What's the difference between a purpose goal and a progress goal?
A purpose goal is the reason you're doing the work — the big, meaningful outcome you're pursuing. "Every student reads at grade level" is a purpose goal. You can't directly achieve it through a single action, and it may not be fully measurable, but it orients everything else.
A progress goal is a measurable milestone along the way. "Increase the percentage of students reading at grade level from 67% to 80% by May" is a progress goal. It's specific and trackable, but on its own, it doesn't tell you what to do tomorrow morning.
The mistake most schools make is setting progress goals without a compelling purpose goal above them (so the numbers feel arbitrary) or setting purpose goals without progress goals below them (so there's no way to tell if you're making headway). You need both — and ideally a layer of daily practice goals underneath that drives the actual work.
More on Goal-Setting and Achievement
Why aren't SMART goals enough for school leaders?
SMART goals are useful for one specific purpose: monitoring progress toward a measurable target.
How do I stay on track with goals throughout the school year?
The school year has a natural rhythm that works against sustained goal pursuit.
What's wrong with "magic-wand thinking" when it comes to goals?
Magic-wand thinking is when you define a goal by its outcome — "I want my school's test scores to improve by 15%" — without working backward to the specific changes in practice that would produce that result.
Answered by Justin Baeder, PhD, Director of The Principal Center and author of three books on instructional leadership.