Research-Backed Insights
Evidence Shows We Help Educators:
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Write Data-Driven Present Levels
Educators' use of Goalbook Toolkit is positively associated with higher-quality Present Levels statements.
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Develop High-Quality Goals
Goals written with Goalbook Toolkit contain 2.5x more information for planning and measuring student success than other methods.
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Implement Effective Instruction
Use of Goalbook Toolkit supported with a structured coaching plan significantly enhances instructional differentiation.
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Improve Educator Effectiveness
Goalbook Toolkit helps educators identify present levels, write standards-aligned IEP goals, and use effective UDL strategies.
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Enhance Collaboration
Studies show that Goalbook Toolkit improves collaboration between service providers and educators.
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Increase Student Outcomes
Research shows a significant positive correlation between Goalbook Toolkit usage and improved student academic performance.
These findings affirm Goalbook's commitment to advancing educational practices and achieving measurable success in diverse learning environments.
Qualitative Study of North Dakota Special Educators’ Goalbook Toolkit Usage, Practice, and Retention Intentions
North Dakota special educators reported sharply higher IEP confidence and a stronger intent to stay in teaching with Goalbook Toolkit usage.
- Strengthened Retention Intentions: After implementing Goalbook Toolkit, more special educators intended to stay in teaching and fewer planned to leave the field.
- Boosted IEP Confidence: Post-survey, the share of educators feeling “completely ready” for core IEP tasks (like writing data-driven present levels) roughly doubled, and half or more felt “mostly ready.”
- Reduced Mental Load: Educators described Goalbook Toolkit as a “weight lifted off my shoulders” — a single, coherent resource that streamlines daily practice and lowers educator stress.
Relationship Between Quality of Individualized Education Plan Goals and Student Learning
The quality of IEP present levels explained about 40% of the variation in IEP goal quality.
- Present Levels Drive Goal Quality: PLAAFP quality and IEP goal quality were strongly correlated (r = .63); present levels explained roughly 40% of the variance in goal quality.
- Educators Are the Biggest Lever: Educator experience and degree predicted 9.1% of student growth; adding Goalbook Toolkit usage explained 2.2% more.
- Confirmed by Prior Research: The finding echoes a 2021 impact study linking PLAAFP quality to student achievement in reading and math.
Examining the Impact of Goalbook On Special Education Teachers’ Retention
Novice special educators in North Carolina districts that adopted Goalbook Toolkit stayed at significantly higher rates — up 9.1 percentage points in-district and 8.2 statewide.
- Stronger District Retention for New Teachers: Novice special educators (5 or fewer years) in Goalbook districts were retained at 86.4% vs. 77.3% before Goalbook — a 9.1 percentage point gain.
- Greater Staying Power Statewide: Educator access to Goalbook Toolkit was associated with an 8.2 percentage point increase in novice special educators remaining in NC public schools (92.3% vs. 84.1%) — statistically significant (p ≤ .05).
- Effect Grew Without Pandemic Years: Excluding 2020–21 and 2021–22, the district-retention gain rose 11.2 percentage points where educators had access to Goalbook Toolkit.
Goalbook Toolkit Usage and Its Relation to Student Achievement In One Texas Public School District
In a 3,700-student Texas district, students whose special educators used Goalbook Toolkit weekly made significantly greater reading gains — especially those in mainstream classrooms.
- Weekly Usage, Higher Reading Growth: Mainstream students whose educators used the Toolkit weekly scored about 1.9 points higher on spring MAP Growth Reading.
- Any Toolkit Usage Beats None: On the Texas STAAR reading assessment, any Toolkit usage was associated with 2.9 points higher than no usage.
- More Toolkit Usage, More Student Growth: Students of educators in the top three usage quartiles outscored the lowest quartile by 1.8–2.1 points on MAP Reading.
Goalbook Toolkit Usage and Its Relation to Student Achievement In One Charter Network
Students whose special educators used Goalbook Toolkit the most gain 2–3 additional points in reading growth.
- More Usage, More Reading Growth: Students of educators in the 2nd–4th-quartile of Goalbook Toolkit usage scored 2–3 points higher on the NWEA MAP Growth reading assessment than students of educators in the lowest Toolkit usage quartile (2nd quartile +3.0 points, p = .006; 4th quartile +2.5 points, p = .027).
