Clarification:

This descriptor addresses how students engage in goal setting to improve student performance and results over time. Goal setting is a critical component of achievement, motivation, persistence and focusing direction as students work to perform or attain goals. Students are more likely to commit to reaching their goals when goals are specific, measurable, attainable, timely and moderately difficult. Students' confidence and self-efficacy also increases when they see progress; therefore, self-monitoring and establishing milestones is an important element to the process, including making decisions about how to alter their strategies so that they move closer to goal attainment when the present options are not working. In addition, the goal setting process explicitly connects teaching and learning and allows teachers to also see how their instructional practices and performance needs to shift to address students' needs. Teachers can help students think through long-term goals and segment these into short-term sub-goals, determine strategies, timelines, and assess progress. They can also help students facilitate the process by coaching them through their thinking, problem solving, actions and behaviors related to the goals, e.g., asking students about how well their strategy(ies) are working and why, which specific strategies are having the greatest effect and why, etc. As students transition from high schools with goal setting skills and a clear mindset that values this type of thinking and problem solving, they will be much better prepared to face future challenges.