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Student Learning Objectives for Teachers Baldwin Whitehall School District 1-20-2015 Mr. Paul Cindric

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Student Learning Objectives

for Teachers

Baldwin Whitehall School District1-20-2015

Mr. Paul Cindric

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Session Objectives

-To introduce the Student Learning Objectives process in context with the Educator Effectiveness

-To review the sections of the SLO Process Template (main form) with expectations and examples for each section

-To consider options for setting Performance Indicator goals

-To practice reviewing and scoring sample teacher SLOs

TeacherEffectiveness

School Building Data 15%

Teacher Specific Data, 15%

Elective Data 20%

Observation/ Practice 50%

Teacher Observation/Prac-tice

Planning and PreparationClassroom EnvironmentInstructionProfessional Responsibilities

School Building Data/School Performance Profile

Indicators of Academic AchievementIndicators of Closing the Achievement Gap, All StudentsIndicators of Closing the Achievement Gap, His-torically Underperforming StudentsIndicators of Academic Growth/ PVAASExtra Credit for Advanced Achievement Teacher Specific Data

Student Performance on As-sessmentsPVAAS 3-Year Rolling AverageIEP Goals Progress*LEA Developed Rubrics*

Elective Data*

District Designed Measures and Examina-tionsNationally Recognized Standardized TestsIndustry Certification ExaminationsStudent Projects Pursuant to Local Re-quirementsStudent Portfolios Pursuant to Local Re-quirements

Teacher Effectiveness System in Act 82 of 2012

* Use PDE’s Student Learning Objective Process 6/26/2014

4

Teacher Effectiveness System in Act 82 of 2012

Teacher Observation/Practice

Planning and PreparationClassroom EnvironmentInstructionProfessional Responsibilities

The rating of a classroom teacher for effectiveness in teacher practice shall be based on classroom observation or other supervisory methods.

Teacher Effectiveness System in Act 82 of 2012

Building level data will be represented using the academic score determined via the Pennsylvania School Performance Profile (SPP). This profile will include data from all in the blue box (below left), including the following when applicable:

PSSA/Keystone ExamsIndustry Standards-Based AssessmentsGraduation RatePromotion RateAttendance RateInternational Baccalaureate (IB)SAT PerformanceACT PerformanceAspire

Teacher Effectiveness System in Act 82 of 2012

• Any data used for a rating in this area must be attributable to the specific classroom teacher who is being evaluated and rated.

• LEAs shall use the Student Learning Objectives (SLO) process to document, determine, and validate the weight assigned to Teacher Specific Data measures that establish the Teacher Rating where applicable.*

Teacher Specific DataUses all of the following if applicable and available:

Student Performance on Assessments (% Proficient & Advanced) Not more than 5%PVAAS 3-Year Rolling Average – At least 10%IEP Goals Progress* - not more than 5%LEA Developed Rubrics* - Not more than 15%

Teacher Effectiveness System in Act 82 of 2012

• Must use the PDE Student Learning Objectives (SLO) process template

• PDE recommends a separate elective data measure from any LDR used in their Teacher Specific category. However, LEAs may agree to use a single elective data measure (from the PDE list) for both Teacher Specific and the Elective Data pieces of the pie chart in the absence of teacher specific data by the proper %.

Observation/ Evidence 80%

Student Perfor-mance 20%

Observation/EvidenceDanielson Framework Domains1. Planning and Preparation2. Educational Environment3. Delivery of Service 4. Professional Development Student Performance of All Students in

the School Building in which the Nonteaching Professional Employee is Employed District Designed Measures and ExaminationsNationally Recognized Standardized TestsIndustry Certification ExaminationsStudent Projects Pursuant to Local RequirementsStudent Portfolios Pursuant to Local Requirements

Non Teaching Professional Employee Effectiveness System in Act 82 of 2012

Effective 2014-2015 SY

9

Who are non-teaching professionals?

