Using ChatGPT to help create SMART IEP goals
The more I work with ChatGPT, the more I like it. When we educators think of supporting our students in class, we think of things like sentence starters, paragraph frames, and so forth. In these tasks, ChatGPT excels. But what about when we educators need help?
I wondered if ChatGPT could help me create IEP goals. My employer has a system that we use called Welligent. It’s an adapted medical records app that has an embedded “goal bank” that most use. The tool is mediocre at best. I don’t use the “goal bank,” and instead write my own SMART goals for my kiddos. But again, I wondered if ChatGPT could help improve the process.
Obviously, I would have to provide the appropriate prompts. After a bit of playing around, I came up with a strategy to get it to provide what I wanted. If you’re a paid subscriber (MANY THANKS!!!), keep reading. If not, please consider supporting my efforts here. Every little bit helps.
Here’s the basic format for the prompt:
Create a SMART (subject)+(objective) goal for a (which grade) student with an IEP eligibility of (insert eligibility for special education services) who is (insert a unique characteristic about the student’s struggles) and is struggling in their (insert subject).
Mine looked like this:
Create a SMART language development reading goal for a ninth grade student with an IEP eligibility of Specific Learning Disability who is a Gestalt Language Processor and is struggling in their English class.
Here’s the result from ChatGPT 3.5 (free version):
SMART Goal for Ninth Grade Student with Specific Learning Disability in Language Development:
Specific: The ninth grade student will improve his reading skills to enhance his language development and address his struggles in the English class.
Measurable: By the end of the school year, the student will demonstrate an improvement of at least one grade level in his reading comprehension and fluency skills as measured by standardized reading assessments.
Achievable: The student will work closely with a reading specialist for two 30-minute sessions per week, in addition to the regular English class. The specialist will provide targeted instruction and support tailored to the student's specific learning needs.
Relevant: Improving reading skills is essential for overall language development and academic success. Enhancing the student's reading abilities will directly address his struggles in the English class and support his progress in other subjects as well.
Time-bound: The student will work on achieving this goal for the entire school year, with periodic assessments conducted every quarter to monitor progress. The final assessment will be conducted at the end of the year to determine if the student has met the targeted improvement of at least one grade level.
It also included an example of a quarterly action plan in it’s response:
1. First Quarter:
- Assess the student's current reading abilities using a standardized reading assessment.
- Identify specific areas of weakness, such as reading comprehension or fluency.
- Develop an individualized reading plan with the student and the reading specialist.
- Implement targeted reading interventions during the weekly sessions and provide practice materials for independent study.
- Monitor the student's progress through ongoing assessments and observations.
2. Second Quarter:
- Continue implementing the reading plan, adjusting strategies as needed based on the student's progress.
- Provide additional support and scaffolding for challenging reading tasks.
- Encourage the student to engage in regular independent reading practice to build fluency and comprehension skills.
- Administer mid-year assessment to measure improvement and make any necessary adjustments to the intervention plan.
3. Third Quarter:
- Maintain the reading intervention plan and provide ongoing support during the weekly sessions.
- Introduce more complex reading materials aligned with the student's grade level.
- Incorporate comprehension strategies, such as summarizing, making connections, and inferencing.
- Monitor progress through formative assessments and adjust instruction accordingly.
4. Fourth Quarter:
- Continue implementing the reading plan, focusing on further developing the student's reading comprehension and fluency skills.
- Increase exposure to various genres and text types to enhance the student's reading abilities.
- Administer end-of-year assessment to evaluate the student's improvement and determine if the goal of at least one grade level growth has been achieved.
Throughout the school year, the student's progress should be regularly communicated with parents, teachers, and the IEP team to ensure everyone is working together to support the student's language development and academic success.
Summary of ChatGPT 3.5 Results
That’s an amazing result that I can use to build out my IEP. But, I wonder what ChatGPT 4.0 can do. Thanks again for being a supporter of this space as your contributions go to the monthly fee required to access 4.0.
Here’s the result from ChatGPT 4.0:
Sure, here's a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goal for a ninth-grade student with a Specific Learning Disability who is a Gestalt Language Processor:
**Specific**: Improve the student's comprehension and interpretation skills for grade-level texts, particularly in English Literature. This goal addresses the core of the student's struggle and is focused on enhancing specific aspects of his language development.
**Measurable**: The student will be able to correctly identify the main ideas, themes, characters, and plot details in grade-level literature. These can be measured using comprehension questions, quizzes, and essays about the texts. The goal is to increase the score from the current level to 80% accuracy on these assessments.
**Achievable**: This goal will be accomplished through targeted interventions, such as individual reading comprehension strategies (summarizing, predicting, questioning, clarifying, and connecting), explicit instruction on understanding the context of the story, and additional guided practice with support from both the special education and English teachers.
**Relevant**: Improving the student's comprehension and interpretation skills in English Literature is directly related to his performance in English class, enhancing his overall academic performance, and aligning with his IEP objectives.
**Time-bound**: By the end of the academic year, the student will improve his understanding and interpretation of grade-level English Literature texts, measured by scoring at least 80% on comprehension assessments.
