Quick Note: This article is for tutors at the LMSA, MACS, and Urban Pathways sites.
UPDATE: As of April 4th, 2025, goal setting has concluded at MACS, and no more goal check-ins/support should be performed. April 9th, 2025, will be the last day with goal check-ins and support through PLUS tutors at LMSA.
0️⃣ Overview
Introduction:
Welcome to the PLUS App Goal Tracking feature! This tool helps tutors check in with students about their learning goals and track their progress in a simple and efficient way. With built-in tracking for goal achievements, goal definitions, and streaks, it ensures students stay motivated while giving tutors real-time insights for effective sessions.)
Objective:
By the end of this guide, you'll know how to use the Goal Check-In feature to engage students, provide personalized feedback, and track their goal achievements seamlessly using the PLUS App.
Note: Goal setting is currently only supported at the LMSA, MACS, and Urban Pathways sites (as of Spring 2025, with Urban Pathways joining goal setting on 3/31).
1️⃣ Goal Check-In
When interacting and helping students, tutors should briefly check in with students about whether they have reached their goals. Students have either skill related goals (e.g., mastering 2 skills per week) or focus goals (e.g., staying on task and logged into IXL and practice for all or most of the PLUS tutoring class period) or both. This check-in should be short and after any math questions have been answered and math tutoring performed. In other words: goal setting conversations should only be added to conversations that happen already.
For students who reached their goal, offer praise:
"You're doing great! You reached your goal, and that’s awesome! Keep it up!"
For students who didn’t meet their goal, engage in some quick diagnosis of why and offer encouragement:
"It looks like this week was a bit challenging, and you didn’t meet your goal. What do you think made it tricky? Was there anything in particular that slowed you down?"
“Every week is a new opportunity to meet our goals. Let’s work together to reach your goals this week. I am here to help you.”
Depending on the student's response, provide tailored suggestions:
If it’s about time management:
"Try working for 15 minutes, then taking a short break. Setting a timer could help."
If it’s about not asking for help early enough:
"If something’s unclear, ask for help sooner to save time later."
If the issue is related to mindset (e.g., "I’m not good at math"):
"Everyone can learn math—it can be tough, but you’ll improve if you stick with it. Want to try [math activity]?"
If the issue is low perceived value (e.g., "I’m never going to use this"):
"Here’s a story of how students like you have used math in real life. I used to think I wouldn’t need math, but then I ended up… [share personal experience]."
If the problem is about interest (e.g., "These problems aren’t interesting"):
Try connecting the math to something fun. For instance, you could mention how fractions are used in baking or cooking to adjust recipes. You could even ask ChatGPT for an interesting application of the topic that is currently being worked on.
2️⃣ Tracking Goal Achievement in the PLUS App
Each student’s goal and goal achievement status will be tracked on their student cards in the PLUS app. These trackers provide information about the past week’s goal achievement and current goal of each students. Trackers are generally updated weekly, as goals are also week-level goals (e.g., “40 minutes of IXL practice per week”).
Goal status, which can take on the values “Goal Met,” “Goal Not Met,” “Goal Not Set,” and “Control Condition.” For “Goal Not Set” the student has been offered to set a goal but might not have done so (e.g., after an absence). For “Control Condition” the student has not been offered to set a goal and is not supposed to have one currently.
Goal definition: a tag with the 🎯emoji will specify the student’s current goal (e.g., “2 skills/week”)
Examples: 2 skills/week, 40 mins/week (meaning 40 minutes of IXL practice time doing math), or Stay Focused (meaning the student is aiming to stay on logged into IXL and pencil for most or all of the whole class, every time PLUS tutoring happens, typically meaning 40 mins)
Streak: A 🔥emoji indicates how many weeks in a row a student has meet their goal. You may praise the student for their streaks.
Examples: A streak of 3 typically means the student has earned two rewards. You may point that out in your effort-based praise.
If a student is absent, their goal status will not be changed. This ensures fairness and consistency in goal tracking.
Using the PLUS App to View Student Goal Data
Below, you can find examples for how the tags look like and how to view them:
Select a session after going to the student view. To see all tags, select the list view. You can select the list views by clicking the icon on the right in the screenshot below:
Currently, we recommend using the the list view which allows you to view all student tags. Be sure to expand both proactive and reactive lists.
Where is Goal Setting Happening?
Spring 2025: At LMSA and MACS. Students have either skill or focus goals.
Spring 2025: Urban Pathways (for 2 weeks starting Monday, 3/31 until 4/14)
Fall 2025/26: TBD
FAQ
You may wonder: Are tutors allowed or encouraged to check in on goals with reactive students?
The answer is: If a reactive student has set a goal and has asked for help, check in with them about their goal as well. If they haven't asked for help or don’t have a goal set, no check-in is needed. In other words, only check in with reactive students about their goal when they ask for help.
💡 To learn more about the student cards in PLUS app, see this article Your Students Dashboard for IXL schools