Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)� and Teacher Leadership Goals (TLGs) in South Carolina’s Educator Evaluation System�

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SLO Training for School Leaders

Work Session 2

11AM-12PM

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Session Topics

• Selecting Assessments for SLOs
• Identifying Appropriate Baseline Data
• Establishing Learning Objective as a part

of the Development Process

Selecting Assessments for SLOs�

• Determining appropriate SLO Intervals

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• Describe the attributes of appropriate assessments for use in SLOs

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• Describe the importance of assessments in creating high-quality and meaningful SLOs

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• Begin identifying possible assessments for use in SLOs in your district

SLO Intervals and Assessments

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• SLOs should reflect the duration of time
• Year-long, Semester, Quarter
• Course interval should be adjusted accordingly

• SLO Intervals should be set with April 30^th date in mind for contract decision purposes.

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Assessments as a part of the SLO Development Process

Attributes of Appropriate Assessments

• Valid
• Does the assessment measure the appropriate content?
• Reliable
• Does the assessment produce consistent results for similar students and across similar conditions?
• Note: Assessments that are valid are also likely reliable!
• Rigorous
• Does the assessment require students to demonstrate the appropriate level of knowledge, skill, or understanding?
• Comparable
• The level of comparability between teachers’ SLOs will depend on the district process for choosing assessments. The pre-assessment and post-assessment should be comparable for each teacher’s SLO.
• Are the pre- and post-assessments the same or same type of assessment? If they are different, are the pre- and post-assessments clearly aligned in terms of content, form, complexity, and scoring?
• Timely
• Are the data available in time to be used at all relevant points in the SLO cycle?

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Available Appropriate Assessments�School Leader Decisions

• Do your teachers have assessments that you can think of now that are valid, reliable, rigorous, comparable, and timely?

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• Take time here to generate a list of appropriate assessments used in your school.

Types of Assessments and Considerations Pro/Cons

• Teacher created
• Need to ensure validity, reliability, rigor, and comparability
• Teachers may not have the expertise or time to create new assessments
• Commercial
• Need to ensure alignment with scope and sequence and SLO content standards
• Districts may not have the resources to purchase commercial assessments

Identifying Appropriate Baseline Data�

• Begin identifying available baseline data in your district & schools

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• Begin planning school-wide expectations for teachers around gathering and analyzing baseline for SLOs

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Gathering of Baseline Data as a part of the Development Process

School Leader Decisions on Baseline Data�

• School leaders can set rules or give guidance on what kind of baseline data teachers should include in their SLO

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• Meaningful Baseline Data should:
• Describe students in terms of groups
• Describe student performance over time
• Inform learning objective
• Inform instructional strategies

Baseline Data Example

Acceptable Baseline Data�

• Share an example of pre-assessment data your teachers can use for baseline data at each level:
• Elementary

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• Middle

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• High

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• SPED

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Establishing Learning Objective as a part of the Development Process

Process for Establishing Learning Objective

• Establish initial learning objective
• Identify one to two high priority content standard(s) and indicators or Competencies for the Profile of a SC Graduate that will provide the basis of the SLO learning objective. Consider using math or English priority standards. Other content areas may consider a skill- or practice-based standard that spirals back multiple times.

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- Related to that priority standard or competency, what should students be

able to do at the end of the SLO interval?

The Learning Objective should be aligned with course- or grade-level content

standards or the Competencies for the Profile of a SC Graduate The goal

should be broad enough to capture essential skills but focused enough to be

measurable. Alternatively, educators may set a growth goal using existing data

team structures or the Rally platform.

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Process for Establishing Learning Objective�-continued

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- What evidence of growth will tell me that a student has met this learning objective?

Consider what formative and summative assessment data is already collected as part of

your course that can be used to measure this objective. Multiple measures and

incorporation of existing assessments are encouraged. This evidence can be connected to

existing data team/PLC structures or work with the Rally platform.

School Leader Considerations for Setting Learning Objective

• Will the district or school leader set initial learning objective for teachers?
• What will the model or formula for setting the learning objective be? What criteria will be taken into account?

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• Will teachers have to calculate the objective themselves or will it be done for them via an online platform?

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• Will teachers set their own learning objective based on data?
• What guidance will the district provide around setting learning objectives?

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• What criteria will the district set for setting learning objectives?

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• Will teachers be able to consult with teacher leaders or content experts about the rigor of their learning objectives?

Teacher Considerations for Setting Learning Objective

• How will teachers connect learning objective to instructional strategies?

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• What instructional strategies will be used to ensure that lower-performing students do not fall further behind?

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• What instructional strategies will be used to ensure that lower-performing students can make progress towards closing their achievement gap?

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• What instructional strategies will be used to ensure that students consistently demonstrating proficiency continue to grow and develop advanced skills?

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• What instructional strategies will be used to engage and challenge higher-performing students?

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Teacher Considerations for Setting Learning Objective continued-

• How will teachers monitor student progress?
• What kinds of formative assessments and informal formative data collection will teachers use?

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• What kind of interim goals or benchmarks will teachers set (formally or informally) to ensure students are on-track?

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End of Work Session 2

Please take lunch and be back

in main room at 1:00PM