Main Idea and Theme IEP Goals
Browse CCS-aligned, fiction and non-fiction reading comprehension IEP goals for finding the main idea or theme of a text.
Fiction Main Idea and Theme IEP Goals
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2
- Have the student read a story to you and answer questions about the story. DRA questions work well for assessing central message. So too do many commercial reading passages.
- 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!
After reading a mid-second grade story, Kassandra was strong at retelling events from the story, but she needed support with higher level comprehension like identifying a central theme.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After reading a story at his level, ___________________ will determine the central message, lesson, or moral of the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2
Note that this is the same standard we used for the 3rd grade retell goal. I tend to split the standard so that if a student is working on literal comprehension of a text, I will focus on the retell part of the standard and if their literal comprehension is strong, I will focus on the central message part of the standard. You can do both if you think that a student could meet the goal– but I tend to target my goals. I like to do targeted interventions which are easier with focused goals. You will inevitably work on other things than the student’s IEP goals during the year– and so I save the goals for where the student has the greatest areas of need.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a story, _____ will determine the central message, lesson, or moral of the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2
- After reading a story at his level and given a graphic organizer, _____ will determine the central message, lesson, or moral of the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- Has to do it on the first trial: After reading a story at his level, _____ will determine the central message, lesson, or moral of the story as measured by teacher records and observations.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After reading a story with pictures at his level, _____ will determine the central message, lesson, or moral of the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2
- Have the student read a story to you and answer questions about the story. DRA questions work well for assessing central message. So too do many commercial reading passages.
- 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!
After listening to a fourth grade story, Kassandra was strong at retelling events from the story, describing the characters, and identifying a problem the characters faced, but she needed support with identifying a theme in the story.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After reading a story at his level, ________________ will determine a theme from the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2
Note that this is the same standard we used for the 4th grade summary goal. I tend to split the standard so that if a student is working on literal comprehension of a text, I will focus on the summary part of the standard and if their literal comprehension is strong, I will focus on the theme of the standard. You can do both if you think that a student could meet the goal– but I tend to target my goals. You will inevitably work on other things than the student’s IEP goals during the year– and so I save the goals for where the student has the greatest areas of need.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a story, _______ will determine a theme from the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2
- After reading a story at his level and given a graphic organizer with prompts, _______will determine a theme from the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- Has to do it on the first trial: After reading a story at his level, _______will determine a theme from the story as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After listening to an early fourth grade short story, _______will determine a theme from the story on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2
- Have the student read a story to you and answer questions about the story. DRA questions work well for assessing central message. So too do many commercial reading passages.
- 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!
After listening to a fifth grade story, Kassandra was strong at retelling events from the story, describing the characters, and identifying a problem the characters faced, but she needed support with identifying a theme.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After reading a story at her level, _______________ will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2
Note that this is the same standard we used for the 5th grade summary goal. I tend to split the standard so that if a student is working on literal comprehension of a text, I will focus on the summary part of the standard and if their literal comprehension is strong, I will focus on the theme of the standard. You can do both if you think that a student could meet the goal– but I tend to target my goals. You will inevitably work on other things than the student’s IEP goals during the year– and so I save the goals for where the student has the greatest areas of need.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a story, _______ will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2
- After reading a story at his level and given a graphic organizer with prompts, _______will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- Has to do it on the first trial: After reading a story at his level, _______will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After listening to an early fourth grade short story, _______will determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2
Non-Fiction Main Idea and Summary IEP Goals
Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
- Read the student a short non-fiction passage. Ask them what is was about afterwards. If they are struggling, try different supports such as a text with pictures (and access to those pictures), questions about individual sections, or some sort of graphic organizers (like cut out pictures related to each section).
Need more ideas? Check out the PreK-2 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!
After listening to a brief non-fiction passage, Deandra was able to give a one word response to what the passage was about, “penguins!” When asked for details from the passage, Deandra was able to state that penguins were black and white (a detail from the story) and told how much she liked penguins.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After listening to a short non-fiction passage, ___________________ will retell at least three key details from the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
You have a lot of flexibility to modify this goal. The standard is very similar to the fiction standard for first grade and so you target the same types of skills here– and make similar modifications.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a short non-fiction passage and given pictures related to the passage, ____ will retell at least three key details from the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
- After listening to a short non-fiction passage and given prompting questions (e.g., what else do you remember?), ____ will retell at least three key details from the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- Has to do it on the first trial:
- After listening to a short non-fiction passage, ____ will retell at least three key details from the text as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After listening to a kindergarten-level non-fiction book with pictures, ____ will retell at least three key details from the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
- After listening to a short non-fiction passage on a familiar topic, ____ will retell at least three key details from the text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2
- Read the student a multi-paragraph non-fiction passage. Ask them what is was about afterwards. If they are struggling, try different supports such as a text with pictures (and access to those pictures), questions about individual sections, or some sort of graphic organizers (like cut out pictures related to each section).
