Student Learning Outcomes: DRAFT Guidance

Step 4: Set student learning outcome targets based on data from the selected measures

The goal of the system is to measure student learning in order to inform instructional practice, identify successful teaching practices and ensure that students are making a year’s worth of learning in a year’s time. In Step 3, districts identified the measures that would be used to measure student learning outcomes. In this step, districts work with educators to set rigorous student learning outcome targets for the student in their classes/schools.

• Using Student Learning Objectives for student learning outcomes
• Steps for creating Student Learning Objectives
• Creating a scale to determine expected outcomes individually and in aggregate

Using Student Learning Objectives for student learning outcomes
Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) are defined by S.B. 10-191 as “a participatory method of setting measurable goals, or objectives for a specific assignment or class, in a manner aligned with the subject matter taught, and in a manner that allows for the evaluation of the baseline performance of students and the measureable gains in student performance during the course of instruction.” In practical terms, a principal and teacher together agree on a baseline and an assessment that has been aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards for measuring an aspect of student learning. SLOs can be used to focus and organize the calculation of teachers’ contributions to student learning outcomes.

If you need more information on Student Learning Objectives, the Reform Support Network (RSN) has a comprehensive toolkit consisting of tools developed by leading practitioners as well as RSN. Click here to access.

Steps for creating Student Learning Objectives
Teachers may collect or analyze baseline data for the cohort of students in their class or classes, or may use historical data that is relative to their class to set learning outcome targets for success. Because relevant baseline data for cohorts of students may not exist, historical data might be all that is available to the teacher to set targets (e.g. percent scoring 3 or higher on AP exams, percent proficient or advanced on the 3rd grade state summative). Although these SLOs depend entirely upon data from a different cohort of students, they can be very appropriate in the context of educator evaluation.
 

1. Collect baseline data. Baseline data is needed to identify the starting point to assess student learning over time. This data can be gathered from sources such as a pre-test, fall benchmark assessment, rubric (on a performance task or project), or information gleaned from students’ prior performance on assessments (i.e. previous year’s performance on state or district assessments).

Example: Brittany and her team administered the district reading assessment to her 5th grade students during the first four weeks of school to get baseline scores for each of her students. For her math measure, she will use the students’ 5th grade math median growth percentile (MGP) knowing that the MGP includes her students’ 4th grade performance for comparison. Brittany will give her students a writing prompt at the beginning of the year. Using a district approved rubric, she will calculate baseline scores. This writing assessment will also serve to help her plan differentiated instruction to meet the needs of each of her students.

 

2. Analyze the baseline data to set appropriate student learning outcome targets that, at a minimum, represent one year’s growth in a year’s time. There are many ways to analyze the baseline data. Below is one option to do this in order to set student learning outcome targets.

*For simplicity, only one of the multiple measures will be illustrated for each teacher (Brittany and Henry).

Example: Brittany organized her district reading scores in ascending order: 18  24  24  30  38  40  40  50  50  50  50  50  60  60  60  60  70  70  70  80  80 Brittany looked for any values in the set that were much higher or lower than the bulk of the scores. There were no outliers in her data set, but she could see several clusters that would indicate multiple student learning targets were needed. See Grade Level Equivalent reading scores for Brittany’s class in Exhibit S1 below.

 

Exhibit S1. Brittany's FALL reading levels and range of scores for her class

Reading Levels	18-30	38-40	50	60-80
Grade Level Equivalent	Beginning of 2nd grade - beginning of 3rd grade	End of 3rd - 4th grade	5th - 6th  grade	7th - 8th grade
Number of students in group	4	3	5	9

Example: Henry has an end of year assessment available to measure how much of the social studies content have been mastered in his classes. He does not have a pretest available for this assessment. The primary information that Henry has available to determine a student learning target for creating a Student Learning Objective (SLO) is the end of year exam results for his tenth grade students in the previous year’s cohort. The median grade for that cohort of students was 75%.

 

3. Set rigorous learning targets. Teachers may create Student Learning Objectives that may include multiple standards. The objectives should focus directly on students’ progress towards mastery and be based on at least a year’s growth in a year’s time.

Below are three sample ways a teacher can use baseline data to set student learning outcome targets. They can be set for individual students, groups of students, or for the whole group. Some effective strategies are:

• Setting student learning outcome targets for individual students could be an effective strategy for the special education teacher, where she may have 15 students who have very different goals based on IEPs.
• Setting student learning outcome targets for multiple small groups could be an effective strategy for interventionists and teachers planning instruction for small group settings.
• Setting student learning targets for a large group could be an effective strategy for teachers when planning instruction for all students learning new content.

Example: Brittany noted that students should read at a level 60 by the beginning of 6th grade. She also considered the developmental levels of her students, what she knows about the rate of remediating reading skills and complexity of text and task as reading levels increase. She set learning targets that strive to catch up her students who are reading below grade level, while providing rigorous objectives for her students who are at or above grade level.

