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Help Center · Exporting your goals

Getting your goals out.

Two ways to get a finished IEP out of the Goal Bank: copy it as text (to paste into your district's software), or download it as a Backup File (to save for later or move to another computer).

Copy all goals as text

Inside a student's IEP, the Copy all goals as text button (gold, in the IEP panel on the right) puts a formatted list of goals on your clipboard.

The text looks like this: 

Student: Jamie
Grade: 2
School year: 2025–2026

1. Given a grade-level reading passage, Jamie will decode multi-syllable words with 80% accuracy in 4 out of 5 trials, as measured by a teacher-recorded word-reading probe weekly.

2. In classroom settings, when experiencing frustration, Jamie will use a learned coping strategy (e.g., deep breath, break card, self-talk) independently or with one prompt, in 4 of 5 observed opportunities, as measured by teacher observation and behavior log weekly.

Paste it into:

  • Your district's IEP software (Frontline, SEAS, PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, etc.)
  • Google Docs or Microsoft Word, for meeting handouts
  • Email, for sharing with a co-teacher or case manager

Download a Backup File

On the Goal Bank home page, click Download backup (all students). A JSON file named like IEP-backup-2026-04-24.json is saved to your Downloads folder.

Use this file to:

  • Keep a safe copy somewhere outside your browser (Drive, OneDrive, a USB stick).
  • Move your students' IEPs to a different computer — click Import backup file there.
  • Share a draft with a colleague who has the Goal Bank open — they can import your file.

Is the Backup File safe to share?

Mostly yes — with two things to know.

What the file does contain: your student names, grades, the school year, and — for each goal you picked — the customized values you chose for each highlighted phrase.

What the file does NOT contain: the reassembled goal text. Instead of storing the human-readable sentences, the file stores short codes that only this website knows how to turn back into sentences. If someone opens the file without using the Goal Bank to re-import it, they see a list of short codes and your customized phrases — with no easy way to tell what skill each goal is about.

What that means for you: the file is much harder to misuse if it gets lost — and you can store it in your district's usual cloud without worrying about exposing IEP specifics. But the student name is still in plain text, so treat the file the same way you'd treat any other file with a student's name on it.

Load a Backup File back in

On the Goal Bank home page, click Import backup file and pick your .json file. The site reassembles the goal text for each student and puts everything back.

Importing replaces the students currently in the browser. If you had unsaved work for a different student, download a backup of that first. The tool will ask you to confirm before overwriting.

If a goal from the backup has been updated in our library since you exported, the detail page may show a small warning next to that goal — a reminder to double-check the values still match what you intended. Nothing is lost; it's just a prompt to take one more look.