1. Those working under an Educational Specialist certificate (school nurse, guidance counselor, H&SV, IT specialist, school psychologist, dental hygienist)

2. Those working under an instructional certificate who do NOT provide direct instruction to students

3. Those holding a Supervisory certificate (Supervisor of Curriculum & Instruction, Pupil Services, Single Area, Special Education, Vocational Education)

These educators are not required to complete an SLO10

Building Level Data

15% Correlation Data Based on Teacher-Level

Measures15%

Elective Data20%

Observation/ Evidence

50%

Observation/ PracticeFramework for Leadership Domains

Strategic/Cultural LeadershipSystems LeadershipLeadership for LearningProfessional and Community Leadership

Building Level Data/School Performance ProfileIndicators of Academic AchievementIndicators of Closing the Achievement Gap, All StudentsIndicators of Closing the Achievement Gap, SubgroupsAcademic Growth PVAASOther Academic IndicatorsCredit for Advanced Achievement

Correlation Data/ Relationship Based on Teacher Level Measures

Elective Data/Student Learning ObjectivesDistrict Designed Measures and ExaminationsNationally Recognized Standardized TestsIndustry Certification ExaminationsStudent Projects Pursuant to Local RequirementsStudent Portfolios Pursuant to Local Requirements

Principal Effectiveness System in Act 82 of 2012

6/26/2014

Classroom Teacher Rating Tool Form – PDE 82-1

12

SLO Score

Observation/Practice Scores(every domain/every year)

Building School Performance Profile

Teacher Specific Items as available/applicable

Even when using the Excel form, you must manually select one of these ratings

Student Learning Objectives: The Basics

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

What are Student Learning Objectives?

Student Learning Objectives are a process developed by the department of education to document a measure of educator effectiveness based on student achievement of content standards.

Student Learning Objectives - SLOWhat are Student Learning Objectives?

– A process to document a measure of educator effectiveness based on student achievement of content standards for a group of students within an academic year.

– SLOs must be aligned to standards and reflect the most important content and essential understandings of the course/subject taught by that teacher

– At the end of an established instructional time period, students are assessed through the use of performance measures (assessments) that will determine how well that group of students met the performance indicators (expected level of achievement) set by that teacher.

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Goal

• A vision, big idea, should connect to district, school or team goals

Performance Measures

• Assessments that will be used to measure the performance indicators

Performance Indicators

• Approved ways that the students will demonstrate attaining the teacher goal

What’s in an SLO?

Student Learning Objectives - SLOHow are SLOs developed?

1) Teachers, under the guidance of their principal/district, compose a goal for a group (or all) of their students in a subject/course they are teaching that academic year. The goal must be aligned to academic content standards.

2) Teachers, under the guidance of their principal/district, select performance measures that will be used to determine if students meet the stated goal. The performance measures are to be aligned to performance indicators .

3) Teachers, under the guidance of their principal/district, set performance indicators that will be targets related to academic standards. Each performance indicator should be a reasonable expectation that utilizes data. The SLO should contain multiple measures for reliability. 8/2014

Student Learning Objectives - SLOHow are teachers evaluated using SLOs?

The teacher elective rating is determined by how many of the performance indicator targets are met by the students in the SLO. Those targets are set at the beginning of the process by the district.

Teacher rating categories are converted into the 0-3 scale and plugged into the new classroom teacher rating form.

Failing Needs Improvement

Proficient Distinguished

% to % of students % to % of students % to % of students % to % of students

0 1 2 3

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Reform Support Network 2014

Data & Assessments:The Value in SLOs

Social Media

DATA USE

Sports

Web-Based

Retail

Financial

Entertainment

Advertising

Politics

Insurance

ManufacturingHealthcare

How do these industries utilize data?

Benefits:TimeInnovationCost EffectivenessPersonalizing EfficiencyPredictions/ProjectionsTrend Analysis

Cautions:PrivacySecurityMisuse of Information

DATA USE

To what extent do we use data in education?

Student Learning

Objectives

Student AssessmentsDATA USE

The Template

26

SLO Process Template:The form through which Student Learning Objectives

process is documented.

A Walk through the Main Template

You will need the main template and Help Desk documents side by side.

28

Classroom Context

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Classroom Context (example)

Turn & Talk

1. What questions do you still wonder about or need to answer related to the Classroom Context section of the SLO template?

2. Write your questions on the form and discuss with a neighbor.

?? Questions to Consider ??

• 1) Do all of the answers in this section only relate to the SLO population of students?

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Goal

• A vision, big idea, should connect to district, school or team goals

Performance Measures

• Assessments that will be used to measure the performance indicators

Performance Indicators

• Approved ways that the students will demonstrate attaining the teacher goal

33

Goal Statement

2.a. The Goal Statement is a Big Idea. Big Ideas are declarative statements that transcend grade levels. Big Ideas can be found in the Curriculum Framework on www.pdesas.org or in your district’s written curriculum.

