A remedial plan: the template and the guide
For teachers in Gulf schools, from Grade 1 to Grade 12.
One student did not reach the skill with the rest of the class, and you know that more of the same homework will not close the gap. A remedial plan is not a page for the file. It is a written decision: what the target skill is, what evidence put the student on the plan, what different teaching they will get, how you will know it worked, and when you will decide. This guide covers what goes in each field, what to do when the plan ends, and it comes with a printable template.
When a remedial plan is the right response
- After a diagnostic or a short test: the student missed the target skill across several questions, not once, and not through a slip in arithmetic.
- A repeated error that survives correction in class: they fix it in front of you and it is back the next day.
- A gap in an earlier skill the new one stands on: equivalent fractions before adding unlike denominators; reading fluently before inferring from a text.
- A long absence: the student is back and a great deal of teaching has gone by, and you need to write down what will be recovered and how.
One plan, one skill. When the gaps are many, take the skill that matters most to the next lesson and start there — a plan carrying three targets is measured against none of them.
The five parts no plan is complete without
- The target skill, as it is actually taught. "Adds two fractions with unlike denominators and simplifies the answer", not "weak at maths". A broad target cannot be measured, and it has no single activity that fits it.
- The diagnostic result and its date. A number and one line: "6 of 10 in a short test on 12 October; the error is in finding the common denominator". That is the evidence that lets somebody else read the plan and follow it.
- Remedial activities, in steps. A worked example in front of the student, then guided practice with them, then independent work of the same shape as the measurement. The different teaching is the plan: change the route, not the level of the target.
- The measurement tool and the success criterion, written before you start. One measurement, or at most two ("a ten-question short test of the same shape as the diagnostic"), and a criterion in plain words ("8 of 10", or "three times in a row unaided").
- Dates, the person responsible, and the review. The start, the weekly review and the end date; who checks in with the student each week; and who is told if there is no progress.
Writing a target you can measure
A target nobody can measure does not close a gap — it hides one. Three phrasings that turn up in plans, and the version that can be measured:
| The phrasing that repeats | The phrasing that can be measured |
|---|---|
| "Improve at fractions" | "Add two fractions with unlike denominators and simplify: 8 of 10 questions by the end of week four" |
| "Take part in the lesson" | "Answer at least one question in class in three lessons out of five, in maths" |
| "Read with confidence" | "Read a 120-word passage in two minutes with two errors or fewer on the hard words" |
Put the length of the plan on the plan. Four weeks is enough for one narrow skill; beyond that it becomes waiting without a decision.
Four weeks, step by step
The line below is not a rule, but it stops a plan from ending without a measurement:
- Week one: a short re-teach of ten to fifteen minutes with a worked example in front of the student, then two questions solved with them, aloud.
- Week two: guided practice — one question worked through with them, one solved alone and checked straight away, because feedback now works faster than correction tomorrow.
- Week three: independent practice using questions of the same shape as the diagnostic, marked in the same lesson, with repeated errors written down.
- Week four: the measurement you wrote down, then the decision: the plan closes, or it continues with a narrower target and a different activity.
Mistakes that repeat in remedial plans
- Two or three targets in one plan: every gap is written down, none of them is measured, and the month ends without an answer to a single question.
- An open-ended plan with no measurement date: "support continues until it improves" is not a plan, because it does not know what success is.
- The same plan for every student in the class: when the remedial activity is the lesson again, the result is the same result.
- Measuring only at the end: without a weekly check you learn in week four that the student has not progressed, and three of your four interventions are already spent.
When the plan ends, there are only two decisions
The student met the criterion: the support closes, the record says the target was met with the tool you agreed, and the student returns to the normal lesson with one note for the next one.
The student did not: a second plan needs something different, not more of the same — a narrower target (one step inside the skill), longer on one stage, or a look at the earlier skill it stands on. And if there is still no progress after two plans, the question is bigger than one plan, and it goes to whoever coordinates support for students in your school.
The template, ready to print
The template is one page and holds a whole plan: student, class and subject; the diagnostic result and its date; the target skill; the target that can be measured; activities across four weeks; the measurement tool and success criterion; the review date; and signatures for the teacher and the parent. Print it and write on it, or move the fields into your school's own form if yours is standardised.
The template is free and needs no subscription. You will be asked for your name and email so we know who downloads our files, and the consent box is optional: you get the file either way. See ourprivacy notice.
Write your students' plans with EdSmartly
In EdSmartly you write the skill, the grade and what you have noticed about the student, and Plan & Review drafts a support plan: a specific target, the evidence, the steps, and how progress is checked. You read it, change it, then print it or download it as an editable Word file. Every draft stays marked "not yet reviewed" until you approve it, so the plan stays your decision rather than the tool's.
The plan needs no student name: put a code or initials in the reference field, like "Student A". Whatever you type in that field is sent as written to the model that drafts the plan, which is why the field asks for a code rather than a full name — the special educational needs page states this in full.
A teacher can try EdSmartly free for 15 days on their own account, with no card. After that it is $7 a month, and you can cancel at any time. Support plans are part of Plan & Review; to see everything else, read what you can do in EdSmartly.
For school leaders
A school starts with a one-term pilot or a licence that covers every teacher. If you want the whole school working the same way, leave your details and a person will come back to you, not an autoresponder.