Kansas Postsecondary Goals IEP: How to Write Measurable Transition Goals

What Kansas Requires

Under K.A.R. 91-40-1, every Kansas IEP for a student age 14 or older must include measurable postsecondary goals in at least two domains: education/training and employment. A third domain — independent living — is included when the IEP team determines it is appropriate based on the student's needs.

The word postsecondary is doing heavy lifting here. These goals describe what the student will do after leaving school, not what they will do while still enrolled. This is the single most common drafting error in transition IEPs nationwide, and Kansas is no exception.

What Measurable Actually Means

A measurable postsecondary goal uses a concrete action verb and describes an observable outcome that occurs after the student exits secondary education.

Compliant examples:

• "After high school, the student will enroll in a welding certificate program at Flint Hills Technical College."
• "After high school, the student will work in competitive integrated employment in the retail industry."
• "After high school, the student will live in a supported apartment and manage daily meals, laundry, and personal hygiene with weekly staff check-ins."

Non-compliant examples:

• "The student will explore career interests." (This is a school activity, not a postsecondary outcome.)
• "The student will learn about college options." (Process verb, no post-school outcome specified.)
• "The student will improve social skills for the workplace." ("Improve" is not measurable without a standard, and the goal describes school instruction, not post-school life.)

The test is simple: can you determine whether this goal was achieved by observing the student one year after they leave school? If the answer is no, the goal is not measurable.

The Assessment-Goal Connection

Postsecondary goals must be based on age-appropriate transition assessment data. This requirement exists to prevent teams from writing aspirational goals that do not reflect the student's actual interests, strengths, or support needs.

Before the IEP meeting where goals will be written, ensure that the school has administered relevant assessments — interest inventories, vocational aptitude measures, functional evaluations, or student interviews. The assessment results should be available for review at the meeting, and each postsecondary goal should trace back to specific findings.

If the team proposes a goal that contradicts the assessment data — an employment goal in a field the student has shown no interest in, for example — push back. The goal should reflect the student's preferences, not the team's assumptions about what is realistic.

Aligning With the Individual Plan of Study

Kansas requires all students to develop an Individual Plan of Study (IPS) starting around 8th grade. For students with IEPs, the IPS and the transition plan should be pulling in the same direction.

If the IPS shows the student exploring health sciences courses and career pathways, but the IEP's postsecondary employment goal says "will work in a grocery store," there is a disconnect. The IEP team should review the IPS as part of transition planning and ensure that coursework, career exploration, and postsecondary goals form a coherent plan.

Updating Goals as the Student Grows

Postsecondary goals are not permanent. They should be reviewed at every annual IEP meeting and updated based on new assessment data, work-based learning experiences, and the student's evolving interests.

A 14-year-old's goals will be broad — that is expected when the student is just beginning to explore career pathways. By 17 or 18, the goals should be significantly more specific, informed by years of assessments, job shadowing, internships, and community experiences.

The Kansas IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes examples of measurable postsecondary goals across all three domains, a goal-drafting checklist that flags the most common compliance errors, and a transition planning timeline that shows when goals should narrow from exploratory to specific.

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