Help Your Child Succeed This Year By Setting Realistic Academic Goals

Summer is winding down, and families everywhere are gathering school supplies, signing up for fall sports, and setting their alarm clocks just a little earlier each day to get ready for the new school year. With the new year, parents and kids should be setting their academic goals as well and creating a plan to meet them.

If you're looking for a way to help your child set realistic goals and stick with them throughout the year, we've provided simple and practical ways to support your school-age kids in preparing for a successful year.

Work With Your Child to Set a Goal

Whether your kid is academically gifted or needs a little extra help, every student can benefit from a goal to drive them forward throughout the school year. Before school starts, find a calm moment when you're not dealing with the emotional turmoil of the beginning of the school year to talk to your child and find out what is most important to them.

Elementary school kids may need to focus on reading skills or comprehension, learning how to do simple math facts quickly, or keeping their space organized. Middle and high school kids might have more specific goals, like raising their grades in a specific class or performing better on tests, essays, or public speaking. If your kid doesn't have anything in mind, you can help them by using this worksheet.

Many educators advise making goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Instead of setting a goal to get better at reading, have children set a goal to improve their reading comprehension score by 10 points on the next standardized test. Some goals are harder to measure or take a longer time, so check in with their teacher along the way to make sure they're staying on track.

Create a Plan to Achieve Their Goal

How do you get better at math or reading? In most cases, kids' academic goals will be met primarily through additional practice. For younger kids, you can do this on your own by just reading every night for 20 minutes and then having your child summarize what they just read. Or find math practice sheets on a website like math-drills.com.

For older kids, this might mean studying for additional hours, focusing on getting homework done early so someone can check it over, or practicing skills like speeches or writing and having a parent or teacher evaluate their progress.

Break the Goal Into Smaller Pieces

Kids all learn and improve at different paces, and it's okay if you're just a little bit better at something this week than last week. Some goals will have concrete ending points, like being able to do 50 addition problems in two minutes, while others, like improving reading comprehension, are more subjective.

You can use test scores or feedback from a teacher to make sure your child is improving, even on less finite goals. Make sure you're checking in with your child's teacher at least once a month to see if they're improving, even if it's just a little at a time.

Celebrate Each Piece of the Process

Maybe your kid didn't make it to those 50 addition problems in two minutes this week, but if they improved from 25 to 30, that's still a win! Make sure you're praising your child for their progress. For bigger kids, check in with them to ensure they feel proud of themselves, even if progress isn't happening as quickly as they wanted.

Ask For Help If Needed

Some kids will put in a little bit of extra practice and find that they can easily achieve their goals. Others will need an extra push. If your child isn't seeing results on their goal after trying for a month or more, seek additional assistance or resources. Ask a teacher if they can come in before or after school for extra help, or if they can suggest any additional materials or lessons you can work on with your child to help them through the rough patch.

If a teacher is unavailable to help, try looking for a tutoring service, like Mathnasium, Kumon, or Varsity Tutors, in your area. You can also find online tutoring from services like Khan Academy or Learner if you don't need more personalized help or live in an area where tutoring is scarce. Try not to wait too long to get assistance. It's easier to make up for a week or two of stalled progress than a couple of months.

Stay Positive and Realistic, Even If You Have to Change the Goal

Kids can pick up on their parents' feelings, so try to maintain a positive and persevering mindset to help your child achieve their goals. Encourage your kid when they're doing well and when they're struggling. Remind kids to have a growth mindset: “I can't do multiplication yet” instead of “I can't do multiplication at all.”

If you realize the goal you set isn't realistic, try something a little easier. Maybe you can find a more realistic goal that's a stepping stone to the final result they're hoping for.

Congratulate Your Child When They Succeed

If they keep at it, your child will likely accomplish their goal at some point. When they do, congratulate them and celebrate all the hard work they put in! Focus on celebrating the behaviors that led to the achievement, not just the achievement itself, and you're bound to set your child up for success when they set their next academic goal.

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