2.b. These are the targeted academic standards aligned to the teacher’s Goal Statement.

2c. The rationale, composed by the teacher, states why the selected Goal and Standards have been chosen and why they are important for students.

34

2.O SLO Goal (example)

Turn & Talk

1. What questions do you have related to the SLO Goal section of the SLO template?

2. Write your questions on the form and discuss with a neighbor.

?? Questions to Consider ??

• 1) Does your goal statement adequately represent a key learning of your course?

• 2) Will this goal provide students with knowledge and skills that will be of value beyond a single test date?

• 3) Are your targeted standards actually aligned to your goal?

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Goal

• A vision, big idea, could connect to district, school or team goals

Performance Measures

• Assessments that will be used to measure the performance indicators

Performance Indicators

• Approved ways that the students will demonstrate attaining the teacher goal

38

Performance Measures

Performance Measures are assessments that will be used to measure the performance indicators. They should be summative in nature.

39

Performance Measures (example)

Performance Measures (example con’t)

Turn & Talk

1. What questions do you have related to this section of the SLO template?

2. Write your questions on the form and discuss with a neighbor.

?? Questions to Consider ??• 1) Does your Performance Measure align with the targeted

standards and the goal statement?

• 2) Does the progression of your Performance Measures represent increasing cognitive demands on the students, i.e. DOK levels?

• 3) Have you considered other ways that student learning could be measured besides the objective tests you have listed? (projects, simulations, experiments, performance tasks, etc.)

• 4) Are there enough items to truly measure growth and/or mastery of the targeted standards on the assessment you’ve chosen?

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Goal

• A vision, big idea, should connect to district, school or team goals

Performance Measures

• Assessments that will be used to measure the performance indicators

Performance Indicators

• Approved ways that the students will demonstrate attaining the teacher goal

44

Performance Indicators

A Performance Indicator is a description of the expected level of achievement for each student in the SLO population.

45

Performance Indicators (example)

Approaches to selecting targets for students

Guidance for Teachers

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Student Population, Baseline, and Target(s) Training SLO Target Approach 1: Set common growth to Mastery Approach.

Students will grow to score 75% or higher on the summative assessment for the selected standards.

Student Pre-Test Score Summative Target

Student A 10 75

Student B 20 75

Student C 5 75

Student D 0 75

Student E 30 75

Student F 10 75

Student Population, Baseline, and Target(s) Training SLO Target Approach 2: Set common growth targets.

Students will grow by 60 percentage points or more on their summative assessment compared to their pre-test for the standards. (e.g., Student E’s target is 60 more than 30, or 90.)

Student Pre-Test Score Summative Target

Student A 10 70

Student B 20 80

Student C 5 65

Student D 0 60

Student E 30 90

Student F 10 70

Student Population, Baseline, and Target(s) Training SLO Target Approach 3: Set differentiated growth targets

Students will meet or exceed their individualized target.

Student Pre-Test Score Summative Target

Student A 10 70

Student B 20 75

Student C 5 70

Student D 0 65

Student E 30 95

Student F 10 75

Student Population, Baseline, and Target(s) Training SLO Target Approach 4: Set Banded growth targets

Students will meet or exceed their individualized target.

Student Pre-Test Score Summative Target

Group 1 80-99 100

Group 2 60-79 80

Group 3 30-59 70

Group 4 0-29 65

Student Population, Baseline, and Target(s) Training SLO TargetApproach 5: Set Status growth targets

Students will meet or exceed their individualized target.

Student Pre-Test Score Summative Target

Group 1 Emerging Proficient

Group 2 Proficient Exceeding

Group 3 Novice Emerging

Turn & Talk

1. What questions do you have related to this section of the SLO template?

2. Write your questions on the form and discuss with a neighbor.

?? Questions to Consider ??

• 1) How much growth is “good enough”?

• 2) Are the Performance Indicators realistic and/or challenging?

• 3) Do each of the Performance Indicators relate back to their corresponding Performance Measure? (PM #1 = PI #1)

• 4) Does the weighting of your Performance Indicators reflect the significance of each assessment upon demonstrating the students’ learning of the SLO objective?

54

Elective Rating

The selection of ranges for the Elective Rating section is decided upon by local districts. Each district may handle this section differently.

