Goal Setting: Massachusetts' Educator Standards

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Years ago when Massachusetts came out with the criteria for excellence in education, I did a deep dive into the information by analyzing each standard and publishing my analysis in this TeachFocus website. The result of my analysis proved to me that the standards were good criteria for teaching well. The next summer, I revisited the standards and created a document that provided an easy reference for educators' analysis of the standards with the website: Reflect for Success (The document is clearly ready for an update since it was written five years ago.)

Since that time I have adopted a positive strategy for goal setting that matches the expected criteria for Massachusetts' educator evaluator success:

1. Review the standards in view of my work during the summer months.
2. Draft goals on my own online portfolio during the summer for the following year. 
3. Track efforts towards meeting the goals on the portfolio page throughout the year.
4. Use the portfolio page as a point of discussion with my evaluator throughout the year.
5. Transfer information from the portfolio page to evaluator's documentation as required.
6. Be on the lookout for professional activities, books, workshops, and other efforts to feed my professional goals throughout the year and apply as needed or interested.
7. Try to engage in at least one or two professional learning efforts each summer that match my goals for the year ahead.

This has been a good professional process for updating my career goals and working towards bettering my craft and contribution. I share this with others as I know it's difficult to keep up with all the work required of the teaching profession and this is one way to target and streamline your efforts.