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Guidelines for Composing Objectives and Strategies

The following information is provided to assist you in writing measurable objectives. The examples provide guidelines in how to write an objective..not what to write in an objective. Each unit will decide what content is appropriate The four-point model provided in this report is specific to industry, and may not be totally applicable to the educational environment.

Planning Terms Defined

• Goals/Objectives - Specific results we want to achieve through implementing our plans

• Strategies/Courses of Action - Methods for achieving the desired result

Examples of Goals/Objectives and their corresponding strategies/courses of action ( these are examples only.not recommendations for what to measure)

Goal : Increase student retention by 10%

Strategy : follow up with students who miss three consecutive absences in a class

Goal : 70% of developmental math students will obtain a grade of C or better in the next level math course

Strategy : Provide tutoring services to developmental math students OR implement monitoring system to determine grades of developmental math students within first two weeks of next-level course

Goal: Retain 70% of students between fall and spring semesters in any given year

Strategy : Develop tracking system to determine reasons for student withdrawals OR Institute one-on-one advising system to allow personal contact with students

Goal: Obtain 95% participation in fall Inservice among full-time employees

Strategy : Enhance communication about Inservice OR Communicate with those who do no attend OR provide incentives to all full-time employees to attend Inservice

Planning expert George Morrisey presents a four-point model for developing a good goal or objective. He says to write an objective is this model:

Model : To (action/verb) the (single measurable unit) by (target date or time span) at (cost in time and/or energy)

Examples:

• To decrease the average cost of sales by a minimum of 5 percent effective June 1 at an implementation cost not to exceed 40 work hours.

• To reduce average turnaround time on service requests from eight to six hours by July 31 at an implementation cost of one additional technician.

See MOSS Planning Cycle | Go back to Planning and Research