2025-2026 School Year Enrollment Now Open. Click Here
2025-2026 School Year Enrollment Now Open. Click Here
A goal is more than a dream. A goal is a desire set in motion and made real through action steps.
Childhood is the time to instill lifelong habits of goal setting and tracking that breed success. Personal goal setting for students helps children build good study habits. Student goal setting provides direction and clarity, helping children understand the satisfaction and opportunities that come from academic achievement. Goals can be motivators, encouraging children to overcome barriers.
Children can pursue short-term goals, such as passing that test next week, or long-term goals, such as attending a prestigious summer program or making the varsity team. These tips help parents and their children work together on setting and achieving realistic goals that lead to accomplishment.
Setting academic goals instills good habits and new behaviors in students beginning at a young age. Goals can help sharpen focus, reduce procrastination and create momentum. They promote a sense of control over your own life, helping you measure and manage the parts of life that could use improvement. It’s important for students to start setting academic goals because doing so strengthens important life skills like work ethic. Goals can motivate students while they’re in school and prepare them for college and a future career.
Academic goals help with student motivation, providing a straightforward path to success. With a clear focus, students will feel more confident in their work. Setting goals also helps teach students time management skills. Learning how to set goals at a young age will help children in school and help them with planning for their futures. Being able to set goals in college and in the workplace will help them excel and succeed.
Doing so shows a work ethic and desire to better themselves and the work they’re producing — a desirable quality both in the classroom and when looking for prospective jobs.
Setting goals brings a desired future day into the present, making it real enough to strive for. Goals motivate children to put more effort into their pursuits, on the way to making that envisioned future day a reality. When a goal is accomplished, the satisfaction encourages children to continue doing even better, for a continuous circle of self-improvement. An effective goal is clearly stated and presents a challenge to stretch the mind.
Maybe you’ve heard about SMART goal setting for students. SMART goals have distinctive elements that, when put together, make the goal achievable.
Believe it or not, SMART goals date back decades. They have endured in business settings because they propel companies forward. If you’re wondering about how to teach goal setting to students, you’ll find that SMART goals are as useful for school as they are for business. SMART goal setting for students stands for:
SMART goals provide an outline for effective goals for students. Defining objectives and a completion date can provide the necessary motivation and focus to push them to reach their goals.
Goal setting takes time on the front end, but it saves time by establishing an organized approach to the school year. In turn, goal setting enhances student performance. Goal setting applies to high school students, as well as those in elementary and middle school.
Try these tips to make goal setting a habit in your household.
Make your goal as specific as possible. Goals that are too broad become impossible to achieve because they can’t be broken into individual, achievable steps. Your goal should include what you want to accomplish, how you plan to accomplish it and when you want to accomplish it.
Long-term goals, such as “going to college,” can be overly broad. Instead, chunk them into multiple short-term goals, such as focusing on grades one semester at a time and participating in service projects. At CCA, college and career planning courses help learners develop and reach their goals. Personalized learning prepares children for jobs they love and the opportunity to give back to society.
Once your child has developed a specific goal, break it into smaller, more manageable steps. Think of the main goal as a ladder and each smaller goal as a rung. With each small goal accomplished, your child is closer to the top of the ladder. Every test that earns a good grade is one rung closer to all A’s and B’s on that report card.
Things don’t always go as planned. It’s impossible to predict every challenge ahead, but it’s possible to think of the likely ones. Brainstorm with your child any obstacles that might pop up. What can your child do to overcome those challenges? If one of those obstacles appears, your child will know how to handle it and it won’t become a barrier on the way to the main goal.
Help your child understand that reaching goals can be hard. There might be rough patches, but that’s no reason to give up. At the beginning of the process, write the goals down and put them in a central, visible spot — in the bedroom, on the fridge door, or on a whiteboard in the learning space — to serve as a reminder. Make sure your child knows that, if he or she is struggling, it’s OK to ask for help.
Helping your student write goals creates a living document that must be checked and revised constantly.
When your child reaches a goal, it’s time to celebrate! Enjoy family dinner at a favorite restaurant, post the accomplishment on social media or plan a getaway.
Following these steps will help your child set, work toward, and eventually achieve cherished goals. It might not be easy, but it will always be worthwhile. Motivational goal-setting prepares your child for success, one school year after the other.
All children have different goals, depending on their interests, capabilities, and ages. Consider these examples.
If a student sets their goal as, “I will get better grades in math,” they may take the following action steps:
With a goal like “I will get an A in Honors Science,” a student might take the following action steps:
After setting the goal, “I will develop leadership skills to show on a college application,” a high school might take the following action steps:
Teachers know that the benefits of goal setting make students better learners. The more they accomplish, the more they want to continue to succeed. Goals create a target to strive toward, as children build on each new competency learned. Goals teach children the importance of establishing priorities that help them sort out where to spend their time and energy.
At CCA, our students are continuously reaching their goals with the help of parent-teacher support systems and our flexible school system. For example, CCA student Molly Frack was able to achieve her goal of becoming a collegiate gymnast because of her hard work and flexible school schedule. Another CCA graduate, Zamir Deon Williams, accomplished his goal of publishing the novel he’d written during his junior year. His CCA teachers were abundantly supportive of his goal, helping him host two book signings.
Teachers and staff at CCA are dedicated to empowering our students, regardless of where they’re at with their personal or academic goals. Check out more success stories to find out how our students are achieving their goals.
Commonwealth Charter Academy’s personalized approach to learning fuels a desire to learn and achieve by tapping into each child’s unique learning style and interests. With the recent release of Personalized Adaptive Learning (PAL) cards, CCA continues to make it easy for students to focus on academic goals. Learn more about CCA’s efforts to help students achieve personal academic goals. If you have any questions, feel free to visit our frequently asked questions tab to see what other parents and faculty are talking about.
2025-2026 School Year Enrollment Now Open. Click Here
