How to Write SMART Goals for a Documented Plan in WA Schools

The goals inside your child's Documented Plan are the most important part of the document. Not the adjustments list, not the staffing arrangements — the goals. Because without a measurable goal, there is no mechanism to hold anyone accountable when nothing changes.

Advocacy organizations including Developmental Disability WA (DDWA) report that vague, unmeasurable goals are the primary reason Documented Plans fail WA students. A plan full of aspirations like "will become more confident in social situations" sounds reasonable but proves nothing at review time. It cannot pass or fail. It cannot be used to argue for more resources or a change of approach.

WA Department of Education guidelines explicitly require SMART targets: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Here is what that means in practice.

What Makes a Goal SMART in WA

Specific means the goal names the exact skill, behaviour, or curriculum outcome being targeted. It does not describe a general direction. "Will improve literacy" is a direction. "Will independently identify the main idea in a Year 3 level text passage" is a specific skill.

Measurable means there is a number attached — a percentage, a frequency count, a duration, or a defined threshold. Without a number, there is no objective answer to "did we achieve this?" Measurable goals use language like: "on 4 out of 5 observed occasions," "in 80% of attempts," "within 3 minutes," or "across 3 consecutive sessions."

Achievable means the target is calibrated to the student's current baseline. Setting a goal that is too ambitious wastes a term. Too easy and the school has no incentive to act. The baseline comes from current assessment data — NAPLAN, PAT scores, observational data, or allied health reports. If the school hasn't shared that data with you before setting the goal, ask for it.

Relevant means the goal directly addresses the core deficit affecting the child's educational access. A goal about skipping rope for a student whose primary barrier is written expression is not relevant. Every goal should have a clear answer to: "How does achieving this help my child access the WA curriculum?"

Time-bound means the goal has a review date. WA policy specifies a five-week review cycle, aligned to the school term structure. Each goal should reference the specific review point — for example, "by the Week 5 review meeting of Term 3."

Examples: Poor Goals vs SMART Goals

Literacy — Writing Poor: "Will improve written expression." SMART: "Will independently write a three-sentence paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting detail, and ending sentence, using correct full stops and capital letters, in 4 out of 5 writing tasks by Week 5 of Term 2."

Behaviour — Attention Poor: "Will remain focused during class time." SMART: "Will remain seated and on-task during 15-minute mat sessions on 4 of 5 observed days per week, measured by teacher observation log, reviewed at Week 5 of Term 3."

Social Communication Poor: "Will make more friends and improve social skills." SMART: "Will initiate a conversation with a peer using a verbal greeting and a question on 3 out of 5 school days, monitored by the Learning Support Coordinator, reviewed at end of Term 2."

Functional — Transitions Poor: "Will manage classroom transitions more smoothly." SMART: "Will transition between classroom activities within 2 minutes of a verbal and visual cue without adult prompting, on 4 of 5 observed transitions per week, by Week 5 of Term 3."

The WA Five-Week Review Cycle

Most parents assume Documented Plans are reviewed once a term. In practice, WA policy requires more frequent monitoring. Teachers should review whether the student is on track every five weeks — roughly aligning to the five-week blocks within each school term.

At the end of each term, the plan must be formally evaluated, progress annotated, and parents informed via the SEN reporting system. "Reviewed" does not mean just re-reading the document. It means: comparing the student's actual performance against the measurable targets, noting whether the goal was met, partially met, or not met, and adjusting the goals for the next cycle accordingly.

If the school is handing you a report at term's end that says "making progress" without any data, that is not a compliant SEN report. Ask specifically: "What data was collected against each goal this term?"

How to Reject a Draft Plan with Vague Goals

When the school presents draft goals that don't meet the SMART criteria, you do not sign. You can:

1. Request a meeting recess to review the draft before signing
2. Write alternative goal drafts and bring them to the SSG meeting
3. Email the Learning Support Coordinator after the meeting with SMART rewrites for each goal, asking them to be incorporated before the plan is finalized

You can cite the WA Department of Education's own Students at Educational Risk guidelines, which explicitly require SMART goals. This is not a parental preference — it is departmental policy.

Do not let the school normalize a second-rate plan by saying "we can update it at the next review." A plan with vague goals gives you nothing to build on for the next six months.

Connecting Goals to the WA Curriculum

Goals should reference specific WA curriculum standards where possible. For students following the standard Western Australian Curriculum, goals can be anchored to content descriptions at a specific year level — which provides both a baseline and a clear escalation point if the student is working significantly below or above year-level expectations.

For students on the ABLEWA (Abilities Based Learning Education WA) framework — used in Education Support Centres and for students with high educational needs in mainstream settings — goals should reference the appropriate ABLEWA phase. The ABLEWA phases run from Phase 1 (pre-intentional) through to Phase 6 (functional academic skills), allowing individualized goals even for students working well below standard curriculum benchmarks.

Linking goals to curriculum documentation also strengthens any future IDA application. When goals reference specific evidence of educational need against curriculum benchmarks, the application is far more defensible than one based on general clinical descriptions.

The Western Australia Disability Support Blueprint includes a SMART goal-writing worksheet specifically designed for WA Documented Plans, with worked examples across disability categories and a goal audit checklist to use before signing any plan.

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