1. Why are we here?
“…if you don't know where you are heading how will you work out where to start, which direction to travel, which path to follow, and whether and when you have arrived? ...The answer is ultimately a matter of values, and what is understood to be the moral purpose of education" (Dancing on a Shifting Carpet, 2010, Degenhardt, L., & Duignan, P.)

2. Learning Targets I understand how a targeted group can be identified.
I understand what the GAN (Greatest Area of Need) is of this targeted group?
I understand how the instructional strategies of the SLO link to professional development and improvement of professional practice.
I can see how my SLO’s support a School Learning Objectives.

3. Many schools have goals, but they are all too often written into a mandated school improvement plan, submitted to the district, and then soon forgotten as everyone returns to “business as usual”

4. Adopting a goal-conscious state of mind is hard work
Adopting a goal-conscious state of mind is hard work! It is business as unusual!
Fold your hands the way you normally do. Notice which thumb is on top. Now refold your hands with the opposite thumb on top. How does that feel? Uncomfortable, right? Go back to what feels familiar. How does that feel? Which way are you more aware of the position of your fingers? The familiar way is business as usual; the new way is your learning edge, the place where you are more conscious, aware, intentional. Our tendency is to unconsciously return to what is comfortable but the discomfort zone is where we are most alert and focused. Goal-setting requires intentionality and purpose. It is not business as usual.

5. School Improvement goals, School learning objectives, Student learning objectives.

6. When we collectively share responsibility for goals, the synergy is palpable and self-renewing. There is a focused energy that connects us to each other, motivating us to try harder, to go further than we might have gone alone

9. SLO’s

11. Who are the students with the greatest need?
Of that subset of students below grade level, how does their performance compare to those students who have support?
Of that subset of students below grade level, what common literacy skill deficit do they have?

12. How does this process translate to the development of an SLO?
School Learning Objective

13. What data would it make sense to look at
What data would it make sense to look at? Once our fall data is in, we’ll review it in late September/early October, and we’ll go through a process. Using data, we’ll get a preliminary idea of our target group of students for which class SLO’s are written. Then the essential questions listed here will be what helps you complete SLO’s

14. Use data to uncover who they are as learners….
Baseline data and rationale – being data driven was just a normal course of events…..consistent trend was that reading was an area of focus versus math where the school typically had stronger scores (followed state trends)

18. School Learning Objective
After reviewing the School State Report card and analyzing  WKCE and MAP assessment results, a select group of students were identified as below grade level in literacy performance.  While these students are performing below grade level on multiple measures, they are not sufficiently below grade level to be identified for TIer II or Tier III literacy intervention.  
By grade level, the percentage of students who demonstrate concern regarding literacy performance, yet do not qualify for interventions, are specified below:
1st grade = 24%
2nd grade = 15%
3rd grade = 13%
4th grade = 10%
5th grade = 18%
6th grade = 13%
Without a targeted, aligned, comprehensive, supportive approach to address this need, these students will continue below grade level performance

19. Defining Population Literacy – broadest focus 2 essential questions :
Which students were not performing at grade level in literacy?
Which students not performing at grade level in literacy were also not eligible for interventions?

20. Targeted SLO Population
Up to each teacher to personalize the data – who were the students?

21. Who are the students with the greatest need?
Of that subset of students below grade level, how does their performance compare to those students who have support?
Of that subset of students below grade level, what common literacy skill deficit do they have?

22. How do we drill deeper to identify the GAN?
Upon strand analysis, one or two literacy strands were identified as those in need of improvement based upon a targeted approach.
By grade level, the literacy strand(s) determined as the GAN (greatest area of need) are as follows:
1st grade = Literature & Informational Text
2nd grade = Informational Text
3rd grade = Informational Text & Foundational Skills/Vocabulary
4th grade = Foundational Skills/Vocabulary
5th grade = Foundational Skills/Vocabulary
6th grade = Literature & Informational Text

23. What we measure and target improves!

24. “When we set a goal, we’re saying, ‘I can envision something different from what is, and I choose to focus my efforts to create it.’ We use our imagination to keep the goal in mind, and our independent will to pay the price to achieve it.” Stephen Covey, 1994