Setting meaningful individualized education program (IEP) goals and objectives is one of the challenges that special education teachers face. In written expression, this task is even more difficult. Not only is assessing writing a subjective and difficult endeavor, but writing itself is a complicated task. Because many students with disabilities struggle with written expression, these skills should be targeted for instruction, but it is unrealistic for teachers to create IEP objectives for each skill area. Teachers need to know how to prioritize each students' written expression deficits, and they need access to measures that are efficient indicators of overall writing performance. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM), an alternative to informal observation and standardized testing, is one tool teachers can use to assess academic skills, develop meaningful IEP objectives, and target instruction. This article provides teachers with information about CBM, various measures for written expression, and how to use those measures in assessment and throughout the IEP cycle (i.e., setting goals, informing instruction, monitoring progress, and sharing performance data). (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)