- A Strong, Significant Effect in Ohio: Regular weekly Goalbook usage was associated with a 0.30 effect size on both MAP Growth (+5.9 points) and the state reading test (+0.28 SD, ≈ 9.5 points).
- A Positive Signal at the 3-Year Mark: This is the first Goalbook impact study measured at only three years of full implementation (prior evaluations at 5+ years) — and across all three states the Toolkit usage to student achievement relationship was directionally positive.
Goalbook Toolkit in Prince George’s County Public Schools
In Prince George’s County Public Schools, weekly Goalbook Toolkit use was associated with a 9-percentile reading gain — and a 15-percentile gain for economically disadvantaged students.
- 9-Percentile Reading Gain: Weekly Toolkit usage was associated with the average student moving from the 50th to the 59th percentile on the MCAP English/Language Arts test.
- Bigger Gains Where It Matters Most: Students eligible for free and reduced meals saw a 15-percentile gain on MCAP ELA.
- Two Actions Drove Impact: "Develop Present Levels" and "Anchor Page" accounted for nearly as much predictive power as all usage combined.
A Study of Educator Attitudes and Beliefs and Goalbook Toolkit Usage
Over a single school year using Goalbook Toolkit, special educators’ self-efficacy — the belief in their own ability to teach effectively — rose from 6.94 to 7.59 on a 10-point scale.
- Educator Confidence Climbed Over the Year: Educators’ self-efficacy for special education instructional design rose from 6.94 to 7.59 on a 10-point scale. Among those measured at both time points, the increase (6.79 → 7.51) was statistically significant, with a medium effect size.
- Comfort With Toolkit Grew Fastest: Educators’ confidence in using Goalbook Toolkit itself jumped from 4.46 to 6.71 — a +2.25 gain — as they applied and integrated Toolkit resources into their practice within the year.
- Goalbook Toolkit Delivered Where It Counts: More than 95% of educators agreed Goalbook supported them in writing standards-aligned, measurable IEP goals, crafting data-driven present levels, and designing more effective specially designed instruction; educator job satisfaction averaged 2.31 of 3, and 87.5%+ said they were likely to stay in their positions after 1 year of Toolkit implementation.
Impact of Goalbook Toolkit (North Carolina Statewide Student Impact Study)
In an impact study of more than 58,000 North Carolina special education students, those in schools implementing Goalbook Toolkit scored significantly higher in reading — a gain that held across every student group.
- Statistically Significant Reading Gains: Special education students (grades 3–8) in Goalbook schools scored significantly higher on the state reading assessment than matched comparison students — an effect size of 0.08 standard deviations (p ≤ .001), equal to moving a student from the 50th to the 53rd percentile.
- Gains Held Across Every Subgroup: The positive reading impact was statistically significant for all examined groups — by gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and placement setting — with the largest gains among female (0.11), White/Asian (0.12), and not-economically-disadvantaged (0.12) students.
- More Inclusion, Growing Over Time: Special education students in Goalbook schools were significantly more likely to be placed in a regular setting (72.5% vs. 69.7%, +2.8 pp, p ≤ .001), and Year 2 gains exceeded Year 1 — suggesting impact compounds as implementation matures.
The Relationship Between Quality of the Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance Statement and Student Learning
In a University of Missouri study, students whose special education teachers used Goalbook Toolkit the most grew 3.4× more in reading — and 5.6× more in math — than students whose teachers used it minimally.
- Present Levels Predict Achievement: The quality of a student’s present levels statement (PLAAFP), scored on a study-validated rubric, was a statistically significant predictor of student achievement in both reading and math — after factoring out school and prior achievement level.
- More Usage, Higher-Quality Present Levels: Goalbook Toolkit usage was positively associated with higher-quality present levels. Educators with high Toolkit usage wrote higher-quality present levels 20% more often than educators with minimal usage.
- Usage Tied to Bigger Student Gains: Students of teachers who used Goalbook Toolkit at a high level grew 3.4× more in reading and 5.64× more in math than students of minimal-usage teachers; even above-average usage was linked to 1.5× more reading growth than minimal usage.
Practicing Teachers’ Use of an Online Resource Tool for IEP Goal Writing and Instructional Support
In an independent evaluation, special educators at Evergreen Public Schools were largely satisfied with Goalbook Toolkit — 76% very or extremely satisfied overall — and named goal writing as its greatest strength.