To summarize:
"By the end of the academic year, the student will improve his comprehension and interpretation skills in English Literature. Through targeted interventions and guided practice, he will accurately identify main ideas, themes, characters, and plot details in grade-level texts with at least 80% accuracy on quizzes and comprehension assessments. This goal aligns with his IEP objectives and will contribute significantly to his overall performance in his English class."
But wait, there’s more.
OpenAI recently added a beta module for 4.0 that allows web browsing and the use of plug-ins. You can access this in the settings.
Once enabled, I clicked over to GPT 4.0 and browsed the plug-in marketplace. I found a few potentially helpful plug-ins to try.
I chose a bunch, but you can only enable three at a time. My choices were LinkReader, Scholar AI, and Upskillr.
With these enabled, I ran the prompt again in 4.0 beta. Here’s the new result:
Sure, here's a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goal for a ninth-grade student with Specific Learning Disability who is a Gestalt Language Processor and is struggling in English class:
Goal:
By the end of the first semester, the student will improve his reading comprehension skills, specifically in the area of understanding the main idea and supporting details of a text.
Specific: The student will read grade-level texts and answer comprehension questions with 80% accuracy.
Measurable: Progress will be measured through weekly quizzes and monthly assessments, with the aim of achieving an 80% accuracy rate.
Achievable: The student will work with a special education teacher three times a week during English class and will have access to additional resources such as audiobooks and graphic organizers to support his learning.
Relevant: This goal is directly related to the student's struggle in English class and is designed to improve his reading comprehension skills, which are essential for success in all academic areas.
Time-bound: The goal is to be achieved by the end of the first semester.
This goal is designed to be challenging yet achievable, and it is directly related to the student's identified area of need. It also allows for regular monitoring of progress, which is crucial for students with Specific Learning Disabilities.
I wanted an action plan.
I then asked it to provide an action plan for the student. ChatGPT 4.0 loaded the Upskillr plug-in and provided the following response:
1. **Identify Strengths and Weaknesses**: The first step is to identify the student's strengths and weaknesses in reading comprehension. This can be done through assessments and observations.
2. **Set Clear Expectations**: The student should be aware of the goal and what is expected of him. This includes understanding the main idea and supporting details of a text with 80% accuracy.
3. **Individualized Instruction**: The special education teacher should provide individualized instruction to the student. This could involve teaching strategies for understanding the main idea and supporting details, such as highlighting key points, summarizing paragraphs, and making predictions.
4. **Use of Assistive Tools**: The student should be encouraged to use assistive tools such as audiobooks and graphic organizers. These tools can help the student understand the text better.
5. **Regular Practice**: The student should have regular practice with grade-level texts. This could be done through homework assignments, in-class readings, and additional practice materials.
6. **Progress Monitoring**: The student's progress should be monitored regularly through weekly quizzes and monthly assessments. This will help determine if the student is making progress towards the goal and if any adjustments need to be made to the instruction or supports.
7. **Feedback and Encouragement**: The student should receive regular feedback on his progress. He should also be encouraged to keep working towards his goal, even if progress is slow.
8. **Review and Adjust**: At the end of the semester, the student's progress towards the goal should be reviewed. If the student has not met the goal, the action plan should be adjusted as necessary.
Remember, the key to a successful action plan is to ensure it is tailored to the student's individual needs and abilities. It should also be flexible enough to be adjusted as necessary based on the student's progress.
I wanted to know how effective this plan might be.
I then asked it to review the relevant literature and predict the success of the plan. It loaded Scholar AI and produced the following result:
Based on the research paper titled ["Early detection of learning difficulties using the BADyG-E2r Battery during primary education"](dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41155-020-00143-y), the proposed action plan has a high likelihood of success. The paper emphasizes the importance of early detection and intervention in students with learning difficulties, particularly those with Specific Learning Disabilities.
The paper suggests that cognitive abilities, particularly verbal and numerical reasoning, are strong predictors of academic success. The proposed action plan, which includes targeted interventions to improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency, aligns well with these findings. The use of assistive technology and multisensory teaching approaches, as suggested in the action plan, can also be beneficial in enhancing these cognitive abilities.
Moreover, the paper highlights the importance of individualized interventions and the implementation of psychopedagogical resources, which are also key components of the proposed action plan. The use of progress monitoring to adjust instruction and provide feedback can help in tailoring the interventions to the student's specific needs and learning style, which is crucial for a Gestalt Language Processor.
However, it's important to note that the success of the plan also depends on other factors such as the student's motivation, the support from teachers and parents, and the overall learning environment. Regular reviews and adjustments of the plan based on the student's progress are also essential to ensure its effectiveness.
Summary
What do you think? Which do you prefer?
I think there’s value in all responses that can be blended together, along with my specific input based upon my knowledge of the student. The goal isn’t to simply copy / paste these results into the IEP. The goal here is to help, to inspire the creation of a custom goal that meets the needs of the student. In both responses, I get good ideas to create the IEP. ChatGPT just helps speed things up.
Thanks for reading this far and thanks for your support. I’d love to see what you’ve come up with. Please feel free to comment below.