student started)

If you identify any of these issues, request a team meeting to revise goals before implementing the IEP. In Alaska, you can also record that meeting under AS 42.20.310 without notifying the school.

The Alaska IEP & 504 Blueprint includes goal templates, a benchmarking guide, and a checklist for reviewing whether IEP goals comply with 4 AAC 52.

For a broader overview of IEP goal writing, see our IEP goal bank.

See more United States homeschool guides →