Goal Setting: From research to practice

Presented by: Gretchen Bitterlin, San Diego Community College

Donna Price, San Diego Community College

Sylvia Ramirez, MiraCosta College

What the research says• Adult students need support in order to persist.• Students are more concerned about support than

barriers.• Support falls into four categories:

Goal orientation

Personal relationships

Teachers and other students

Self - efficacy

Goal Setting• Adult learners who have specific goals are

more likely to persist in their studies.

• The primary incentive to learner retention is learners being able to set a goal and realize some progress in reaching that goal.

(Comings et al., 1999)

What are two strategies?

• Setting goals

• Seeing progress towards goals

Setting Goals• Find out about students’ purposes for attending

during intake or orientation and connect these purposes to their specific and broad goals.

• Use a variety of assessments for determining students’ skills and needs.

• Help students clearly identify their goals and develop an action plan to achieve those goals.

Progress Towards Goals• Revisit goals individually or as a classroom

activity.• Ask students to identify ways to know they have

met their goal to acknowledge success.• Find ways to celebrate progress.• Provide ways for students to see success early in

program participation.

Goal Setting Lesson PlansStep by Step Goal Setting Lesson

Plans by San Diego Community College District

• Lesson plan 1• Lesson plan 2 • Lesson plan 3

• Other goals

Goal Setting Process

Goal Setting Process at MiraCosta College

• Individual goal setting forms

• Process for revisiting goals

MiraCosta Noncredit ESL Webpage

Goal Setting

Lee Chou’s Paragraph

Advanced Level Goal Setting Form

Advanced Level Goal Setting Form

Published Materials and Goal Setting

• Excellent English, Book 2, Chapter 12:  Personal and Educational Goals, McGraw Hill

• Stand Out, Book 2, Chapter 8:  Goals and Lifelong Learning, Heinle & Heinle

• Step Forward, Book 2, Chapter 1:  Learning to Learn, Oxford University Press

• Ventures, Book 2, Unit 2:  Education, Cambridge University Press

PowerPoint Presentation and Handouts

• Go to:

http://www.miracosta.edu/home/sramirez

• Click on Articles and Presentations