- Strong Overall Satisfaction: 76% of surveyed special educators were very or extremely satisfied with Goalbook Toolkit overall (54% very + 22% extremely), and 70% were very or extremely satisfied using it for IEP and specially designed instruction. No respondent was “very dissatisfied” on any measure. In the companion write-up, 94% called Goalbook a valuable resource they would continue to use.
- Valued Most for Goal Writing: Educators pointed to goal-setting as Goalbook’s greatest strength — the connection of state standards, UDL strategies, and anchor goals; intuitive, wizard-guided goal writing; and the ease of adapting a wide variety of standards-aligned IEP goals at mild, moderate, and intense levels of support.
- A Clear, Actionable Next Step: In focus groups, teachers asked for more professional learning and collegial dialogue on using the Toolkit — guidance for deepening implementation rather than a criticism of the tool itself.
Related Service Providers Feasibility Study
A WestEd feasibility study found that Goalbook Toolkit helped Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing specialists and general education teachers collaborate more often — and 82% of participants were comfortable navigating the Toolkit within four weeks.
- Collaboration Increased: Weekly logs showed most DHH specialists tried to discuss Goalbook strategies with their partner teachers every week, and by the study’s end most participants reported more frequent collaboration. Most DHH specialists agreed or strongly agreed that Goalbook improved their relationship with their partner teachers.
- Usable and Quickly Learned: 9 of 11 participants (82%) found Goalbook “easy to use,” 9 of 11 disagreed it was “confusing,” and 82% were “comfortable” or “like an expert” navigating it by Week 4 — up from mixed comfort in Week 1. 73% rated their overall experience “above average” or “excellent,” with none rating it “poor” or “below average.”
- Relevant, Shareable Content: Teachers said Goalbook let them share resources quickly and efficiently and increased their knowledge of DHH-specific strategies; specialists copied Toolkit language directly into student IEPs.
DC Public Schools Instructional Impact Study — Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Framework in Instructional Design
When DC Public Schools paired Goalbook Toolkit with UDL coaching, all 10 participating teachers improved at differentiating instruction — self-rated ability rose from 1.7 to 2.4 on a 3-point scale.
- Differentiation Improved for Every Teacher: Teachers’ ability to differentiate instruction rose from 1.7 to 2.4 by their own rating and from 1.9 to 2.6 as observed by their coaches (both on a 0–3 scale). All 10 participating teachers showed growth.
- Coaches Grew Too: All three instructional coaches became more effective at supporting differentiation; their self-rated ability to coach teachers to differentiate rose from 2.1 to 3.0 on the same scale.
- Stronger UDL Planning Across All Three Principles: Teachers reported gains in planning for representation (+0.5), expression (+0.9), and engagement (+0.8), and all 13 participants said Goalbook strongly impacted their ability to learn and integrate UDL — with the Goal Wizard the most-cited feature.
San Francisco State University Case Study — The Effect of Goalbook Toolkit on IEP Goal Quality
IEP goals written with Goalbook Toolkit scored 17.5 of 20 on a quality rubric — versus 5.0 without — containing 2.5 times more information for planning and measuring student success.
- 2.5× More Information in Goals: IEP goals written with Goalbook as a resource scored an average of 17.5 on a research-based 20-point rubric, compared with 5.0 for goals written without it — 2.5 times more information for planning and measuring an individual student’s success.
- Far More Complete Goals: Goals written with Goalbook included 88% of the essential quality components, versus just 25% without — more complete in virtually every aspect.
- Stronger Differentiation: Providing student teachers with supports that suggest ideas for dealing with ability gaps significantly improved their ability to differentiate instruction for all students.
We're Rooted in Research and Committed to Evidence-Based Practices
From utilizing insights from our own studies to leveraging research-based frameworks like Universal Design for Learning, The Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST) and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), all of our work is informed by research. We're proud that we have earned the following endorsement and certification as a result.
Goalbook Toolkit is officially endorsed by the Council of Administrators for Special Education (CASE). The endorsement confirms Goalbook Toolkit is an evidence-based tool and is effective in improving teacher efficacy and student outcomes.
Goalbook Toolkit earned a certification as a Research-Based Design Product, using the rigorous criteria and competencies developed by Digital Promise. Goalbook Toolkit met the standards of research and evidence, aligned to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.