Introduction to Student Learning Objectives

1. Introduction to Student Learning Objectives “SLOs 101” March 2012 Presentation developed by Cheryl Covell, TST BOCES Data Analyst & Heather Sheridan-Thomas, TST BOCES Assistant Supt, with additional materials from Jeff Craig, OCM BOCES Assistant Supt. and NYS ENGAGE website

2. Session Objectives • Understand how Student Learning Objectives fit into the overall NYS Teacher Evaluation system and Race to the Top initiative. • Develop a beginning awareness of WHAT an SLO is, WHO needs SLOs, HOW SLO decisions are made, and WHY SLOs are an important element in an overall effort to enhance teaching and learning.

3. NY State’s Regulations governing teacher evaluation call for a “State-determined District-wide growth goal setting process.”

4. NO State-provided Growth Score; Use Student Learning Objectives State-provided Growth Score

5. What Are Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)?

6. NYSED SLO Framework

7. Example of an SLO (Part 1)

8. Example of an SLO (Part 2)

9. Example of an SLO (Part 1)DRAFT

10. Example of an SLO (Part 2) DRAFT

11. State • Determines SLO process • Identifies required elements • Requires use of State test • Provides training to NTs prior to 2012-13. • Provides guidance, webinars & videos • District • District goals & priorities • Match requirements to teachers • Define processes for before & after • Identify expectations • School • LE & teacher collaborate • LE approval • Ensure security • LE monitor & evaluation • Teacher • Works with colleagues & LE SLOs

12. The STATE determines the following: • The overall SLO framework. • Which teachers must set SLOs and which teachers must have State-provided growth measures. • Which assessments must be used, and which are allowable options. • Requirements around scoring: • The scoring ranges and categories. • Rules for scoring SLOs that include a State-provided growth measure. • Rules for scoring multiple SLOs.

13. Three types of teachers:

14. STATE Rules - How many SLOs and what assessments to use. • SLOs must cover largest courses taught until ≥50% of students are included in a teacher’s SLOs.

15. STATE Rules - How many SLOs and what assessments to use. • Teachers with multiple sections of the same course must create 1 SLO to cover all of these sections when the same final assessment is used.

19. STATE Rules - How many SLOs and what assessments to use. • School-or-BOCES wide, group or team SLO based on State assessment growth may substitute or supplement except for any teachers of 6-8 science and social studies and any grade/subject that culminates in a State assessment. • Examples might include assessing art teacher on team or school ELA scores because of integrated literacy instruction, or assessing reading teacher on grade level ELA scores.

20. STATE Rules - How many SLOs and what assessments to use. • If a State assessment exists for any of the courses required to be included in the SLO, but there is no State-provided growth measure for that assessment, the State assessment must be used as evidence for the SLO. • Examples include Regents courses and 8th grade science.

21. STATE Rules – HEDI Scoring Ranges

23. DISTRICTS determine the following: • Identify priorities. • Establish which decisions are made at the District level versus in schools by principals, and/or principals with teachers. • Create District-wide processes for setting, reviewing, and assessing SLOs in schools. • Set expectations for HEDI scoring of SLOs. • Create processes to ensure that any assessments are not scored by teachers and principals with a vested interest in the outcome of the assessment they score, and address assessment security issues.

24. SCHOOLS determine the following: • Make choices as needed when District leaves flexibility to schools. • Ensure that lead evaluator approves each teacher’s goals and monitors/assesses results. • Ensure all assessments are secure and that any assessments, including those used as evidence for SLOs, are not scored by teachers and principals with a vested interest in the outcome of the assessments they score.

25. TEACHERS engage with SLOs in the following ways: • Obtain all possible data on students to best inform baseline, starting level of student learning. • Propose, in consultation with lead evaluator, SLOs and targets based on District and school requirements. • Select instructional strategies & materials to lead students to SLO targets. • Assess students (may engage in a regional or other distributed scoring process). • Reflecton student learning results and consider implications for future practice.

26. NYSED SLO Framework

27. SLO Elements:Student Population, Learning Content & Interval • Student Population: Specify your assigned students who are included in this SLO along with the course sections and student names and/or identification numbers. (Full class rosters of all students must be provided for all included course sections.) • Learning Content: CCLS/National/State standards. Prioritizing is acceptable/ encouraged. • Interval of Instructional Time: Usually 1 year, but may be semester or quarter

28. SLO Elements:Evidence (Assessments) • Districts will need to review the assessments currently in place in all subject areas and all grade levels, and make decisions about needed assessments. • Assessments should provide useful feedback to teachers about overall instruction and individual student needs.

29. Evidence – Considerations • How aligned and authentic are the assessment items to the learning content? • How valid and reliable are the assessments? • Are the selected assessments from an approved list of allowable options? (district, BOCES, approved 3rd party) • Can they be verified by the Superintendent as comparable and rigorous? • What, if any, administration accommodations must legally be made for students? • How are the assessments scored in terms of point values assigned per item and method of summarizing scores? • Have procedures been established to ensure that assessments are secure and that those with vested interest do not score students’ assessments?

35. NYSED SLO Elements

36. SLO Elements:Baseline, and Target(s) Baseline: Describe how students performed on the identified pre-assessment(s) for the learning content. (Actual baseline scores for each student are required.) Target(s): Define numerical growth goals for student performance on identified summative assessment(s) which measure student knowledge and skill in the learning content. (Actual final scores for each student are required.)

38. SLO Elements:HEDI Scoring

39. SLO Elements:Rationale • Describe how the learning content, targets and evidence were selected and how they will be used together to prepare students for future coursework and “college & career readiness.” • Rationales should explain how targets were chosen using baseline data. Rationale may also explain prioritization of learning content.

40. Why are SLOs so important? • SLOs are the GLUE that connect • Standards (Learning Content) with • Using Data to Enhance Teaching and Learning with • Professional Practice

42. Additional Resources www.engageny.org Cheryl Covell – TST BOCES Data Analyst ccovell@tstboces.org Heather Sheridan-Thomas – TST BOCES Assistant Superintendent hsheridanthomas@tstboces.org

43. Prioritized Standards: CCLS ELA 2nd Grade • Phonics and Word Recognition • RF.2.3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. • Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words. • Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams. • Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels. • Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes. • Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences. • Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words. • Fluency • RF.2.4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. • Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding. • Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression. • Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

44. Prioritized Standards: CCLS ELA 2nd Grade • Key Ideas and Details • RI.2.1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. • RI.2.2. Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text. • Craft and Structure • RI.2.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area. • RI.2.6. Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe. • RI.2.8. Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text. • Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity • RI.2.10. By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

45. Prioritized Standards: CCLS ELA 2nd Grade • Vocabulary Acquisition and Use • L.2.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies. • Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. • Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known prefix is added to a known word (e.g., happy/unhappy, tell/retell). • Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., addition, additional). • Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of compound words (e.g., birdhouse, lighthouse, housefly; bookshelf, notebook, bookmark). • Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.