A K-12 Fairy Tale: An Adventure in SLO Land Written by Jana Scott

Once upon a time, in a very distant K-12 school district, there lived a beautiful 6 th grade English Language Arts teacher who had been teaching for two years. She had hair as black as a raven’s wing, eyes as blue as cobalt, and skin as fair as ivory.

The Land of SLOs “A Place Where Student Growth Matters” “One day, the fair young teacher finds herself lost in a strange yet mystical land. “

Unsure as to what to do, the fair young teacher decided to seek advice. Wondering aimlessly through a forest, she comes upon a blue house with a long and winding walkway. Shortly after the teacher rings the door bell, an old, but wise lady opens the door and says, “Good morning young lady. My name is Mrs. Curriculum. How might I help you?” The teacher answers, “I need advice on how to measure student growth in relation to a learning target. Can you help me?”

Mrs. Curriculum says, “Yes Dearie! I can help you. My suggestion is to show student growth in relation to an SLO by showing the information in a curricular document called a ‘Scope and Sequence’ for the course”. The teacher asks inquisitively, what is a scope and sequence? Mrs. Curriculum replies, “For each grade-level course, a teacher usually has a scope and sequence chart which shows all units in the order they are taught within the course. Information about each unit is also included in this same chart. It is very easy to include information about measuring progress towards mastery of an SLO in a scope and sequence chart. Here let me give you an example my dear.”

The fair young teacher, thanks the wise old lady, takes the example printed on blue paper and proceeds on her way. The teacher wonders on until she sees a small pink house. She decides to seek more advice and knocks on the door. This time, a very wise and smart man named Mr. Instruction answers the door. Again, the teacher asks for advice on how to measure progress towards an SLO.

Mr. Instruction tells the teacher that he measures student growth in a formative way during the instructional process by choosing a broad SLO that can easily be measured in every unit of instruction. After getting a baseline score for each student, Mr. Instruction monitors and tracks progress towards the SLO by using short formative measures which fit naturally into the instructional process regardless of the content or topic being taught. SLO

Mr. Instruction gives the teacher an example which is printed on a pink piece of paper. The teacher thanks Mr. Instruction and moves on down the path until she comes to a green house with beautiful flowers growing in front. Seeking yet more advice, the fair young teacher knocks on the door. This time, the teacher is greeted by a grumpy old lady named Miss Assessment. At first the fair young teacher was hesitant to ask the “old grump” for advice but decides to do so anyway and is pleasantly surprised by Miss Assessment’s reaction.

Realizing that she may be prove to be of value one last time, Miss Assessment’s frown turns to a smile, glee fills her eyes and her hands come together across her chest in a grateful clasp. Miss Assessment advises the teacher to monitor student growth towards an SLO by including a few test items on summative assessments such as unit tests and district level benchmark tests. The young teacher asks “How is this done?” Miss Assessment says, “Simple my dear, you just follow the directions on this green sheet I am giving you.”

The fair young teacher took the information which was printed on green paper, thanks the lady and moves on down the path until she comes to a goldenrod-colored house. Seeing a dog in the yard, the teacher is hesitant to approach the front door but decides to take a chance and do so anyway. A man named Mr. Teacher Evaluation Process greets the fair young teacher at the door. He indicates there are many ways to show student growth towards an SLO and to choose a method that works best for the school or district.

Mr. Teacher Evaluation Process also indicates the importance of getting more information prior to making a decision. He indicates there is a man named Paul Katnik who is a guru of knowledge related to the teacher evaluation system and showing growth on SLOs. The man that lives in the goldenrod house indicates that Paul Katnik is very close by and will be happy to give more advice.

The fair young teacher listens to Paul Katnik’s information and gains many great ideas. She uses all the advice given to her by Paul and others to design a method that works best for her to measure student growth.

A few days later, prince charming comes along and sweeps the fair young teacher off her feet and takes her to a place far, far away from SLO land…

and they live happily ever after…. The End

Five Years Later

The Land of SLOs “A Place Where Student Growth Matters” Instruction Teacher Evaluation Process Assessment Curriculum Discussion Time…… Based in what you learned and your prior knowledge, what advice would you give the fair young teacher related to measuring progress on SLOs?