Student Learning Goals: Setting Ambitious and Measurable Academic Targets for Students | Study notes Learning processes

Student Learning Goal Summary

1. What is a Student Learning Goal?

A student learning goal (SLG) is a measurable, long-term academic growth target that a teacher sets at the

beginning of the year for all students or for groups of students. SLGs demonstrate a teacher’s impact on student

learning within a given interval of instruction based upon baseline data gathered at the beginning of the course.

Each SLG includes:

• The student population or sample included in the goal

• The standards the SLG will align with

• The assessments that will be used to measure student progress and goal attainment

• The period of time covered by the SLG

• The expected student growth (or outcomes)

• The rationale for the expected student growth

2. What does a high-quality SLG look like?

High-quality SLGs state clearly which students are included in the learning goal, how growth will be measured

over what time period, and why that level of growth should be expected of those students. High-quality SLGs

include the following:

• The student population or student group included. Every student should be covered by at least one SLG

to ensure that no group of students is overlooked.

• The standards the SLG addresses. SLGs should link to specific national or state standard(s) for the grade

or content area.

• The assessment(s) used. The SLG should include assessments both to track student progress and make

midcourse corrections (formative), and to indicate if the goal was achieved or to what extent the goal

was achieved (summative). Guidance for choosing and approving assessments would be provided to

ensure that teachers utilize assessments that to the greatest extent possible: (1) are aligned to content

standards; (2) assess student growth across a wide range of performance levels; (3) are valid, reliable,

and specific; (4) capture true mastery of skills, including higher-order thinking skills; (5) provide data that

can, as much as possible, be attributed directly to teacher efforts; and (6) include the potential for

accommodations and modifications when appropriate.

• The period of time covered by the SLG. The SLG should note the period of instruction used to meet the

goal (i.e., quarter, semester, entire year); this period of instruction would typically be the length of the

course or time with the group of learners. Depending on the length of the instruction period, teachers

also should include timeframes for mid-year assessments of progress so that they can adjust instruction

or, in some cases, modify SLGs as needed.

• The expected student growth within that period. The target for student growth should be realistic yet

challenging. It also should include how growth will be measured.

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Student Learning Goal Summary

1. What is a Student Learning Goal?

A student learning goal (SLG) is a measurable, long-term academic growth target that a teacher sets at the beginning of the year for all students or for groups of students. SLGs demonstrate a teacher’s impact on student learning within a given interval of instruction based upon baseline data gathered at the beginning of the course. Each SLG includes:

The student population or sample included in the goal
The standards the SLG will align with
The assessments that will be used to measure student progress and goal attainment
The period of time covered by the SLG
The expected student growth (or outcomes)
The rationale for the expected student growth

2. What does a high-quality SLG look like?

High-quality SLGs state clearly which students are included in the learning goal, how growth will be measured over what time period, and why that level of growth should be expected of those students. High-quality SLGs include the following:

The student population or student group included. Every student should be covered by at least one SLG to ensure that no group of students is overlooked.
The standards the SLG addresses. SLGs should link to specific national or state standard(s) for the grade or content area.
The assessment(s) used. The SLG should include assessments both to track student progress and make midcourse corrections (formative), and to indicate if the goal was achieved or to what extent the goal was achieved (summative). Guidance for choosing and approving assessments would be provided to ensure that teachers utilize assessments that to the greatest extent possible: (1) are aligned to content standards; (2) assess student growth across a wide range of performance levels; (3) are valid, reliable, and specific; (4) capture true mastery of skills, including higher-order thinking skills; (5) provide data that can, as much as possible, be attributed directly to teacher efforts; and (6) include the potential for accommodations and modifications when appropriate.
The period of time covered by the SLG. The SLG should note the period of instruction used to meet the goal (i.e., quarter, semester, entire year); this period of instruction would typically be the length of the course or time with the group of learners. Depending on the length of the instruction period, teachers also should include timeframes for mid-year assessments of progress so that they can adjust instruction or, in some cases, modify SLGs as needed.
The expected student growth within that period. The target for student growth should be realistic yet challenging. It also should include how growth will be measured.

The rationale for the expected student growth. High-quality SLGs include strong justifications for why the goal is important and achievable for this group of students. Rationales should draw upon baseline assessment data, student outcomes, and curriculum standards.

High-quality SLGs specify measurable goals that are ambitious, yet attainable. SLGs should be broad enough to represent the most important learning or overarching skills, but also be narrow enough to measure. SLGs should align with and support school and/or district goals and priorities.

3. What are the benefits of using SLGs?

The SLG process reinforces best teaching practices and encourages educators to ensure that their students will be college- and career-ready. Teachers using best practices already follow an informal SLG process: They set goals for their students, use data to assess student progress, and adjust their instruction based upon that progress. Thus, the SLG process provides teachers with ways to formalize their teaching practice, give input on how student learning will be measured and how they will be evaluated.

Unlike some other measures of teacher effectiveness, all school personnel can set SLGs because the ability to create SLGs does not depend upon the availability of standardized assessment scores. The SLG process allows all educators to focus on the specific objectives they want to achieve with their students and measure student growth using measures that are most relevant for their student population and content areas. SLGs enable all educators to demonstrate their impact on student learning and receive recognition for their efforts.

SLGs provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate together in professional learning communities (PLCs), and in peer coaching and mentoring relationships. Groups of teachers can work together to assess students beginning knowledge and skills, to analyze data and set goals, to design quality assessments, to analyze student work, and to plan lessons and interventions. This creates a connection between growth and evaluation activities and school PLC processes, and meets the statute’s requirement for PLC opportunities.

4. What could the SLG process look like?

Local districts and even schools could have some flexibility to shape the process and documentation to fit local contexts, but the default model could include the following steps (that could be completed by teachers in PLCs):

Review baseline data
Create SLGs
Obtain SLG approval from peer reviewer(s) and/or summative evaluator(s)
Monitor progress toward attainment of SLG growth targets on a continuous basis
Revise SLG, if necessary, with peer reviewer(s) and/or summative evaluator(s)
Review evidence and evaluate progress towards and attainment of SLG targets with peer reviewer(s) and/or summative evaluator(s)

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Partial preview of the text

Download Student Learning Goals: Setting Ambitious and Measurable Academic Targets for Students and more Study notes Learning processes in PDF only on Docsity!

Student Learning Goal Summary

1. What is a Student Learning Goal?

2. What does a high-quality SLG look like?

3. What are the benefits of using SLGs?

4. What could the SLG process look like?