S.M.A.R.T. Goals S.M.A.R.T. Goals, and how they correlate with the Danielson Framework Baldwin High School Wednesday, August 21, 2013 Professional Development

Intended Outcomes: Understand the rationale and framework for S.M.A.R.T. Goals Be able to identify characteristics of “not so S.M.A.R.T.” and “S.M.A.R.T.” goals. Be able to translate the “Danielson Domain Two and Three” into S.M.A.R.T. goals Here is what we hope each of you leaves with at the close of today’s Goals Workshop – along with answers to at least some of the burning questions we’ve just heard. 2 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 2

5 Step Evaluation Cycle Foundation for the Framework & Model Every educator is an active participant in an evaluation Process promotes collaboration and continuous learning Who has seen this graphic? It’s the foundation for the entire evaluation framework. The Model System is built around these 5 steps in this continuous circle of improvement. It is designed to ensure that the educator is an active participant in his/her evaluation. It’s a direct assault on evaluation practice in many schools and districts where evaluation is seen as “something done to the educator,” where evaluation is often experienced as “passive,” isolated, “ritualistic,” unrelated to the “real work” of educators, and disconnected from student learning, educator learning, and school and district improvement. Here, the educator “takes charge” of his/her professional growth. Every educator participates in the 5-step Cycle. For many educators – those who have professional teacher status and are performing at the proficient or exemplary level – the cycle is completed in two years. For new and struggling educators, the cycle is completed in one year or less. For new educators that one-year plan is called a “Development Plan.” As we walk briefly through the 5-Step Cycle, I ask that you “wear two hats.” Think of yourself as someone being evaluated and how this cycle applies to you as an evaluatee. And think of yourself as someone who is evaluating others and how this cycle will apply to your work as an evaluator. 3 3

The case for writing S.M.A.R.T. goals at Baldwin High School

What Makes a Goal “S.M.A.R.T.”? S = Specific A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. Use the language of the Danielson Framework to word your goal. M = Measureable Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of the goal you set. When you measure progress, you stay focused on the essence of the Danielson Domain and reach your targets for professional growth. You will need Handout 5: What Makes a Goal “SMARTer?”

R = Realistic and Results Driven A = Attainable When you identify goals that are most important to your professional growth, you refine the attitudes, abilities, skills, and capacity necessary to accomplish other important tasks in teaching, too. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities that bring you closer to framing your thinking about teaching within the domains of professional practice. R = Realistic and Results Driven To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work that fulfills a need. A results-driven goal will most likely have a direct impact on student learning. T = Time Bound When your goal is plotted out within a time frame, you have a better chance of making it specific and measureable, and thus attainable.

What’s really “new” here: Professional Practice Goals Student learning and school/district improvement goals are not “new” to us; developing them as S.M.A.R.T. goals with goal statement, key actions, and process/outcome benchmarks. What’s really “new” are professional practice goals in which teachers have to be explicit about what we’re going to get better at in regards to the Danielson Framework, not just what we are going to do. Most of us have had experience with student learning, school improvement and district improvement goals. Fewer of us have had experience writing goals in ways that will help us achieve them. That’s what the MA Model for SMART goals is designed to do by having the SMARTer goal have a goal statement, key actions, process benchmarks and outcome benchmarks. Those parts – goal statement, key actions, and benchmarks are the components of the Educator Plan. What’s really new, though, are the professional practice goals. With professional practice goals we have to be explicit about the learning and practice we’re undertaking – what we’re going to get better at doing – and how we’re going to go about getting better and what evidence we can have for whether we’ve gotten better and how much better we’ve gotten. That’s new. We’re making explicit that we often have to learn and practice things in order to do other things well: to have better classroom management, we have to study and practice classroom routines and rituals and ask for and get feedback from observations; to have meetings that actually help participants to implement district goals better, we have to learn how to plan meetings differently, learn new strategies for leading meetings and for assessing what participants get out of our meetings. to conduct school or classroom observations that actually have an impact on leading and teaching, we need to learn how to observe differently and with more focus and insight, and how to write and communicate more useful and meaningful feedback in ways that leaders and teachers can “hear and understand.” Building professional practice goals into the heart of our educator evaluation system makes explicit the one thing we have to know, acknowledge and celebrate about our work: we are all learners and we have a responsibility to continue to learn and apply that learning to our work effectively.

A S.M.A.R.T Goal focusing on Observations and Feedback S.M.A.R.T. Goal for Classroom Observation and Feedback: I will manage my time more effectively in order to increase the frequency and impact of classroom observations by learning how to do a 7 to 10-minute observations by the start of second semester, conducting eight visits with feedback per week, on average, that an increasing percentage of teachers report are useful beginning with at least 60%. Here are two additions you might consider making to the goal statement to take this goal statement beyond being an activity of only “doing observations” to holding oneself responsible for making sure they have an impact, and that as the principal gets better, the impact grows. 8 8