Student/School Learning Objectives (SLOs)
Educator Effectiveness Measures
The Wisconsin Educator Effectiveness System is designed to evaluate teachers and principals using multiple measures across two main areas: educator practice and student outcomes. Equal weight is given to each area – 50% of the evaluation on effective practice and the remaining 50% on student outcomes.
Student/School Learning Objectives (SLOs) are one outcome measure of student outcomes used for educator evaluation. SLOs are
- detailed, measureable goals for student academic growth
- to be achieved in a specified period of time (typically an academic year)
- developed collaboratively by educators and their evaluators.
Purpose
Evidence has shown that setting rigorous and ambitious goals for student outcomes, combined with the purposeful use of data, leads to greater academic growth and performance by students. This process of setting specific, measurable objectives encourages teachers to be systematic and strategic in their instruction and leads to increased teacher performance as well. Setting identifiable targets for student achievement encourages teachers to reflect and examine their instructional strategies, techniques and methods to reach each and every student. The SLO process has great impact on student learning when teachers and administrators use it to examine the classroom practices that have a positive impact on student outcomes, and to collaborate on a goal-setting process focused on improved student achievement that sets rigorous, yet attainable goals for learning and ties these to specific instructional strategies.
The SLO Process in Brief
At the beginning of each school year, teachers and principals will develop clear and rigorous, but attainable goals for students, and set high expectations for what they can achieve over time, based on where they stand academically at the beginning of the school year. Throughout the school year, the SLO process should lead to reflection on student academic progress and classroom practice.
Assessment results and other measurable outcomes will be used as evidence of student outcomes. At the end of the evaluation process, there is an opportunity for teachers and principals to reflect on the students’ progress. The goal will be to measure how much students learned during the time they were in the classroom and/or school. This process is also focused on helping educators grow and develop as professionals for the benefit of students.
SLOs can be established for individual educators or for teams of educators. In some circumstances where multiple SLOs are required, SLOs can be established for both individuals and teams.
SLOs identify those critical areas of growth for a specific group of students. The construction of the SLOs is based on baseline data collected prior to the SLO creation. An SLO is created as a SMART goal, being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and with a timeframe in mind. The following link is a resource about SMART goals. te.dpi.wi.gov/files/te/ppt/smart_goals.ppt
Another resource you might find useful is the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction SLO Toolkit. http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=950308&backurl=/shelf/my#anchor
SLO Repository
This repository contains samples of Student Learning Objectives. This webpage has many technology and engineering SLOs to review and use as inspiration for your SLO work. The examples not meant to be exemplars and do not represent samples that would reflect any particular score. SLOs are incredibly context-specific. There are a variety of choices educators make while crafting SLOs to include district-specific assessments and evidence sources. Quality SLOs result when educators analyze data in a way that identifies the unique needs of their student population. Click here for the technology and engineering repository page.