The SLO Process

1. The SLO Process

2. Academy Agenda

3. Objectives and Agenda • Objectives: • Develop an understanding of high-quality SLOs • Understand the role of evaluators throughout the SLO process • Consider best-practices for implementation, including overcoming challenges and utilizing resources • Agenda: • Part I: Building an Understanding of the Parts • Intro and Framing • Understanding SLOs • Writing Objective Statements • Baseline Data & Information • Deepening Assessment Literacy with the Assessment Toolkit • Setting Targets for Student Learning • --LUNCH— • Part II: The Evaluator’s Process • Approving SLOs • Mid-Year Revisions • Scoring SLOs • Part III: Implementation – Overcoming Challenges and Utilizing Resources • Getting from Intent to Implementation • RIDE resources • Proactive planning

4. Norms

5. Dual-Track Learning • PARTICIPANT PACKET: • Utilize the note taking template • Jot down key messages that you feel would be important to communicate to your teachers

6. SLOs in Rhode Island Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) are long-term, measurable academic goals that educators set for their students. They should focus on priority content, be measured by appropriate sources of evidence, and include specific targets for student mastery or progress. They are used as a measure of student learning by all educators participating in the Educator Evaluation System. • Respects the diversity of all grades, subjects, and courses • Written by educators for their own students • Tied directly to the teaching and learning happening in every teacher’s individual classroom • Reflects the most important content and skills students should learn Improving student learning is at the center of all our work. Teachers have the greatest school-based impact on student learning. Research shows that student learning improves when teachers set goals. SLOs recognize and encourage the work that excellent teachers are already doing in their classrooms.

7. Making the Leap Video: Implementing SLOs in Rhode Island As you watch: What are the: a) Big Ideas and Messages; and b) Strategies or Lessons Learned that the educators in the video touch upon?

8. Understanding SLOs • Objectives: • Understand how to use online tools • Understand how SLOs are an integral part of curriculum, instruction, and assessment • Part I: Building an Understanding of the Parts • Intro and Framing • Understanding SLOs • Writing Objective Statements • Baseline Data & Information • Deepening Assessment Literacy with the Assessment Toolkit • Setting Targets for Student Learning

9. Accessing RIDE’s Resources for Educator Evaluation

10. Online Modules & Tools

11. Layout and Functionality of Online Modules

12. Turn and Talk Is this how SLOs have been implemented in your district? If yes, what has made that possible? If no, what has prevented that from happening?

13. Layout and Functionality of Online Modules

14. Layout and Functionality of Online Modules

15. Understanding SLOs Takeaways • SLOs are focused on the student learning in specific content areas and grade levels • SLOs are integrated with the most important work of districts--curriculum, instruction, and assessment--and are not an add-on • Goal-setting is an important part of effective teachers' practice

16. Writing an Objective Statement • Part I: Building an Understanding of the Parts • Intro and Framing • Understanding SLOs • Writing Objective Statements • Baseline Data & Information • Deepening Assessment Literacy with the Assessment Toolkit • Setting Targets for Student Learning • Objective: • Clarify the process for writing an Objective Statement

17. The Process for Writing a Student Learning Objective New Resource

18. Writing an Objective Statement

19. Examining Objective Statements

20. Examining Objective Statements

21. Examining Objective Statements

22. Examining Objective Statements

23. Examining Objective Statements

24. Examining Objective Statements

25. Writing Objective Statement Takeaways • When educators create their SLO Objective Statements, they should follow these four steps: • Examine their standards and curriculum 2) Determine their Priority of Content 3) Write an objective statement 4) Check the scope, or grain-size

26. Using Baseline Data and Information to Set SLO Targets • Objectives: • Understand the purpose of baseline data • Be able to identify several sources of baseline data • Understand how baseline data can be used to set targets • Part I: Building an Understanding of the Parts • Intro and Framing • Understanding SLOs • Writing Objective Statements • Baseline Data & Information • Deepening Assessment Literacy with the Assessment Toolkit • Setting Targets for Student Learning

27. Using Baseline Data and Information to Set SLO Targets

28. Baseline Data & Information Scenarios 7 min 3 min

29. Scenario #1 When you sit down with Mr. Jacobs, a Biology teacher, to talk about his SLOs, he says that he does not have any baseline data. As he puts it, this is the first Biology course his 9th graders have taken and the students matriculate from three different middle schools. There is no standardized 8th grade Science curriculum in your district, so his students may have learned different things last year. What guidance would you give him? What could he use as sources of baseline data/information?

30. Scenario #2 Ms. Palmer and Mrs. Gray are your two 4th grade teachers. They come to you because they are overwhelmed by the amount of information they have on their incoming students. In addition to students’ official records and state assessment scores, the 3rd grade teachers have passed on writing and Social Studies portfolios, EOY reading levels, and detailed comments on each child’s behavior, interests, strengths, and areas for improvement. They don’t know where to begin. What guidance would you give them? How can this information be useful to them as their write their SLOs?

31. Scenario #3 Mrs. Scotto teaches French I to sixth graders at your middle school. She does not understand why she has to include baseline data in her SLO because none of her students speak any French at the beginning of the interval of instruction. How would you describe the purpose of baseline data/information to Mrs. Scotto and what recommendations might you give for possible sources that would be of use to her?