Sign off #1

Before SLO

Sign off #2

After SLO

55

Elective Rating (Baldwin Whitehall)

How to Calculate a Teacher Elective Rating (Example)

Elective Rating Calculation Review

Proficient

Elective Rating Calculation Practice #1

245/300= 82% 82%= Proficient

84 + 78 + 83= 245

100 + 100 + 100= 300

Elective Rating Calculation Practice #2

15 + 15 = 30

20/30 = 67% 67% = Need Improvement

10 + 10 = 20

Turn & Talk

1. What questions do you have related to this section of the SLO template?

2. Write your questions on the form and discuss with a neighbor.

?? Questions to Consider ??

• 1) Are the ranges appropriate for each level of performance?

• 2) Is the distinguished level of performance truly distinguished?

• 3) By what method(s) will you report your data?

The SLO Process through the Year

Student Learning Objectives - SLOWhat is the normal process for SLOs throughout the year?

1) School leaders should provide an overview of the SLO process, including the district/school vision, timeline for completion of SLO

2) Principal reviews SLO template with educators.

3) Principal conducts meetings with teachers to set goals, choose performance indicators and select performance measures using template.

4) Principal and teacher agree on any revisions and submit materials and sign off on SLO before implementing

5) Mid-Cycle Review (Optional) while teachers are implementing SLO

6) End-of-Year Review with supporting data to produce a rating

Beginning of School Year

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Yearly Timeline

Student Learning Objectives - SLOThree Step Process for Developing SLOs

Brainstorming

Writing

Checking

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Roles and Responsibilities in Composing SLOs

These three steps are done before the SLO is signed off before implementation

67

Roles & ResponsibilitiesAdditional Considerations

• Assigning persons to the aforementioned roles and responsibilities will be a local decision and will vary across the state.

• Some responsibilities in developing SLO may be “shared” across grade-levels or departments within a school or district.

• Lead teachers, department chairpersons, or other educator leaders could be assigned the role of SLO trainer, co-developer, and/or quality reviewer.

Reviewing SLOs

Reviewing SLOs

Reviewing an SLO before it is implemented by a teacher is an encouraged practice for school leaders. SLOs should be reviewed for:

Completeness

Comprehensiveness

Coherency

Completeness

• A review of an SLO for completeness is to ensure that the SLO Process Template is completed correctly, with all of the required sections filled in.

• School Leaders should use this review to check that there is a mutual agreement and understanding between the principal and teacher about the SLO population: which course, sections, and students, will be involved in the teachers’ SLO.

Comprehensiveness

A review of an SLO for comprehensiveness is to ensure that the performance measures identified on the SLO Process Template are of sufficient quality for use in reporting student achievement.

• This review checks that performance measures (assessments) of the SLO are aligned, rigorous, valid, and consistent.

Coherency

A review of an SLO for coherency is to ensure that the completed SLO, including identified performance measures, provide an aligned approach focused on the identified “Big Idea” within PA’s content standards.

• This review checks if the Performance Indicators are specific, criteria-focused, challenging, and linked to the Performance Measures.

Practice Reviewing SLOs

• Directions: Using the questions you composed while learning the components of an SLO, review SLOs submitted in advance by the following teachers:

– Ms. Shepherd Grade 5 Language Arts– Mr. Wendell Grade 7 Mathematics– Mr. Krebbs Grade 11 Environmental Science– Mr. Barnes Grade 10 U.S. History

Make annotations and take notes about questions/ clarifications/revisions that you need from the teacher before you can meet with them to sign off on the SLO.

General Considerations for SLOs

Important Considerations When Developing SLOs

SLOs should:1. Represent the diversity of students and courses/content areas

taught.

2. Align to a set of approved indicators/targets related to selected academic content standards.

3. Be based upon two time-bound events/data collection periods and/or performance-defined levels of “mastery”.

4. Be supported by verifiable data that can be collected and scored in a standardized manner.

5. Include a set of independent performance measures.

Important Considerations For Completing the SLO Template

1. Goals are based upon the “big ideas” within the academic content standards.

2. Performance indicators are specific, measureable, attainable, and realistic.

3. Performance measures should be valid, reliable, and rigorous assessments.

4. Data should be collected, organized, and reported in a consistent manner.

5. Teacher expectations of student achievement should be demanding.

Areas of Caution1. The SLO is based upon small numbers of students/data points.