Need more ideas? Check out the 2nd-5th Grade Reading Present Levels and Assessments Resource page or the PreK-2 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!
After listening to a brief non-fiction passage about students campaigning for chocolate milk, Deandra said that the main idea was that chocolate milk is good and described her preference for chocolate milk. When prompted, she was able to answer specific questions about how the students worked to get chocolate milk on the menu at their school.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After listening to a non-fiction text, _____will identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2
You can modify supports, difficulty, and accuracy for this goal– but since main idea is at the heart of the standard, you can’t really modify that.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a non-fiction text and given a graphic organizer for main idea and prompting questions, _____will identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- After listening to a short non-fiction passage, ____ will retell at least three key details from the text on three of four trials as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After listening to a non-fiction text on a familiar topic, _____will identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2
Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2
- Read the student a multi-paragraph non-fiction passage. Ask them what is was about afterwards. If they are struggling, try different supports such as a text with pictures (and access to those pictures), questions about individual sections, or some sort of graphic organizers (like cut out pictures related to each section). If they give main idea, but not details or vice versa, follow up and see what they can do with prompting.
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!
After listening to a brief non-fiction passage about students campaigning for chocolate milk, Deandra said that the main idea was that chocolate milk is good and described her preference for chocolate milk. When prompted, she was able to answer specific questions about how the students worked to get chocolate milk on the menu at their school.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After listening to a text, ________ will determine the main idea of a text and recount at least three key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2
You can modify supports, difficulty, and accuracy for this goal– but since main idea is at the heart of the standard, you can’t really modify that.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a non-fiction text and given a graphic organizer and prompting questions, ________ will determine the main idea of a text and recount at least three key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- Has to do it on first trial: After listening to a text, ________ will determine the main idea of a text and recount at least three key details as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After listening to a non-fiction text on a familiar topic, ________ will determine the main idea of a text and recount at least three key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2
Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2
- Provide the student with a non-fiction text at their reading level (or a text that can be read to them if they are a lower-level reader). Ask them questions afterwards about what the text was about. Try providing them with varying supports like graphic organizers, read aloud, and prompting questions to see what they need to succeed.
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!
After listening to a brief non-fiction passage about students campaigning for chocolate milk, Deandra said that the main idea was that kids like chocolate milk and told about one student who loved milk. When prompted, she was able to answer specific questions about how the students worked to get chocolate milk on the menu at their school.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After reading a text at her level, _____ will determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by at least two key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2
You can modify supports, difficulty, and accuracy for this goal– but since main idea is at the heart of the standard, you can’t really modify that.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a non-fiction text and given a graphic organizer and prompting questions, _____ will determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by at least two key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- Has to do it on first trial: After reading a text at her level, _____ will determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by at least two key details as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After listening to a non-fiction text on a familiar topic, _____ will determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by at least two key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2
Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2
- Provide the student with a non-fiction text at their reading level (or a text that can be read to them if they are a lower-level reader). Ask them questions afterwards about what the text was about. Try providing them with varying supports like graphic organizers, read aloud, and prompting questions to see what they need to succeed.
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!
After reading a multi-paragraph non-fiction passage about students campaigning for chocolate milk, Deandra said that the main idea was that kids like chocolate milk and told about one student who loved milk. When prompted, she was able to answer specific questions about how the students worked to get chocolate milk on the menu at their school.
For more baseline ideas, check out the IEP Success Kit!
- After reading a text at his level_______________ will determine at least one main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by at least three key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2
You can modify supports, difficulty, and accuracy for this goal– but since main idea is at the heart of the standard, you can’t really modify that.
- Add supports for the student
- After listening to a non-fiction text and given a graphic organizer and prompting questions, __________ will determine at least one main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by at least three key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2
- Adjust the accuracy or number of trials
- Has to do it on first trial: After reading a text at his level____________ will determine at least one main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by at least three key details as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2
- Specify the type or level of book
- After listening to a non-fiction text on a familiar topic, ____ will determine at least one main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by at least three key details on three of four opportunities as measured by teacher records and observations CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2
