This guide is developed from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and reviews the 13 federal mandates that should be included in IEP goals. The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. acronym is embedded to illustrate how we developed the process. This is a valuable tool for parents, advocates, school staff, administrators, and university professors who teach college students in education majors and related services fields.

These three example goals illustrate the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Steps process to developing legally compliant IEPs. The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. prompting system is a guide to save time for teams when developing IEP goals. It includes all 13 federal mandates to ensure compliance. The guide can be easily communicated to staff and parents, removing the cumbersome jargon of special education laws. The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Steps process is helpful in preventing IEP stress and reducing disputes between parents and schools.

This one-page handout is a great visual for IEP meetings related to legally compliant goals. This is designed for parents, advocates, school staff, administrators, and university professors who teach college students in education and related services fields. The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. prompting system contains the 13 federal mandates for IEP goals, written in user-friendly terms without the legal jargon that can be confusing to teams. The handout can serve as a checklist for IEP meetings, showing that each area has been addressed in the goal. The intent of this handout is to reduce IEP stress and improve school-family communications.

This four-page guide is a time-saver for IEP Goal development! This is designed for parents, advocates, school staff, administrators, and university professors who teach college students in education and related services fields. The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. acronym is a prompting system that includes all 13 federal mandates to ensure compliance. The guide helps teams avoid common pitfalls of the frustrating goal-writing process and can be easily communicated to staff and parents, removing the cumbersome jargon of special education laws. The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Steps process is helpful in preventing IEP stress and reducing disputes between parents and schools.