2. Goals and indicators are not linked to standards.

3. Indicators are vague without specific performance criteria.

4. Growth and/or mastery is not clearly defined.

5. Performance measures are not well-designed or lack rigor.

6. Overall student achievement expectations are extreme.

Steps to Constructing an SLO & Supporting Documents

SLO Steps and Supporting Documents

Brainstorming

Writing

Checking

SLO Steps and Supporting DocumentsPerformance Task Framework Template: Used to thoughtfully

design assessments that are well-constructed, rigorous and aligned.

District Implementation

District Steps to Consider in Planning and Implementing SLOs

STEP

S TO

PLA

N A

ND

IMPL

EMEN

T SL

Os

STRA

TEG

YIM

PLEM

ENTA

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N

1 ASSESS AND IDENTIFY OVERALL DISTRICT PRIORITIES AND NEEDS

IDENTIFY WHO ARE “20%-ERS”; WHO ARE “35%-ERS”; AND WHO ARE NON-TEACHING PROFESSIONALS

2

DETERMINE HOW SPECIFIC SLOs WILL GET SET

3

ESTABLISH EXPECTATIONS FOR SCORING SLOs AND FOR DETERMINING TEACHER RATINGS

4

DETERMINE PROCESSES FOR SETTING, REVIEWING, AND ASSESSING SLOS

5

District Steps to Consider in Planning and Implementing SLOs

• Assess and identify local priorities and needs.• e.g. Areas of need as identified by PSSA results; existing district

initiatives; departmental or grade level efforts; etc.

• In looking at a listing of staff members, identify those educators who:

• must use meeting IEP Goals for at least 5% of the Teacher Specific score

• will have to use the SLO template for “LEA Developed Rubrics” and “Meeting IEP Goals”?

• Are considered “non-teaching professionals” and will not develop SLOs.

District Steps to Consider in Planning and Implementing SLOs

• Determine district procedures for how SLOs will be established.

• Educators will work independently• Educators will work in grade or department teams• PA Core Standard Work Group Administrators will determine SLOs for the

district• Superintendent will determine SLOs for the district

• Establish expectations for scoring SLOs, and for determining teacher ratings.

• Will individual teachers/teams developing scoring ranges; will principals determine scoring ranges; will scoring ranges be reflective of district grading policies; etc.

District Steps to Consider in Planning and Implementing SLOs

• Determine district-wide processes for setting, reviewing, and assessing SLOs in schools.

• Which decisions are made at the district level, and which are made by principals and/or principals with teachers?

• What is the annual cycle of goal-setting, progress, and results meetings for SLOs?

• What procedures will be put into place to ensure consistency and rigor across all classrooms?

• Who will provide the final approval of SLOs? – The PA Core Standard Work Group Administrators will give final approval of all SLOs.

• How, when, and by whom will training for principals and teachers be provided (both on SLO development and assessment literacy)?

• Where will SLO templates and data be stored?

• What documents will be required (e.g. just the SLO template; the SLO template and Performance Task Framework; the actual assessments used in an SLO, just a summary sheet, etc.)?

Turn & Talk

7. What methods might you develop to streamline the SLO process in your district? (Themes, department or grade-level goals, timelines, observations, etc.)

8. How will you design your school calendar to allow for the completion and review of SLOs? (PD days, dept. meetings, etc.)

9. How will you determine the elective rating ranges for teachers?

Online Resources

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Online resources and documents to support SLO development

1) www.pdesas.org> Homeroom 2) www.pdesas.org > Teacher Tools3) www.pdesas.org > Curriculum Framework4) http://bit.ly/slopa > Narrated Presentations on

SLO Main Template

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Accessing SLO Online Resourceswww.pdesas.org

Accessing SLO Online Resourceswww.pdesas.org

1. Website of PDE Vendor: Research in

Action Teachers

Administrators

Accessing SLO Online Resourceswww.pdesas.org

Slideshare Power Points

Templates to Help Process

Handouts, annotated Slideshare notes

Examples of Completed SLO Templatesand Performance Measure Task Templates

Accessing SLO Online Resourceswww.pdesas.org

2. SAS Professional Learning CommunityOn Student Learning Objectives

Accessing SLO Online Resourceswww.pdesas.org

3. Curriculum FrameworkOn the Standards Aligned System

Reviewing SLOs

Practice Reviewing SLOs

• Directions: Using the questions you composed while learning the components of an SLO, review SLOs submitted in advance by the following teachers:

– Ms. Shepherd Grade 5 Language Arts– Mr. Wendell Grade 7 Mathematics– Mr. Krebbs Grade 11 Environmental Science– Mr. Barnes Grade 10 U.S. History

Make annotations and take notes about questions/ clarifications/revisions that you need from the teacher before you can meet with them to sign off on the SLO.

