Smart Goal Setting

When you call on TeamUP! Tutors, we will create an actionable “Student Success Plan” for your child. The purpose of this written plan is to set clear goals and expectations for adoption by parents, the student, the tutor, and in some cases, the classroom teacher. Prior to preparing this document, we ask you questions to make it SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

For example, a parent may call and say, “My child, who usually gets at least a B in math, has a D and we’ve agreed she needs help to get her grade up.” This is a great start! We know a D in math is unusual for this student. We know the parent and student both want help. And we know their big-picture goal is to get her grade up.

At this point, we could send out a tutor and the student’s grade would surely improve. However, this hands-off approach would not allow us to make sure we were serving the student’s best interest let alone measuring for success.

As the original provider of Managed Tutoring, we know that simply sending a tutor is a disservice to a client who trusts us to help their child get results. In order to make a great tutor match and regularly monitor that tutoring is on track, we must first design targeted instructional recommendations that are personalized to the student’s individual learning needs.

What this program looks like is dependent upon the situation, student, and definition of success. Will we be tutoring a student who’s willing to work to bring her grade up to a C by the end of the quarter and a B the quarter after? Is she hoping for a miracle by Friday’s big test? Or is she determined to really learn the material and get an A? That’s where SMART planning comes in (see “How to Use SMART” below).

While we apply SMART to help families get the most out of every tutoring session, this goal-setting activity can also be used to identify specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals just about any time you have an objective to achieve.

How to Use SMART

Here’s an example of how to get SMART:

“My child, who usually gets at least a B in math, has a D and we’ve agreed she needs help to get her grade up.”