32. Scenario #4 Mr. DuBois is an 11th grade English teacher. Prior to setting targets for his SLO, he reviewed his students’ grades and writing samples from their 10th grade English courses. Based on those, he was able to make some preliminary groupings. However, after administering his first assignment of the year, he noticed that several students are performing differently than he expected (some much lower, some much higher). Now he is confused about how to group students and set appropriately tiered targets. What guidance would you give him? How should he handle these sometimes-conflicting data sources?

33. Conversation before Break Table Talk: How might you support teachers in collaborating in grade level or content-alike teams to engage in the 4 Step Process of setting Objective Statements? What additional support might new teachers need to engage in the process of collecting and analyzing Baseline Data and Information? How you might differentiate this for new and returning teachers?

34. Deepening Assessment Literacy with the Assessment Toolkit • Objectives: • Develop a shared understanding of the various types and purposes of educational assessment • Identify best practices for local assessment development • Part I: Building an Understanding of the Parts • Intro and Framing • Understanding SLOs • Writing Objective Statements • Baseline Data & Information • Deepening Assessment Literacy with the Assessment Toolkit • Setting Targets for Student Learning

35. Deepening Assessment Literacy

36. The Assessment Toolkit

37. Assessment Quiz • 1. Assessment development should always begin with identifying the: • format • purpose • scale • vendor • 2. Summative assessments are primarilyused to: • Inform instruction • Screen/identify • Measure outcomes • 3. Formative assessments should be used: • To monitor progress toward SLO targets • As evidence on SLOs

38. Assessment Quiz • 4. In educational assessment, the constructis: • The intended audience of the assessment • What the assessment is supposed to measure • The format of the assessment • How the assessment is constructed • 5. If you weigh 160 pounds, and every time you step on the scale it reports your weight as 190 pounds, that scale is: • Valid, but not reliable • Reliable, but not valid • Neither valid nor reliable • 6. NECAP score reports are an example of: • Quantitative data • Qualitative data

39. Assessment Quiz • 7. Which of the following item types is most likely to produce false positives? • Multiple choice • Fill-in-the-blank • Constructed response • 8. Adding more items and norming scorers are two strategies for: • Increasing rigor • Decreasing cheating • Increasing reliability • 9. Written comments about student’s photography portfolios are an example of: • Quantitative data • Qualitative data

40. Assessment Quiz • 10. Which of the following could be used as baseline data: • Final grades in a pre-requisite course • Pre-test scores • Assignments from the first few weeks of school • All of the above • 11. Which of the following is an example of a modification: • Providing a scribe to a student with a broken wrist • Simplifying the numbers in a word problem for a student with a specific learning disability • Enlarging print for a student with a visual impairment • 12. Teacher-created performance tasks can be used as evidence for SLOs: • True • False

41. Assessment Quiz • 13. What is validity? • The degree to which the assessment measures what it is supposed to measure • The consistency of assessment results across multiple administrations • The degree to which the assessment is free from bias • 14. Which of the following are true of pre-test/post-test models: • It is difficult to equate forms • Pre-test scores may be deflated • Post-test scores may be inflated • All of the above

42. Assessment Takeaways • Assessment is integral to teaching because it tells us what students know and are learning • Assessment selection/design should always begin with your purpose • SLOs are measured with summative assessments, though other types should be used for progress monitoring • Alignment, format, item type, administration, and scoring all contribute to the validity of assessment data

43. Setting Targets for Student Learning • Objectives: • Develop a conceptual understanding of target-setting as part of the SLO process • Clarify frequently asked questions around target-setting • Develop a shared understanding of “rigorous yet appropriate” targets • Part I: Building an Understanding of the Parts • Intro and Framing • Understanding SLOs • Writing Objective Statements • Baseline Data & Information • Setting Targets for Student Learning • Deepening Assessment Literacy with the Assessment Toolkit

44. Setting Targets for Student Learning

45. Discussing the Online Module Compare the notes you took while watching the online module with your table. Did you take away similar Big Ideas, Details/Questions, or Next Steps? How will you share the guidance and resources with teachers?

46. Supporting Teachers as they Write SLOs: A Focus on Target Setting Directions: Read the SLO. For all completed answers code: I would have answered the question the same way I would have answered this question differently Answer the five questions related to targets on your own. Using stickers, indicate your answers to the five target questions on the posters around the room. Be prepared for discussion.

47. The Evolution of an SLO 6th grade sample: Writing Arguments in Response to Text 1 2 3 4

48. Target Setting Takeaways • What are some of your Target Setting takeaways? LUNCH!

49. Part II: The Evaluator’s Process • Objectives: • Calibrate SLO approval using the Quality Review Tool • Determine if an SLO needs or does not need revision mid-year • Reflect on ways to support teachers in regard to student learning • Understand how to utilize two critical tools for scoring SLOs including the Scoring Process Map and Additional Scoring Guidance • Part II: The Evaluator’s Process • Approving SLOs • Mid-Year Revisions • Scoring SLOs

50. The SLO Process