IEP Goals for Place Value

Learning place value is critical for expanding mathematical understanding past single-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—even for students who are on an individual education plan, or IEP. Understanding ones, tens, hundreds, thousands as well as tenths, hundredths, etc.—also referred to as the base 10 system—will help IEP students manipulate and use large numbers. Base 10 is also the foundation of the U.S. monetary system, and the metric measurement system.

Read on to find examples of IEP goals for place value that align to the Common Core State Standards.

The Common Core State Standards

Before you can write IEP goals for place value/the base-10 system, it's important to understand what the Common Core State Standards require for this skill. The standards, developed by a federal panel and adopted by 42 states, require that students—whether they are on an IEP or mainstream students in the general education population—must:

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IEP Math Goals for Common Core State Standards

By Jerry Webster

"Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. (They must also be able to):

• Count within 1,000; skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s.
• Read and write numbers to 1,000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form."

IEP Goals for the Place Value

Regardless of whether your student is eight or 18, she stills need to master these skills. The following IEP goals would be considered appropriate for that purpose. Feel free to use these suggested goals as you write your IEP. Note that you would replace "Johnny Student" with the name of your student.

• When given a two-digit number, Johnny Student will model the number using place value rods and blocks, with 90 percent accuracy in four out of five trials administered over a one-week period as measured by teacher-charted data and work samples.
• When presented with three-digit numbers, Johnny Student will correctly identify the digit in the ones, tens, and hundreds places with 90 percent accuracy in four out of five trials administered over a one-week period as measured by teacher-charted data and work samples.

Specific and Measurable

Remember that to be legally acceptable, IEP goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-limited. In the previous examples, the teacher would track the student's progress, over a one-week period, and document progress via data and work samples demonstrating the student can perform the skill with 90-percent accuracy.

You can also write place-value goals in a way that measures the number of correct student responses, rather the percentage of accuracy, such as:

• In a classroom setting, when given a missing numbers chart with numbers up to 100, Johnny Student will write nine out of 10 correct numbers in three out of four consecutive trials over a one-month period as measured by teacher and staff observation as well as work samples.
• When presented with a three-digit number between 100 and 1,000, Johnny Student will count up by 10's in nine out of 10 trials over a one-month period as measured by teacher and staff observation as well as work samples.

By writing the goals in this manner, you can track student progress through simple worksheets that allow the student to count by 10's. This makes tracking student progress in using the base-10 system much easier.