Elementary School Making Inferences IEP Goals

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1

• When students make inferences, they are putting together two pieces of information to come up with a third. Like if I said I was sad because I didn’t have my umbrella, you might put together sad and umbrella and come up with rain.  
• Often times, we try to teach and assess inferences in isolation, like I did with the rain example. The problem with that is that what we actually want students to do is to make inferences in context as that is what they need to do for strong reading comprehension.
• Way 1: Ask questions. If a story doesn’t explicitly state how a character feels, ask the student how they think the character feels– and then why. If they are putting together evidence from the text to come up with something not stated, that’s an inference.  Note that is going to be easier if there is a picture of someone crying and harder if the text just says that the character misses her grandfather. You can do the same thing with questions on the setting of the story or even about what happens next. 
• Way 2: Block out a sentence from a text and ask the student what they think might go there. To do that, the student has to read the sentence before and after and make an inference about what might be missing.
• If the student has low fluency in their decoding, try reading them a story (or having them listen to one on the computer) and check to see if their comprehension improves.

Need more ideas? Check out the 2nd-5th Grade Reading Present Levels and Assessments Resource page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

Cassie has strong literal comprehension of a story, but needs support when making inferences. When asked about how characters are feeling in a story, Cassie will often answer based on how she would feel rather than based on clues in the text. Similarly, when Cassie is asked to guess what might happen next in a story, she will often respond based on what she wants to happen rather than clues in the story. 

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• After reading a story at his/her level, ________________ will refer to details and examples in a text when drawing
  inferences from the text so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to point to a specific piece of evidence in the text to support his/her inference as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1

• Add supports for the student 
  • After listening to a story, ________________ will refer to details and examples in a text when drawing
    inferences from the text so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to point to a specific piece of evidence in the text to support his/her inference as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1
  • After reading a story at her/his level and given a graphic organizer , ________________ will refer to details and examples in a text when drawing
    inferences from the text so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to point to a specific piece of evidence in the text to support his/her inference as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1
• Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
  • Has to do it on the first trial: After reading a story at his/her level, ________________ will refer to details and examples in a text when drawing
    inferences from the text so that he/she is able to point to a specific piece of evidence in the text to support his/her inference as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1
• Specify the type or level of book
  • After listening to an early fourth grade short story, ________________ will refer to details and examples in a text when drawing
    inferences from the text so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to point to a specific piece of evidence in the text to support his/her inference as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1

Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from
the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1

• When students make inferences, they are putting together two pieces of information to come up with a third. Like if I said I was sad because I didn’t have my umbrella, you might put together sad and umbrella and come up with rain.  
• Often times, we try to teach and assess inferences in isolation, like I did with the rain example. The problem with that is that what we actually want students to do is to make inferences in context as that is what they need to do for strong reading comprehension.
• Way 1: Ask questions. If a story doesn’t explicitly state how a character feels, ask the student how they think the character feels– and then why. If they are putting together evidence from the text to come up with something not stated, that’s an inference.  Note that is going to be easier if there is a picture of someone crying and harder if the text just says that the character misses her grandfather. You can do the same thing with questions on the setting of the story or even about what happens next. 
• Way 2: Block out a sentence from a text and ask the student what they think might go there. To do that, the student has to read the sentence before and after and make an inference about what might be missing.
• If the student has low fluency in their decoding, try reading them a story (or having them listen to one on the computer) and check to see if their comprehension improves.

Need more ideas? Check out the 2nd-5th Grade Reading Present Levels and Assessments Resource page.

Looking for assessment resources or support with turning assessments into goals and present levels? Check out the IEP Success Kit in the store!

When asked to guess what might happen next in a story or about characters and their motivation, Kianna has strong, creative answers, but she needs significant adult support to connect her responses back to the text.

For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!

• After reading a story at his/her level, ________________ will quote accurately from a text when drawing inferences so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to pull a specific quote from the text to support an inference as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1

• Add supports for the student 
  • After listening to a story, _____ will quote accurately from a text when drawing inferences so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to pull a specific quote from the text to support an inference as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1
  • After reading a story at her/his level and given a graphic organizer, ____ will quote accurately from a text when drawing inferences so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to pull a specific quote from the text to support an inference as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1
• Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
  • Has to do it on the first trial: Given a story at his/her independent reading level, ____ will quote accurately from a text when drawing inferences so that he/she is able to pull a specific quote from the text to support an inference as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1
• Specify the type or level of book
  • After listening to an early fourth grade short story, ________________ will quote accurately from a text when drawing inferences so that, on three of four opportunities, he/she is able to pull a specific quote from the text to support an inference as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1