How to Develop Goals and Questions

Once the goals have been determined, it is important to establish objectives. An objective is a precise definition of the goal so that the goal can be measured. This objective is specific in stating the outcome: what score is expected, what instrument will be used, in what language, and at what point in the program.

For example, the goal for a student to become bilingual does not specify the level of bilingualism, at what grade level the student should be expected to demonstrate that s/he is bilingual, or how bilingualism will be measured.

Objectives must be stated in a very precise way. Let's use as an example the goal that students will become proficient in their second language. Some individuals might write an objective that states something like "Students will score high on the XYZ Test in the second language."

While this objective is helpful in that it has been determined that language proficiency will be measured in the second language with the XYZ Test and that high scores are expected, it is not clear what "high" means. A more specific objective would be: "Students will score at least 25 on the XYZ Test in their second language after four years in the program."

Accountability and state-level requirements specify that students reach grade-level expectations. Whilegoals and objectives should reflect high expectations, they should also be reasonable and attainable—for the students who are participating in your program. Thus, the goal for students to achieve at (or above) grade-level in the content areas is a goal that is attainable according to research. However, the research shows that students reach grade level at different points in their L1 and L2, and depending on their language and socio-economic background (actually, level of parental education and literacy in the home). Some research on two-way programs is presented in the resource section to help you set reasonable goalsand objectives.

Some examples of goals and objectives are presented in the SUGGESTIONS & EXAMPLES section below.

In the process of determining what the objectives should be, there are a few other important issues that need to be considered as well:

How much individualized assessment and group testing can be conducted?
What instruments are available in the appropriate languages?
Which audiences need to know what information?
Who is available to help interpret the evaluation data?

The answers to these questions will help in establishing the objectives, what instruments will be used, and timelines for testing. We will address these questions in Section 3 of this Toolkit.

5. Evaluator's Toolkit

Section 2: How to Frame Evaluation Questions

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