How to measure community-based instruction goals

Community-based instruction (CBI) is where life skills get real: a store, a bus, a restaurant, a library. It is also where data collection falls apart. Staff are counting students at the curb, handling money, watching traffic and answering a cashier, and the clipboard stays in the van. The fix is a plan that asks for less data, collected the same way every time.

This guide covers how to measure CBI goals, with a worked example for one student. Planning the outings themselves (sites, staffing, permission, budget) is covered in community-based instruction planning. The life skills IEP goals pillar lists the goals CBI usually serves.

What you need before you start

• Each student's CBI goal, written with a condition that names the community setting. "In a grocery store" or "on a city bus," not just "in the community."
• A short task analysis for each goal: 8 to 16 steps is ideal for an outing.
• A prompt code everyone uses: I, V, G, M, P.
• A rotation that says which students are probe students on each trip.
• A pocket data card or a phone form, since a clipboard is awkward in a store.

Step-by-step: collecting CBI data

Step 1: Choose probe students for each trip

You cannot score six students on one trip. Pick one or two probe students per outing and rotate. Everyone else practices with normal teaching and prompting.

Example: a class of 6 goes to the grocery store every Tuesday. Two students are probed each week, so each student is probed every 3 weeks. Add a school-based probe in the off weeks if the goal needs more data.

Step 2: Shrink the data sheet to pocket size

Print the steps on an index card or a half sheet, with one column for the date. Or set up a phone form with each step as a 5-choice question. The adult scoring should have nothing else to carry.

Example: a 4-by-6 card with 12 steps down the left and the student's initials at the top. The card goes back in the student's folder after the trip.

Step 3: Assign one adult to score, one to teach

The scoring adult stands back and records. A second adult handles prompts and safety. If only one adult can work with the probe student, score right after each step, not at the end of the trip.

Example: the para scores, the teacher prompts. On the next trip they switch.

Step 4: Record the prompt for every step

Write the code for the least help the student needed on each step. Do not skip steps the student did well; an I is data too. If a step did not happen (the store had no line), mark NA and leave it out of the count.

Example: a student finds the aisle with a gesture (G), picks the item alone (I), and needs a verbal cue to check the price (V).

Step 5: Note the setting and anything unusual

Write the store or route, the time and anything that changed: a new layout, a crowded store, a substitute adult. These notes explain dips on the graph.

Example: "Store B, 10:15 a.m., self-checkout closed."

Step 6: Graph community and school data separately

Practice at school (a classroom store, a school cafe) and probes in the community answer different questions. Graph them as two lines on the same chart. The community line is the one that shows generalization.

Example: classroom store probes reach 14 of 16 steps in 4 weeks; community probes lag at 9 of 16. The team adds more community practice instead of more classroom drills.

Worked example: one student, one semester

Priya (fictional) is 17, in a transition program. Her goal: "Given a picture list of 5 items and $20, Priya will complete 15 of 16 grocery shopping steps independently on 3 consecutive community trips." The class shops every Tuesday. Priya is a probe student every second week, with classroom store probes in between.

Baseline: 3 community probes in September at 5, 6 and 6 of 16 steps. Median: 6.

The classroom line rose fast. The community line rose more slowly, which is normal. In late November, the team made Priya a probe student every week, since she was close. She reached 15 of 16 at Store A in December and kept 14 of 16 at a new store, which the team reported as a sign the skill was generalizing.

The steps she missed most were checking the price and answering the cashier. Those became short daily drills in class.

Common mistakes

Weak: Scoring all six students on every trip, so each sheet is half blank. Better: One or two probe students per trip, on a rotation.

Weak: Writing a summary after the trip: "Did great at the store." Better: A code for each step, written during the trip.

Weak: Mixing classroom and community probes on one line. Better: Two lines on one graph, labeled by setting.

Weak: A goal with no setting: "will shop independently." Better: "In a grocery store, given a list of 5 items and $20..."

Weak: Counting a step the student could not do because the store changed (no line, closed lane). Better: Mark it NA and drop it from that trip's count.

Weak: Waiting until the progress report to look at CBI data. Better: Graph after each trip and check the trend monthly.

Templates and tools

• Task analysis data sheet: print it half size for a pocket card.
• Opportunity data sheet: for single responses, such as answering a cashier or signaling a stop.
• Community access goals and community setting goals for goal wording, and the community services goals for library, post office and bank routines.
• Community based instruction in the glossary.
• Paraprofessional data collection for training the adults who score.
• IEP data collection schedule for fitting CBI probes into the week.

Goal examples for common CBI routines: grocery shopping, restaurants and public transportation. Check each goal's setting and criterion in the goal checker.

Repeated, brief measures graphed over time are how a team judges whether instruction is working.^[1] The IEP must also say how and when progress will be reported, which these graphs supply.^[2]

Frequently asked questions

Use it in IEP Atlas

• Community access goals (transition)
• Goals for the community setting
• Community based instruction in the IEP glossary
• Task analysis data sheet
• IEP goal checker

Related guides

• Life skills IEP goals: the complete map by domain
• Community-based instruction planning
• IEP goals for grocery shopping
• IEP goals for ordering at a restaurant

Sources

1. Progress Monitoring: Data & Goal Setting, National Center on Intensive Intervention
2. 34 CFR §300.320: Definition of individualized education program, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.