Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel

Creating Clear Learning Goals

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Learning Goals: What the students will learn during the learning sequence, NOT WHAT THE STUDENTS WILL DO!! Learning Goals Defined Slide 1

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Connected to a bigger goal (e.g., unit goals or standard) Focused on understandings, skills and practices Manageable Communicated with students in language they can understand Appropriate to students’ learning needs Quality Learning Goals Slide 2

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel TOO BIG : Students understand: All matter has characteristic chemical and physical properties and functions too small : Students know: Water is H2O Just Right: Students understand: Energy can be transformed from one form to another Slide 3 Learning Goals: “Just Right” Fit

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Your Turn Based on what you have learned so far about learning goals, individually examine the examples presented in Handout Decide if you think each example is or is not a Learning Goal. Why or why not? Share your ideas with a partner or in small groups. Slide 4

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Subject Area Learning GoalNot a Learning Goal Art Understand that materials have visual and tactile qualities Understand that visual and tactile qualities of materials can be matched to design intentions Investigate qualities of materials (activity) Tactile qualities (phrase) Texture (topic) Physical Education Understand the health benefits of physical activity (e.g., good health, physical endurance) Performs a dance from Scandinavia (activity) Can jump rope for five minutes (activity) What is a safe way to warm up for exercise? (question) Career and Technical Education Understand that business decisions can be made by using information systems to select, manipulate, and process data in meaningful ways What workplace technologies are currently required by most businesses? (question) 21 st Century Skills (topic) Spanish Understand and use the cultural norms for greetings and departures, based on time of day, people involved, and formality of the context Greetings and departures (topic) What are the cultural norms for greetings and departures? (question) Science Understand that static electricity is caused by the movement of charged particles. Electromagnetism (topic) Building a series circuit (activity) How switches work (phrase) Math Formulate, represent, and use algorithms with positive rational numbers with flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency Dividing decimals (topic) Solve problems 6-10 on page 75 (activity) How are multiplication and division alike and different? (question) Slide 5 Check: Is It or Isn’t It a Learning Goal?

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Now you’ll see three examples of how teachers create Learning Goals. Handout displays all three examples. Two different templates are used in these examples for teachers to record the Learning Goal(s). The Success Criteria will be added later. Slide 6 Examples of Learning Goals

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Slide 7 Example 1: English Language Arts

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Essential Understanding: Authors use the main ideas to convey important messages in text, and use key details to support those messages. Learning GoalsSuccess Criteria Students understand that: The main idea is the author’s message about a topic, minus the details The main idea is found in the text There is a process to identify the main idea in the text Slide 8

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Slide 9 Example 2: Science

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Essential Understanding: The cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere is a significant aspect of weather patterns. Learning GoalsSuccess Criteria Students understand that: Water is continuously cycled between bodies of water, the atmosphere and the land The cycling of water is driven by the thermal energy of the sun Slide 10

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Slide 11 Example 3: Mathematics

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Practices and Skills Geometry and Measurement Tools, formulas and strategies can be used to create, compare and classify two- and three-dimensional shapes. Learning GoalsSelect and Use Strategies to: 1.Classify two- and three-dimensional shapes according to their attributes (length of sides, size of angles, etc.) 2.Compare two- and three-dimensional shapes according to their attributes (length of sides, size of angles, etc.) Success Criteria Slide 12 Geometry: Grades 3-5

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Your Turn Now, you will have the opportunity to create Learning Goals. First, select a template or create your own: Planning Template #1 (Handout 3.2.3) Planning Template #2 (Handout 3.2.4) Next, develop the following for a learning sequence: An Essential Understanding, Practice or Skill Learning Goal(s) for the learning sequence Slide 13 Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel

Turn & Talk Use the discussion web found in Handout to guide a review of your Learning Goal with a colleague. Make revisions to your Learning Goals based on your discussion web conversation. Slide 14 Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel

Try It Out In your TLC: 1.Review the Learning Goals you developed 2.Practice writing new Learning Goals 3.Use the discussion web to evaluate your work 4.Review your Frayer Model or Concept Map and add any new or additional information on Learning Goals Slide 15 Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel