Do you have a student with a decoding IEP goal and no idea what to do? Girl, I have been there. I don’t think I ever heard of decoding before I became a teacher. Obviously, I learned how to do it but I definitely didn’t know what it was. I know that I learned about decoding during my undergraduate studies. But, when I started my first learning support job and was combing through 13 different IEPs, I felt so overwhelmed because I had no idea what a closed syllable was or how to track an IEP goal for decoding multisyllabic words.
Thankfully, my district sent me to a full-day Wilson Reading training in November of my first year. Now that it has been nine years, I feel safe to admit that I definitely had no idea what I was doing before that training. I am pretty sure all the “data” I collected before that point was not accurate. When you know better, you do better.
If you were like me and decoding sounds familiar but you aren’t quite sure what it means or where to start with progress monitoring, let me help. Even if you get decoding, read on to find out how I simplified my progress monitoring systems for decoding IEP goals.
In “How to Simplify Progress Monitoring for Decoding IEP Goals,” we will discuss:
- What is decoding in reading?
- Decoding IEP goals examples
- How to progress monitor iep decoding goals
- Simple progress monitoring for a decoding iep goal
What is decoding in reading?
First of all, what is decoding in reading? Well, the English language is a code. It uses specific letter combinations to create different words. When we look at written words and use our knowledge of letter-sounds and patterns to pronounce words, we are decoding! When we learn these specific patterns, we are able to more quickly decode words and read faster. Basically, decoding is “sounding out” words. It is the key first step in the reading process.
When you talk about reading IEP goals, there are many different areas of focus. Goals could focus on phonemic awareness, letter/sound identification, decoding, reading fluency, or reading comprehension. When would you use a decoding goal? First, you would want to add a decoding goal if the student has “decoding” listed as a need in their evaluation report. You would also want to add a decoding iep goal if the student had mastered their phonemic awareness goals and letter/sound identification goals. This piece is so important because students need to be able to manipulate sounds (phonemic awareness) and know letter sounds before they can move onto decoding.
Decoding IEP goals examples
What are decoding IEP goals examples? Let’s talk about it! When writing IEP goals, you want to be sure you know how you will monitor these goals. In my classroom, we use the Wilson Reading System for decoding and encoding instruction. This program is based on Orton-Gillingham principles to teach word structure and increase fluency by moving through words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs. I found the training through Wilson to be very thorough in helping me under the different syllable types and rules for decoding.
When I am writing decoding IEP goals, I write them based on the student’s baseline in the progression of Wilson steps. Here is a brief overview of the steps:
- Step 1 – Closed syllables (short vowels)
- Step 2 – Closed syllables (short vowels) with consonant blends and glued sounds
- Step 3 – Multisyllabic words with closed syllables
- Step 4 – Vowel-consonant-e syllables
- Step 5 – Open syllables
- Step 6 – Suffix endings and consonant-le syllables
- Step 7 – Spelling options, contractions
- Step 8 – R-controlled syllables
- Step 9 – Vowel digraphs
- Step 10 – Additional suffixes
- Step 11 – Additional I, E, Y work
- Step 12 – Advanced phonics skills
There are substeps in each step that break down the larger skill into more manageable chunks. First, check with your district to see their best practice on writing decoding goals. I have seen districts write these goals in different ways. One way is to write annual goals based on the step of Wilson. Here is an example of a goal for step 3.
Example: Given a controlled text word list containing multisyllabic words with closed syllables, Student will read with 80% accuracy on two out of three consecutive probes as measured weekly (Baseline: 10% accuracy).
You will notice the goal includes a condition (given a controlled text word list containing multisyllabic words with closed syllables), a clearly defined behavior (student will read), performance criteria (with 80% accuracy on two out of three consecutive probes as measured weekly). I know some schools will also have you list “by the end of the IEP” at the end of the goal. Personally, I do not include that because these are all annual goals so they should all be mastered by the end of the IEP year. Sidenote – I am not a lawyer so please do not take this as legal counsel.
