Goal Setting to Create More Student Buy-In

Problem of Practice

In a high school math class, a prevalent issue arises as students consistently lack buy-in and fail to submit daily assignments. This lack of engagement impedes their ability to practice essential mathematical skills, hindering their progress in meeting academic standards. The challenge lies in motivating students to actively participate in daily assignments, as their reluctance undermines the crucial practice necessary for mastering mathematical concepts and achieving proficiency in the subject.

Tools Consideration Process

When trying to find a way to solve the problem of having students be more motivated and having more buy-in I considered several tools. I talked to students, coworkers, and administration in my building to get input to see which tools will best benefit our school.

Tools Considered

Goal Cards – Students select their own goal and then check in throughout the week.

Checklist/To Do List – Students are given a list of activities that need to be completed.

Effort Tracker – Students keep a list of activities completed and their grade or score on each activity.

Student Friendly Learning Targets - Learning targets that are written in student friendly language.

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Tools Rejected

Checklist/To Do List – Students are able to see daily activities each day in their google classroom.

Effort Tracker – Students can keep a check on their grades on infinite campus and google classroom.

Student Friendly Learning Targets – I felt that my learning targets were already student friendly.

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Tools Selected

Goal Cards – On Mondays I will go over the topics that we will be learning in class for the week and students will set their own goal for the week. They are required to make the goal obtainable but something they will have to work toward. On Wednesday they will check in on their goal card to see how the goal is coming. They will discuss if it is on track or if they think they will be able to make their goal. On Friday they will determine if they met their goal. They will then decided what they could have or should have done differently. They will reflect on how to change their goals for the next week.

How to Motivate

In the realm of education, fostering student engagement and commitment is an ongoing challenge. One powerful strategy to address this issue is to empower students by allowing them to set their own goals. When students take an active role in establishing their academic objectives, a sense of ownership and personal investment naturally emerges. This buy-in significantly enhances motivation, as students feel a greater connection to their learning journey when they have a say in its direction.

How to Measure

Student Surveys – students are surveyed on their thoughts on their work and their thoughts on the importance of work.

Delta Math – students’ percentage of completed assignments will be compared to the percentage of completed after the goal cards have been utilized.

Test – students’ test scores will be compared to before the goal cards and after the goal cards have been implemented.

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If - Then

If setting and checking goals improves student work outcomes, we’d expect that keeping goal trackers will lead to overall student averages to improve for formative assessments.     

Findings

When the project first began I had to really explain to the students that they were going to be responsible for setting their own goals. They had to understand that we were going to take time which is valuable to set the goal, check in on the goal and at the end of the week determine if we each met our goal. Students started setting their goals each Monday after I would discuss with the class what our learning intentions and success criteria for the week were going to involve. Usually the majority of the students would set their goal to make sure they had completed daily assignments with a lot of students who would specifically say they wanted to make sure to complete any delta math assignments. Delta Math is what triggered my idea for this study. Most students who set their goal for completing daily assignments are turning in more work and I have a higher percentage in ongoing class formative averages.

Did you get the expected results?

I did get the results I expected. There are more students completing daily assignments and by allowing the students to set their own goal they have taken it upon themselves to make this happen. Of course there are still some students who will set the goal and do little to achieve the goal. 

Did you get the expected results?

Any Tweeks?

I am continuing with goal setting. I have other teachers in my building who are doing the same and are still collecting data. I have decided that now at the beginning of each term I am going to allow my students to set long term (term long) goals as well as weekly goals to see how that may change class atmosphere as well as formative and summative grades.

How will you share?

I have already began sharing what I have learned with my coworkers in PLCs as well as my school principal. I am further going to discuss with my principal the possibility of leading a PD about goal setting with our school staff during summer or beginning of school year PD days.