Ms. Shepherd

Ms. Shepherd

Weekly for how long? Is this really a summative assessment?

Which report in the program will you use, there are several?

Do these PMs measure conventions?

Where are these They’re not mentioned?

Are you not measuring mastery?

None of these will be needed??

What is the title of this CBA?? Where is it from?

Ms. Shepherd In what form/format will it be reported back? We’ve already accounted for frequency

Are these targets realistic and/or challenging enough for all students?

What about students who show growth, but not to grade level?

What is the reason for using 20% growth?

If you don’t weight your Pis, they are both worth 50% of your SLO score, is that correct?

Ms. Shepherd

She duplicated percentages in each level.

Is this the threshold too high for Proficiency?

Mr. Wendell

Forgot to list the focus standard(s)!!

How many sections are in his SLO? The numbers don’t match.

Mr. Wendell

How many sections are in his SLO? The numbers don’t match.

Is homework a type of summative assessment?

How does measuring growth in basic skills meet his goal/standards?

Even if you could justify HW, is a daily assessment realistic for an SLO?

Is this something the district already owns? Is it part of the curriculum? Is it an appropriate assessment?

Is it appropriate to have students grade work that is a part of an SLO?

Use the title in this section to be more specific on how you will be grading these

Mr. Wendell

Is this this target appropriate?

Is this this target appropriate?

Is this this target appropriate?

Are the assignments weighted appropriately?

Doesn’t add up to 100%

Mr. Wendell

Is the threshold for proficient appropriate?

Mr. Krebbs

Mr. Krebbs

Does this assessment measure the goal?

Do the PMs really measure growth?

Mr. Krebbs

Does the school already own all of these?

Does the district already have access to these?

Is this appropriate?

who

Mr. Krebbs

Is this a rigorous goal?

Again, is this growth?

Are these PI weighted appropriately?

Is the threshold for proficiency appropriate?

Mr. Barnes

Do you want to include all your students in the SLO?

Will this technology truly measure the goal? Does the district own it? Who will support it?

Mr. BarnesDoes the current district midterm in US History have enough questions to validly measure your targeted standards?

May I see a Performance Measure Task Framework form for this project?

Is the frequency and timeframe for this PM appropriate to measure growth on your goal?

Mr. Barnes

Have you considered contingencies in the event of technology failure?

Will you have access to all of the technology for all of your classes for all of the administrations of the simulation?

Mr. Barnes May I see the rubric for this project?

How did you determine that 20 points is adequate growth for this target?

What is your rationale for weighting your performance indicators this way?

SLO Template Training Videos

Narrated Power Point presentations that describe how to complete each section of the

SLO Process Template.

http://bit.ly/slopa

Created by the Western PA Intermediate Unit Curriculum Coordinators

From PDE• The PDE Student Learning Objective Process template will be required

to be used per a PDE legal review. That review states: 22 Pa. Code Ch. 19 requires the Department provide templates for LEAs and it is these templates that the LEAs must use for SLOs. If an LEA wishes to utilize a different template than the one provided by the Department it can submit an alternative to the Department for approval.

• PDE also continues to encourage a best practice of a collaborative approach in the development of quality SLOs. This could include collaborative teams such as teams of teachers at common grade levels; teams of teachers in common content areas; or teams at a building level that includes specific groups of teachers. Since the SLO process requires alignment to content standards, teams will need to develop a content-specific focus.

From PDE

• While SLO implementation is required for the 2014-15 school year, if needed, a LEA may choose to provide additional staff development time at the start of the school year and then move to the implementation of SLOs. SLOs do not need to be year long and the regulations allow a LEA to determine the duration of a SLO. It is important to remember, however, that longer periods of time provide opportunity to more accurately measure student growth.

From PDE

• PDE developed a guidance on all Student Performance Measures in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

• That document is included in your folder. It was revised in October 2014.

Student Learning Objectives - SLO

Questions about Student Learning Objectives please

contact:

Paul Cindric [email protected]

412-394-4940