Decoding IEP goal with objectives
Example: Given controlled text word lists with closed syllables (up to 3 sounds plus suffix -s), Student will orally read with 85% accuracy on 2 out of three consecutive weekly probes given at the time of instruction
on closed syllables.
- Objective 1: Given controlled text word lists with closed syllables containing the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern (CVC), Student will orally read with 80% accuracy on 2 out of three consecutive weekly probes given at the time of instruction on closed syllables.
- Objective 2: Given controlled text word lists with closed syllables containing digraphs (sh, ch, ck, th, wh), Student will orally read with 80% accuracy on 2 out of three consecutive weekly probes given at the time of instruction on closed syllables.
- Objective 3: Given controlled text word lists with closed syllables containing bonus letters (ff, ll, ss, zz) and glued sound all, Student will orally read with 80% accuracy on 2 out of three consecutive weekly probes given at the time of instruction on closed syllables.
- Objective 4: Given controlled text word lists with closed syllables containing glued sounds an and am, Student will orally read with 80% accuracy on 2 out of three consecutive weekly probes given at the time of instruction on closed syllables.
- Objective 5: Given controlled text word lists with closed syllables containing suffix s, Student will orally read with 80% accuracy on 2 out of three consecutive weekly probes given at the time of instruction on closed syllables.
In that example, students would work through one objective at a time isolating specific skills before moving on to the next level. Check with your school to see their best practices on writing IEP decoding goals.
How to progress monitor IEP decoding goals
Now the tricky part, how do you monitor a decoding IEP goal? Depending on the teaching materials you are using, controlled text word lists may already be provided! When using Wilson, you could assess students by having them read part of a page in the word reading section. These words are controlled, meaning that they are following a specific pattern.
If your students have decoding iep goals, you really just need controlled text word lists. You show students their word list and record what percentage of words the student read correctly. If your phonics program comes with readers, see if you can make those work for progress monitoring.
This is what I did for my first two years of teaching. It worked fine, but it felt a little cumbersome because I would have a sticky note for where each student needed to read in a book. However, this got a little confusing when students switched books or when paraeducators accidentally removed the sticky note. One thing I did not like was that some patterns only have two or three pages to choose from. I would then have to repeat lists if the student did not master that part of the goal. Keep reading to find out how I fixed my mess of progress monitoring!
Simple progress monitoring for a decoding IEP goal
I’ll be totally honest, I like pretty things. My binders are all white and have matching labels. If something doesn’t match, I will definitely spend the extra few dollars to get a new one that matches. Old worksheets that have been photocopied a million times make me cringe. I am definitely willing to take the extra few minutes to recreate an old worksheet so that the new copy is crisp and has a cute border.
So what do you think I did about my mess of progress monitoring? I made it cute! I wrote out enough word lists to last a whole year! Each pack includes a student version and teacher version. The teacher version includes a list for decoding and a separate list for encoding! Because each pack includes 40 unique lists, you should not have to repeat lists for an entire year!
Want to see a sample of what this looks like? Grab my Decoding and Encoding Progress Monitoring for Closed Syllables sample.
If you also want to save time and stress too, grab whatever set you need!
- Words with Closed Syllables
- Closed Syllables with Consonant Blends
- Multisyllabic Words with Closed Syllables
- Vowel Consonant E Words
- Open Syllable Words
- Consonant-le Words
- R-controlled Syllables
- Long A Vowel Teams
- Long E Vowel Teams
- Vowel Teams Oi Oy Oo Ou Ow
Can you imagine never having to look for word lists again? What would it be like to have 40 lists for every single syllable type all at your finger tips? Grab the full bundle Decoding and Encoding Progress Monitoring all 6 Syllable Types today and start getting your progress monitoring systems under control!
Related Articles
- How to Use IEP Goal Tracking Sheet to Save Time
- How to Organize Progress Monitoring
- What are Closed Syllables?
