Student Learning Objectives (SLO) 

• Set by teachers

• Focused on a foundational student skill that is developed throughout the curriculum

• Tailored to the context of individual students

• Designed to help teachers better understand the impact of their pedagogy

• For the purposes of refining instruction.

Benefits of SLO

Setting learning goals and measuring student progress allows educators to better understand their students’ strengths and how best to support student growth. These goals help teachers define what success looks like for their students and plan backwards to ensure that instruction is purposefully guiding teachers and schools toward a common vision of success.

The SLO Process

Phase 1:  August- September

1. Identify a foundational skill you will target

2. Develop your Initial Skill Profile (ISP)

3. Develop your Targeted Skill Profile (TSP)

4. Identify what evidence you will collect to show student growth

5. Determine how you will guide students to growth

Phase 2:  October - End of April

1. Evaluate student progress using the TSP rubric

2. Evaluation should be done roughly once a monthly 

3. A wide variety of assessments can be used to evaluate student progress

4. Use the TSP results to drive instruction 

5. These results need to be recorded in Eduphoria

Phase 3:  April 1st

1. The last data point for the SLO needs to be completed by May 1st

2. Teachers will record the final score for the students using the TSP rubric

3. The final point and TSP score need to be completed prior to the final eval meeting

Final Evaluation

• This will be scheduled during the month of April or early May and prior to the last day of school

• Your evaluator will use the evidence collected from your personal growth goal, observation, walkthroughs, and SLO to create your final evaluation.

• Teachers should have sufficient evidence uploaded in Eduphoria for both the T-TESS goal and for the SLO goal (high, mid, low samples of students).  

• The evaluator will use the 4 domains of the T-TESS  rubric and evaluate all dimensions

Guidance on Steps

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER

Step 1: Establish your Focus, Skill Statement, and Standards. Consider a specific strand for one of your MYP Criteria for the year: A, B, C, or D. Consult your MYP Subject Guide to choose which strand you want to focus on and connect it to your TEKS if applicable. If you want a blank template to work in before copying and pasting into Eduphoria, you can use this template from TEA.  If you want to see Mrs. MacFarland's example, click here. 

You will end up inputting this information in Eduphoria under My Evaluation Process → Goal Setting→ Student Learning Objective (second choice)  to input this information

Below is an example using Language and Literature for 10th grade. 

FOCUS

Language and Literature, Criterion A, Analyzing

SKILL STATEMENT

Include language from the TEKS and MYP Skill strand to be specific enough

Students will analyze the content, context, language, structure, technique and style of text(s) and the relationship among texts by making inferences and drawing conclusions about structural patterns and features of literature and nonfiction in their writing. 

Start Date:  August 9, 2022        End Date: May 1, 2022

STANDARDS AND TAGS

Find the TEKS  objective that works with your criterion.

SEPTEMBER

Step 2: Develop your Initial Student Skill Profile and Targeted Student Skill Profile. Again, you can use this adapted template from TEA to write your ideas out before you copy and paste into Eduphoria. 

You will end up inputting this information in Eduphoria under My Evaluation Process → Goal Setting→ SLO (third choice)

Use your knowledge of prior students' performance and end-of-year expectations for students in previous, vertically aligned  courses to describe typical students in the class. A best practice is to start by describing a typical entering skill level, then, the highest entering skill level (“well above typical skill”), and the lowest entering skill level (“well below typical skill”) and finally,  complete the in-between levels (“above typical skill” and “below typical skill”). Use your MYP subject guide and the TEKS to help you. Also, consult with your department and ask for people to share what they did last year and have a conversation about it. 

Guidance: For your Initial Student Skill Profile and Targeted Student Skill Profile, take the MYP rubric criteria strand and add task specific clarification that connects the strand to the TEKS to be sure that it is specific enough. It will make it easier to collect data throughout the year if you can align an MYP criteria to a TEKS for the rubric. 

• SLO Form Examples

  1. Exemplar 1  Language Arts 

  2. Exemplar 2 Foreign Language, French

  3. SLO Examples from state; Exemplars MacFarland’s Drive

• SLO Form

  1. Blank SLO  or you can use the one that follows which is very similar, from Leaf

• Connecting MYP Criteria to SLO Goal

  1. SLO Goals (Connecting TEKS to IB Criteria for MYP Subject Area

• Goal Setting Process

  1. Teacher Goal-Setting and Professional Development (GSPD) Plan (From State)

• Tracking Evidence for T-TESS Dimensions

  1. Examples of Teacher Evidence for T-TESS Dimensions

• Tracking Evidence for SLO Growth

  1. SLO Data Tracker Template

• Writing goals using TEKS and MYP Criteria

  1. Examples incorporating MYP Criteria with TEKS

Step 3: Give your classes an assessment assessing this specific strand under one of your four criteria and determine 25 students you want to track. The cohort can be from one class or two classes. 

GIVE AN INITIAL ASSESSMENT that assesses your Student Learning Objective and Criterion & Strand

EXAMPLE: Language and Literature, Criterion A, Analyzing

Students compare and contrast two advertisements for technique, style, and context and analyze how the author’s use of language and images contributes to a specific effect on the audience. 

DEVELOP A COHORT TO TRACK

Determine which class you want to track or which group of students.See if there is enough diversity in a class to just focus on 25 students from that class or if tracking students from 2 classes makes more sense.  Include a range of students from the different levels, so that you have a diverse group of learners from different levels: WELL BELOW, BELOW, TYPICAL, ABOVE, WELL ABOVE. You can enter everything into Eduphoria by creating a Student Portfolio. 

If you want to also have a spreadsheet in addition to Eduphoria, you can use a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is not required if you are using Eduphoria.

•  spreadsheet (MYP 1-8 scale incoprorated)

•  or this Google Spreadsheet Tracker (from the state) 

• another spreadsheet 

Include where they are right now at the beginning of the year and where you would like to see them by the end that is realistic. You will end up entering information for the students in Eduphoria eventually, but it is helpful to organize the information first. Then you can copy and paste or upload as an attachment. 

OCTOBER - MAY

Step 4: Collect data throughout the year to help you with your instruction and planning. For example, on this spreadsheet or this Google Spreadsheet Tracker.  I have three data points (assessments) in the fall and three in the spring. Be sure to keep evidence to upload. Scan or take pictures or download PDFs from Managebac assignments. Plan on uploading evidence throughout the year for three students in the HIGH, MIDDLE, and LOW ranges to show your appraiser a range of work throughout the year. Be sure you have THREE TSP data points by the end of January and FIVE data TSP points by May 1st. 

Eduphoria has some helpful information on how to build student portfolios as well at this link.

Step 5: Breathe. It is all going to be okay. Just follow the schedule on the next page and communicate with your appraiser when you get stuck and have questions. 

Example of ISP and TSP for Design