Exhibit S2. Brittany's reading levels and range of scores with student learning outcome targets

	Reading Level 18-30	Reading Level 38-40	Reading Level 50	Reading Level 60-80
Grade Level Equivalent	Beginning of 2nd grade - beginning of 3rd grade	End of 3rd grade - 4th grade	Beginning 5th grade	7th - 8th grade
Growth Target and Considerations	These students will increase their reading level to at least level 40 - 4th grade	These students will increase their reading level to at least level 50 - 5th grade	These students will increase their reading level to at least level 60 - 6th grade	The students that are reading at/above grade level will increase their reading level by at least one year.

Example: Henry and his principal used the results of the 10th grade end of year social studies exam from last year to create a rigorous SLO. They saw that the median for those students on the end of year exam was 75%. In comparing last year’s cohort with this year’s students, they saw that the spring writing TCAP scores for the current students were as good as the writing TCAP scores of the previous cohort taken in the previous spring. This gave some indication of the relative baselines of these two cohorts. They agreed that if Henry could keep the students for the current year at or above this proficiency level, he would earn a score of expected student learning outcomes for this measure. The table below shows the complete SLO scale for this measure.

Exhibit S3. SLO scale for Henry’s social studies end of year exam
SLO Scale for Social Studies EOY Exam

Scale score	Much lower than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 1	Lower than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 2	Expected student learning outcomes   Scale score = 3	Higher than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 4
Student median	Less than 64%	65 - 74%	75 - 84%	Greater than 85%

 4. Monitor students’ progress towards proficiency throughout the class or course and make adjustments to instruction as needed. While the final assessment of students’ progress towards meeting the objectives is likely to occur at the end of the class or course, assessing students at multiple points throughout the year provides important information for teachers to use in adjusting and differentiating their instruction to ensure that learning objectives are achieved. A mid-year meeting is recommended with the administrator to discuss progress towards learning objectives and additional supports that may be needed to help students reach their targets.

Example: Brittany immediately began small group reading instruction for all groups. She monitored her students’ progress toward mastery of their reading strategies. She realized that her 2nd - 3rd grade level reading group was not improving at the rate she had expected. She increased the number of times she met with this group and ensured that all were included in the reading intervention program. Brittany made adjustments to her instruction that met the specific needs of her students. This demonstrates effective teaching that is driven by progress monitoring of developing skill and reflective practice. While Henry was creating his social studies project with a team of district social studies teachers, the group planned that it would require a significant amount of writing for their students. Henry asked the principal if there was professional development available that would allow him to teach his students to find resources that they needed to optimize their writing, especially to collaborate in producing a final document. The principal asked the district for assistance, and they held a seminar on honing these skills for Henry and other district teachers. Henry’s team collaborates with the English Department to create a rubric to monitor student content knowledge (social studies) and writing skills at various points during the project. The English Department agreed to provide instruction to the 10th graders on writing across content.

5. Assess students’ progress and determine whether learning objectives have been met. The assessments used and targets for this step will have already been agreed upon by the teacher and their evaluator.

Exhibit S4. Sample of Brittany’s 5th grade baseline reading scores

Brittany has 21 students in her 5th grade classroom. At the beginning of the year, her team administered the district reading assessment to determine baselines. She decided upon learning objectives for her class, and created a target for each student.	Fall 5th grade reading level	End of 5th grade reading level	Student Learning Target (demonstrating growth based on SLOs)
Reginald	18	38	40 (not met)
Marcus	40	50	50 (met)
Sheila	70	80	80 (met)
Candace	24	40	40 (met)
Rebecca	50	70	60 (exceeded)
(list continues....)
Number of students meeting their student learning target = 17 Percentage of students meeting their student learning target = 17/21 = 80% (see Step 5) 13/21 students exceeded their student learning outcome targets or 62% exceeded

Creating a scale to determine expected outcomes individually and in aggregate
Scaling SLOs
The following example scale rates the percentage of Brittany’s students who achieved their learning targets.

Exhibit S5. Scale for Brittany’s Student Learning Objectives

Scaling for measuring	Much lower than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 1	Lower than expected Scale score = 2	Expected Scale score = 3	Higher than expected Scale score = 4
% of students meeting their student learning outcome targets	Less than 59% of students met their targets	60 to 79% of students met their targets	80 to 100% of students met their targets	More than 65% of students exceeded their targets and at least 80% of students met their targets

Example: Because 80% of Brittany’s students met their student learning objective targets, Brittany will receive a student learning outcomes score of 3 (expected student learning outcomes) for her reading learning measure.

Scaling the state summative test
The scale in Exhibit S6a and S6b categorizes Colorado Growth Model (CGM) results ranging from much lower than expected, with a median growth percentile (MGP) of less than the 37th percentile, to higher than expected, with a MGP at the 59th percentile and above. These scales are based on the School Performance Framework (SPF) cut points that have been in place for determining school academic growth ratings.

Exhibit S6a. Scale for Elementary and Middle School state summative test

Scaling for Colorado Growth Model	Much lower than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 1	Lower than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 2	Expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 3	Higher than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 4
Median Growth Percentile	1 to 36	37 to 46	47 to 58	59 to 99

 

Exhibit S6b. Scale for High School state summative test

Scaling for Colorado Growth Model	Much lower than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 1	Lower than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 2	Expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 3	Higher than expected student learning outcomes Scale score = 4
Median Growth Percentile	1 to 32	33 to 46	47 to 59	60 to 99

 

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