Writing IEP Goal Bank | Templates & Examples

Updated: March 18, 2026 Reviewer: Dr. Rose Sebastian, Ed.D.

Browse Common Core aligned goals in writing for students from kindergarten to twelfth grades. Find spelling, grammar, narrative, paragraph, fluency, editing, and essay goals.

Writing tends to be a key source of frustration for students with IEPs. The number of things that can go wrong are endless. They might not know what they want to write, might struggle to get their ideas from their head to paper, might not know how to spell words, might have slept through all lessons on periods and grammar, might not know how to organize their ideas, might not know how to proof read…. and might after all of their work turn in something that just gets red ink. Writing is hard for a lot of students– an area where even the strongest students with IEPs often need some extra support. That’s where these IEP goals come in. We have goals from early elementary school to upper high school across a wide variety of goal areas. Each goal has been carefully crafted to focus in on things students actually need to do to succeed in writing– and to have multiple ideas of ways to modify the goals and provide students with additional levels of support. Happy goal writing!

Description & Vocabulary Goals

If you have students who write sentences that sound like this, “I went to school. I went home. I played video games,” then these might be the goals for you. These goals focus on adding detail to writing, from adjectives, to sensory language, to more interesting verbs.

See the Goals

Paragraph & Essay Writing Goals

These goals break down essay and paragraph writing from the most basic of just writing on a topic with no structure to four or five paragraph essays. Given the importance of this skill, we have elementary goals from grades two on up, middle school, and high school goals on paragraph and, at the highest levels, essay writing.

See the Goals

watercolor owl writing with a quill in front of the bookcase

Spelling & Encoding Sounds Goals

Spelling means more than getting 100 on a spelling test. It means capturing the sounds you hear in a word, using tools as needed to help you get there. These goals focus on phonetic spelling and spelling with assistive technology.

See the Goals

baby owl writing with a quill. Watercolor style

Grammar, Punctuation, & Editing Goals

If you have students who write in text message speak, who seem allergic to periods and deeply confused about commas– or who just write sentences that never end– then these are the goals for you. These goals, which we have for elementary, middle, and high school students, focus on the basics of grammar and using tools to help.

See the Goals

baby owl writing with a pencil in front of a bookcase

Narrative & Story Writing Goals

At its heart, narrative writing is story telling, a skill that students need to be able to recount to their families what happened at school that day and to their friends about what happened during lunch. This is a skill whose utility goes beyond the English classroom and into life– and that we have goals on it at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

See the Goals

Writing Fluency & Stamina Goals

Many students struggle to start writing or to keep on writing over time– or even just to get words down at all. These goals are for those students– the reluctant writers, the ones who don’t write much, and the ones whose attention wanders quickly during writing time.

See the Goals

Need teaching or case management resources? Check out the store!