Goals are a part of everything we do in schools! When you first walk into the school you are given certain goals to meet in order to complete assignments, pass classes, advance a grade, and eventually graduate. Student Councils and Honor Societies are no different! It takes a lot of goal setting for leadership groups to accomplish what they set out to do, whether that's a service project, school rally, dance or leadership training day. Below is a format to follow when writing goals. By following the SMART Goals format, you can be assured that you have something in writing that will take your big dreams and turn them into reality.

After completing your SMART Goal, you can then outline exactly HOW you are going to achieve the goal in objective or activity statements. See the end of this page for examples of both SMART Goals and accompanying Objective Statements.

SPECIFIC

• What do I hope to accomplish by setting this goal?
• What am I going to do?

MEASURABLE

• Can I see, count, measure, weight and/or quantify my anticipated results?
• Can I easily determine a point/number of success?
• What is the amount or percentage I need to "hit" in order to reach my goal?

ATTAINABLE

• Thinking optimistically, can this really be achieved with my/our abilities?
• Do we have the resources, or potential access to the resources that we need to achieve this goal?

RESPONSIBLE

• What is the purpose of this goal?
• Is this goal worthy of me/our council/our chapter/our school?
• Is the goal relevant to my/the council's/the chapter's/the school's overall purpose?
• Is the goal safe and in line with my/our mission?

TIMELY

• Is this goal appropriate for me/us right now?
• Do we have enough time to establish reasonable timelines, target dates and deadlines?

SAMPLES

Original Goal
To increase school spirit by providing incentives for students to get involved.

SMART Goal
To increase student participation in school-sponsored events by 30% during the 07-08 school year.
Increased participation will often lead to increased school spirit. Spirit is immeasurable, participation is not! Increase and measure participation and you will find improved school spirit.

• Objective 1: Create a tally-poster in the hallway to track participation across the grades. Each school-sponsored assembly, event or competition will be eligible for points (orientation, honors night, homecoming game, art contests, band performances, etc...)
• Objective 2: Sponsor a competition among students to submit "new event ideas". Each submission will get a point towards their class and each winning submission (2-3 new events) will receive 30 extra points toward their class.
• Objective 3: Instead of using outside musicians/DJ's/announcers or even the school band at all school-sponsored events, find students that are interested in assisting in those areas (school bands, up-and-coming comedians, etc...)

Original Goal
To do new service projects this year.

SMART Goal
To do a new service project each semester of the 07-08 school year.

• Objective 1: Research local charitable organizations that are lacking in funding or volunteers to see if we are of assistance.
• Objective 2: Use one of our meetings as a brainstorming session about community needs and how we can help.
• Objective 3: Have a representative from a volunteer or service agency come and talk with the chapter (or entire school) about service and community assistance.