Volume 11, Spring 2005
Part 1: A Powerful Graphic Organizer for Creating SMART Goals:
The SMART Goal Tree
When we first worked with the New Berlin schools in 1997, we taught a very simple graphic organizer adapted from the "quality toolbox" called the tree diagram. They began using the tree diagram to construct SMART goals and discovered that their collaboration became much more focused, much more concrete.
We'll walk through its components from left to right, using a writing goal from a district in Michigan captured in S.M.A.R.T.ToolsTM as an example. The largest box at the far left is where you would put a results-based goal focused on the greatest area of need, the overall amount of improvement desired, and the timeframe. Since SMART goals are gap closers toward the long-term vision of all students meeting or exceeding standards, you will need to examine your data first to see what would be attainable AND a "goal worthy of commitment" within a given timeframe. We encourage schools to set goals that are at least two to three years out, to give themselves the kind of longer term strategic focus that would result in significant improvement.
Indicators are the evidence we look for to see if the goal is being achieved. In the case of school academic goals, they would be the standards or benchmarks that students have performed most poorly on over a number of years in the greatest area of need. Using Pareto thinking (focus only on the "vital few" areas needing improvement for the highest leverage of your time), the selected standards would be "priority standards" — those few standards that are the weakest.
The measures are the assessments you will use to gauge progress on the indicators. In our school example, one measure is the annual state test and the other is a district assessment.
Finally, establishing improvement targets for each measure allows you to not only track overall improvement to the average but also to track by sub-group. Targets can also be defined on a year by year basis as incremental steps toward the longer range goal.
At a grade or department level, a team of teachers would select a priority standard and "unpack" the learning targets underpinning that standard. ("Underpinning learning targets" are also called "essential learning outcomes" — the skills and performances students need to know and be able to do.) The team would then use a common measure to assess students' skills and knowledge. An analysis of the results from the common measure would reveal which skills to focus on for improvement. Targets at the classroom level would be established on a shorter time frame, and would focus on improving students' level of performance from "below" to "at" and "above" proficiency.
