For guidance setting reasonable, yet challenging goals for students, see Star CBM Goal Setting Guidance. When you set goals, you can monitor students' progress on the Student Detail page, and you can see their Rate of Improvement (ROI). (Rate of improvement is not available for Sight and High-Frequency Words and Encoding goals.)
In Star CBM, goals help you monitor a student's progress toward a desired outcome over time. You can set a student goal for any measure that you have administered to the student at least once; students can have one current goal for each measure. You cannot set a goal for students who have not taken any Star CBM English assessments. Goals cannot be set for Rapid Automatic Naming assessments or for assessments being field tested.
When a student scores in the On Watch or Intervention benchmark categories for the suggested screening measure for each grade, you will see an Add Goal message in the Goal column.
| Suggested Screening Measures | ||
|---|---|---|
| Grade | Reading | Math |
| K | Letter Sounds | Numeral Recognition |
| 1 | Passage Oral Reading (Grade 1) | Quantity Comparison |
| 2 | Passage Oral Reading (Grade 2) | Addition to 20 |
| 3 | Passage Oral Reading (Grade 3) | Mixed Addition and Subtraction |
| 4 | Passage Oral Reading (Grade 4) | Not applicable |
| 5 | Passage Oral Reading (Grade 5) | Not applicable |
| 6 | Passage Oral Reading (Grade 6) | Not applicable |
Setting a Goal
Follow these steps to set goals. Note that you can edit or end the goals you set, but you cannot delete goals.
- In the Star Record Book, with the CBM English Assessments tab selected, there are three ways to start adding a goal:
- If you see Add Goal in the Goal column, setting a goal is suggested for the screening measure. Select Add Goal.
- If you don't see Add Goal in the Goal column, you can select ... in the column to set a goal for any assessed measure for the student.
- You can also select the latest score for any student and measure that does not have a goal; then, select Add Goal in the popup window. Note: If the score you choose is for Sight and High-Frequency Words, Passage Oral Reading, or Encoding and you already have a goal for assessments at one grade level, you can select Add Goal for Another Grade to set a goal for a different grade level.
- If you see Add Goal in the Goal column, setting a goal is suggested for the screening measure. Select Add Goal.
The "Add Goal" option is not available for Rapid Automatic Naming assessments.
- In the window that opens, enter a name for the goal.
- Next, use the drop-down list to choose which measure to set a goal for. If you started by selecting a student's score on the CBM English Assessments tab, the drop-down list will only include scores for the selected measure. If only one score is available for the goal, you will see that score instead of a drop-down list.
The "Recommended" goal is for the student's latest score for the suggested screening measure (see the table above); however, you can set a goal for any of the scores listed. Choose the one that you want to use as the goal starting point.
The score that you choose will remain the starting point for the goal, even if you later deactivate the assessment or edit the score for the assessment.
For Sight and High-Frequency Words, Passage Oral Reading, and Encoding, you can set goals for the grade levels that the student has been assessed for. However, only assessments at the student's grade level are recommended for goals, and only those scores have benchmarks available. In the example below, the student is in grade 1, but has taken Passage Oral Reading assessments for passages for grade 1 and grade 2. The grade 1 Passage Oral Reading Score is recommended for the goal, and it has a benchmark category (green - At/Above Benchmark), while the grade 2 score is shown in gray because benchmarks are not available outside the student's grade.
- Next, choose when the goal will end: the end of the school year or a Custom Date. If you select Custom Date, you can either enter the day in the Custom Date field or you can select the
icon and choose a date from the popup calendar. Note: Custom dates are not available for goals for Sight and High-Frequency Words and Encoding.
- Select Next.
- At the bottom of the window, you'll see a new section for the goal itself.
If you are setting a goal for a measure that has benchmarks available for the grade and season, goal recommendations will be available based on the benchmark category of the student's current score. You can choose one of the recommendations or select a custom Correct Per Minute (CPM) goal and enter your own goal.
If you are setting a goal for a measure that does not have benchmarks, no recommendations are available; enter a custom goal. - Select Save Goal.
