Student Learning Objectives (slos) Collaborating to Improve Instructional Practice in K-2 Classrooms

Evaluation System

Student Learning Objectives (Slos) – The Basics… A general approach (often called Student Growth Objectives) whereby educators establish goals for individual or groups of students (ideally in conjunction with administrators) to evaluate the extent to which the goals have been achieved.

More detail… SLOs are carefully planned goals for what a student or group of students will learn over a given period of instructional time and can be written for both TSG and NTSG (CTAC, 2013). SLOs are used in educator evaluation systems to determine the educator’s contribution to student learning and directly link an educator’s instruction to specific measures of student growth and learning in a content area.

Student Learning Objectives What SLOs Are: Classroom-level measures of student growth and/or achievement. Standards-based and relevant to the course content. Specific and measurable. Based on student data using two points in time. What SLOs Are Not: Individual lesson objectives. Units of study. Teaching to the test.

Why SLOs? Can be inclusive of all educators Can incentivize appropriate educational behaviors Setting meaningful goals, providing opportunities for feedback and collaboration across educators sharing goals, monitoring progress toward those goals and evaluating the extent to which those goals are achieved.

SLO Cycle SLO Development Process SLO Approval Mid-Year Check-In Final Review of SLO Attainment and Scoring Discussion of Summative Rating and Impact on Practice

Where to Start? Weber School District and Murray School District are continuing the SLO development process with K-2 teachers. Secondary Social Studies was the first group to create these tools. Who is required to do SLOs? Educators in NTSG. Educators in TSG are encouraged, but not required, to specify SLOs. How many SLOs are necessary? Two. Social Studies teachers will choose one content SLO and one writing SLO. Why design district-level SLOs? Simplify the approval process for building-level administrators and build consistency/collegiality across the district(s).

SLO Claim & Opportunity #1 Claim: Teachers have the knowledge, skills, attitudes and ethics to set meaningful, ambitious and fair goals for students. Opportunity: Teaching quality will likely improve if teachers, working with good leaders, were supported in the way they use data to establish goals for their students.

SLO claim & opportunity #2 Claim: Teachers have the knowledge and skills to tailor learning opportunities for their students. Opportunity: If teachers are expected to focus on the needs of individual students, learning opportunities could very well improve.

SLO Claim & Opportunity #3 Claim: Teachers and/or others have measurement or evaluation procedures sufficient for judging whether students have reached the intended goals. Opportunity: This could be a lever for improving the quality of classroom assessment and evaluation tools and processes.

Three Components of Slos Targets Assessments Learning Goals

Learning Goals Based on the intended standards and curriculum that are being taught and learned, A description of what students will be able to do at the end of the course/grade As close to the individual student as possible, allowing for variation based on the current achievement levels of individual or groups of students.

Things to think about when determining learning goals What are the most important things that you want students to learn in your course/class? Be SMART: Specific – focused (by content standards/learner needs, etc.) Measurable – select an appropriate instrument/measure to assess the learning goal Appropriate – learning goal is within the teacher’s control to effect change and is a worthwhile focus for the students’ academic year. Realistic – learning goal is feasible for the teacher. Time-Limited – learning goal is contained within a single school year or appropriate unit of time. Specific – be sure the goal isn’t too broad to measure. Measurable – valid tools must be developed (that’s why you’re here) to measure the degree to which students achieve the learning goals. Appropriate – teacher feels like they have a fair chance to succeed, but still ambitious to reflect high-quality instruction. Realistic – achievable for extraordinary and effective teachers.

SLO Document – Learning Goal Section

Targets There are two key components of the targets associated with an SLO: The End Goal: What would you consider acceptable or “good enough” performance to convince yourself that students met the learning goal? The Starting Level: If we expect all students to achieve the same end goal, then we can skip this step. However, there will likely be some differentiation of goals based on student ability.

Setting Targets Consider student performance as measured with baseline data (prior knowledge and potential achievement levels/growth potential) Example: A student enrolled in an entry-level music class may have taken private music lessons or a student enrolled in an entry-level automotive class may have been learning about cars with a family member for years In these cases, a student survey about their knowledge and experiences would be beneficial for establishing starting levels and developing the expected targets. Baseline data should be used to establish 3-4 predicted levels of performance.

Using Prior performance to differentiate Using performance information from early assessments in the current year, we can categorize students into 3 – 4 “performance groups.” SLO targets are then differentiated according to the students’ starting group. Could use different levels of achievement (basic, proficient, etc.) Could specify different proportions of students reaching the same target (e.g., 80% of Level 3 students will achieve target, 65% of Level 2 students will achieve target, etc.)

Assessments We need high quality assessments to evaluate the extent to which students have achieved the goals. Think broadly about assessment. Don’t let the assessment drive the goal. Rather, the assessment should be used to support the learning goal(s). The learning goal and assessment should be things that you would use in the classroom as part of good instructional practice.

SLO Document - Assessment

SLO Document - Assessment

SLO Document – Curriculum & Instruction

Another Take on Gradual Release…

SLO Document - Differentiation

SLO Document – Reflection & Data Analysis

For next time… June 26, 2014 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM Bring a laptop if possible Bring copies of relevant assessments Include reference/support materials where applicable