Mastery criteria
Last updated
Mastery criteria state how consistently a student must reach a goal's criterion, such as on three consecutive probes, before the goal counts as met.
Topic: The IEP document
In plain terms
A single good day does not show a skill is learned. Mastery criteria add the consistency piece: "on 3 consecutive probes," "in 4 of 5 sessions over two weeks," or "across two settings and two adults." They protect against declaring success too early and help decide when to move to the next objective.
How it shows up in an IEP
Mastery criteria tell the teacher how often to collect data and how to read it at reporting time. They should be realistic for the data schedule: requiring 5 consecutive sessions on a goal probed once a month would take most of the year to confirm.
Example
A goal reads "80% accuracy on 3 consecutive weekly probes." The student scores 80%, 70%, 85%, 90% and 80%, so mastery is met on the fifth week, when the last three probes all reach 80%.
Related terms
- CriterionThe criterion in an IEP goal is the level of performance that counts as success, such as 80% accuracy, 60 words per minute, or 4 of 5 opportunities.
- Measurable annual goalA measurable annual goal is an IEP goal written so that two different people could observe the student and agree on whether it was met.
- GeneralizationGeneralization is a student's use of a learned skill in new settings, with new people or materials, and without the original teaching supports.
- ProbeA probe is a brief check of a skill, given without teaching or help, to see what the student can do independently at that moment.
- Progress monitoringProgress monitoring is the regular, repeated measurement of a student's performance on a skill to check whether instruction is working.
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