Viewing Progress Toward Goals
After you save a goal for a student, you will see "Monitor Progress" on the measure that you set the goal for, and you will see the Track Goal icon in the Goal column for that student.
When you select Track Goal, you will go to the Student Details page with the Star CBM English tab selected. On that tab, for each of the student's current goals, you will see the goal details followed by a chart. On the chart, the line shows the rate at which the student's score would need to increase over the goal time period in order to achieve the goal. The star shows the goal itself and when it needs to be achieved. Above the chart, you will see the expected Rate of Improvement (ROI) per week needed to meet the goal and the student's actual ROI. (ROI is not shown for Sight and High-Frequency Words or Encoding.) If you need to change or end the goal, select Edit Goal above the chart and to the right and make your changes; if you want to delete the goal and remove all record of it, select Delete Goal. You can also select Hide Chart to hide it temporarily; select View Chart to see it again.
As you administer assessments for this measure, select Track Goal again to come back to this page. You will see the student's new scores and how they compare to the goal line; if you administer 3 or more assessments, you will also see a trend line that you can compare to the goal line.
If there is no chart, and a message says "There are no assessments associated with this goal," the only assessment associated with the goal has either been deactivated or transferred to another student. If you deactivated the assessment, you can reactivate it.
Below each goal chart, you will see a table of the student's assessments that apply to the current goal. (Assessments that don't apply to goals are listed in a separate table below the goal tables.) For each assessment, the goal table will show you the Rate of Improvement per week between the starting score for the goal and that assessment; for more information, see Rate of Improvement. (ROI is not shown for Site and High-Frequency Words and Encoding.)
For past goals, charts are hidden and only the tables are shown. However, next to the goal result (goal met or goal not met), you can select View Chart to see the goal chart. (Note: Goals from previous school years are not shown unless you select Load Results from Previous School Years at the bottom of the Student Details page for Star CBM assessments.) A student's goal is considered met when the student's last score in the goal time period is at or above the goal score.
Messages in the Class View's Goal Column
Back in the class view for CBM assessments, use the Goal column to see whether each student has current goals or needs a goal based on a score:
| Goal Column Message | What It Means |
|---|---|
| ... | The student has taken at least one assessment. You can set a goal by selecting …, but based on the measure assessed (or an At/Above Benchmark score on the screening measure), Star CBM isn't prompting you to set one at this time. |
| Add Goal | Star CBM suggests setting a goal for the student. This happens when the student receives an assessment on the screening measure for the grade and season, and the student's score falls in the On Watch or Intervention benchmark category. When you select Add Goal, the recommended measure will be selected by default. |
| Needs Screening | The student hasn't taken any Star CBM assessments. You can't set a goal until the student has taken at least one assessment. |
| Not Assessed | There is no recommended screening measure for the student's grade (may be seen for Pre-K or grades above the recommendations), and the student has not taken any assessments. You can't set a goal until the student has taken at least one assessment. |
| Track Goal | You have set at least one goal for the student; the measures that you have set goals for are labeled "Monitor Progress." When you select Track Goal, you will go to the Student Details page, and you will see charts showing the student's progress toward each of their goals as described above. You can select Edit Goal above a goal chart if you need to change a goal. |
Editing or Ending Goals
On the Student Details page and the Star CBM English tab, you can choose to edit a goal that is in progress or to end the goal immediately. Select Edit Goal above the chart. Note: If you have deactivated the assessment score that was the starting point for the goal, the Edit Goal link is not available; you need to reactivate the assessment before you can edit the goal.
The goal window will open.
If you want to edit the goal, you can change the name, the end date, or the type of goal (Moderate, Ambitious, or Custom), and if you choose a custom goal, you can change the goal itself. When you're done, select Save Goal.
If you want to end the goal now, select End Goal at the top of the window.
Deleting Goals
If you want to remove a goal completely without saving any record of it, select Delete Goal above the chart.
The window that opens will show the student name, goal name, and goal end date. If you are sure that you want to continue and remove all record of the goal, select Delete Goal. As noted in the message, the assessments will not be affected.