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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Student Learning Objectives (SLO) Demystified


Despite being the end of the school year my districts administration is already gearing up for the start of the 2012-2013 academic year. These past two days have been devoted to introducing and discussing Student Learning Objectives (SLO) . This big change is planned to take place at the beginning of the next school year. Therefore it has created a great deal of discussion among the district, especially within the SLP department, as such I felt like it was an important topic to discuss with you guys. The state of NY is still hammering out the details therefore the role of SLP’s in the use of SLO’s is still up in the air (along with other support staff i.e. guidance, counseling, OT & PT). The following post is meant to dispense the knowledge I have gained these days as well as spark some discussion/debate.

As it was explained by the district, SLO’s are meant to account for 20% of the newly revised APPR.
Basically, SLO’s are academic goals for a teacher’s students representing the most important learning for the semester or course. Components of an SLO include:

  • Baseline performance data for each student
  • Benchmarks to assess progress
  • Growth goal targets.

SLOs are meant to be aligned to New York State’s Common Core, national or state standards. Teachers’ effectiveness scores for this component of their evaluation  (20%) will be based upon the degree to which their goals are attained.

This shift toward SLO’s is a part of the new teacher rating outlined by the new APPR which is based on a 100 point system: 60% of points are based on classroom observation, 20% based on local assessments (that our district will provide as to establish a baseline for formulating SLO’s for the present school year) and 20% based on student growth (measured in the form of teacher tests, portfolios, student work etc.). When combined these percentages will result in the teacher receiving a HEDI rating (Highly Effective, Effective, Developing and Ineffective).  It should be noted that teachers in grades 4-8 ELA and math do not have to do SLO’s as these teachers have a state measure in place already. 

I do like that the evaluation system of the SLO is focused on student growth, not proficiency, and allows teachers to demonstrate student growth through various measures of student growth and achievement.

Fingers crossed that we in NY do not have to be held responsible for these student learning objectives, as we already have IEP's that outline our targets and serve to measure growth. I hope this post served to clarify any confusion or misunderstanding regarding SLO's! 

It is way past my bedtime, 7 more wake-ups!




13 comments:

  1. Makes sense to me. However, I had just read on the NYSUT site that they are working on something for our disciplines.

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  2. I'm curious to see what "the powers that be" have in store for us ;)

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  3. Do you have any more information you can share-an example of what tool and what you are measuring?

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  4. Thanks for stopping by Sabrina :) The SLP's in my district are not responsible for SLO's this year...I'm sure that could all change next year.

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  5. Our district is choosing to not have the slp's and tshh's NOT covered in the "new" appr

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  6. I'm a SLP in Wisconsin and am currently sitting in an inservice regarding writing SLO's for this current school year. The examples we have been given are based on a classroom teacher and not for specialists. Are there any good online resources where we could view examples of appropriate Speech/Language SLO's?

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  7. Page 12 of this PDF has some examples: http://www.riseindiana.org/sites/default/files/files/Sample%20Student%20Learning%20Objectives%202%200.pdf

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  8. Our school district is asking us to come up with some SLOs I'm lost on where to even begin!!!

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  9. I work in RI and SLPs are required to write SOOs this year and will be formally evaluated. It is causing such an insane amount of stress because no one really knows how to evaluate what we do daily, probably because they do not truly know what we do! As someone stated above, we already have goals in our IEPs that are written with great attention to detail and data. I find this whole process disheartening.

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    Replies
    1. I wonder if I should quit as a school employee and get rehired as a contracted SLP. I would then be evaluated by the SLP supervisor who IS an SLP vs a Principal who treats SLPs as teachers- who requires SLPs to attend teacher meetings while teachers write their SLOs but no time is given for us to get together to write ours! Contracted SLPs don't write SLOs.

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    2. We have our own Therapist eval. Similar to teachers but tweaked. I had to attend teacher meetings while they write their SLOs but no time is given for SLPs to write ours! Contracted SLPs don't have to be observed by Principals, just the supervisor who IS an SLP which I would rather have done instead of my Principal who treats me like a teacher.

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    3. I wonder if I should quit as a school employee and get rehired as a contracted SLP. I would then be evaluated by the SLP supervisor who IS an SLP vs a Principal who treats SLPs as teachers- who requires SLPs to attend teacher meetings while teachers write their SLOs but no time is given for us to get together to write ours! Contracted SLPs don't write SLOs.

      Delete

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