1. Student Learning and Growth Goals 101: Requirements and Recommendations Updated August 2016

2. Outcomes
Review 8 components of Student Learning and Growth (SLG) goals
Understand requirements for scoring SLG goals
Recognize the role of SLG goals in the evaluation cycle
We’ll start with an overview of the 8 components that make up SLG goals, review the required tools for scoring SLGs and discuss the role of SLG goals in Educator Support and Evaluation Systems. We’ll also touch on the unique needs of specialists and non-building administrators related to SLG goals.

3. Achievement Goals vs. SLG Goals
Student Learning Growth Goal
Does not consider baseline data
Student goals are a “one-size-fits-all” and do not include ALL students
Students are expected to cross the same finish line regardless of where they start
Starts with baseline data
Includes ALL students,
regardless of ability level
Students can show various
levels of growth –students
may have individualized finish
lines
We are going to start today by comparing growth goals to achievement goals. On the left hand side of this table are the primary characteristics of an achievement goal. Teachers are very experienced at setting achievement goals, but not necessarily growth goals. So how to growth goals differ? CLICK TO MAKE GROWTH GOAL LANGUAGE APPEAR.
There is one way in which growth goals and achievement goals are the same, both should be SMART:
Specific – the goal addresses student needs within the content
Measureable – an appropriate measure is used to assess the goal
Appropriate – the goal is related to the role and responsibilities of the teacher
Realistic/Rigorous – the goal is achievable
Timebound – the goal is tied to a class/course for teachers, a grade or subgroup for admin

4. Required Components of SLG Goals
Content (Standards)
Assessment
Context
Baseline Data
Student Growth Goals (Targets)
Rationale
Strategies
Professional Learning & Support
toreffectiveness/slgg-guidance.doc
These are the 8 required components that must be included in an SLG goal. ODE has developed a goal setting template (pp. 23 and 26 in the SLG Guidance) which districts may choose to use. A district may develop its own template, but all 8 components must be included. Definitions and examples of each of these components can be found on pages 5-7 of the SLG Guidance.
Content Standards/Skills - A clear statement of the relevant content and skills students should know or be able to do at the end of the course/class.  
Context/Students - Description of the demographics and learning needs of all students in the class or course.  
Assessments - Describes how student learning and growth will be measured.  
Baseline Data - Provides information about the students’ current performance at the start of course/class. Determine students’ strengths and areas of weaknesses that inform the goal.  
Student Learning and Growth Goal (Targets) - Describes rigorous yet realistic growth goals or targets for student achievement that are developmentally appropriate.  
Rationale - Provides a detailed description of the reasons for selecting this specific area for a goal.
Strategies - Describes the instructional strategies the educator will use relevant to learning specific content and skills to accomplish the goal. These strategies can be adjusted throughout the year .
Professional Learning and Support – Opportunity for the educator to identify areas of additional learning and support needed to meet student learning and growth goals.

5. Requirements for SLG Goals
Minimum of 2 SLG goals each year
Quality Review Checklist used for goal setting
Statewide SLG Rubric required for scoring
Statewide assessments (Category 1) and Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) are not required for SLG goals in
Districts must use Oregon Matrix to determine summative ratings
This slide describes, in a nutshell, the requirements regarding SLGs. With the passage of ESSA and the expiration of Oregon’s NCLB waiver on August 1, 2016 requirements around the use of statewide assessments and SGPs have changed. All educators may now use Category 2 measures (school-wide or district wide) regardless of the grade or subject they teach/lead.
Until such time as the State Board of Education adopts revisions to OAR districts must continue to use the Oregon Matrix for summative evaluations and the Quality Review Checklist and Statewide SLG Scoring Rubric when setting and scoring goals.

6. Quality Review Checklist
Takes place during the goal setting phase of the professional growth cycle for teachers and administrators
For an SLG goal to be approved, all criteria must be met
Version with guiding questions available in SLG section of toolkit
The checklist is used early in the professional growth cycle. As part of the goal setting process, teachers and administrators should use the goal setting checklist when sharing their goals with their evaluator. The checklist includes questions in three categories to help the educator and evaluator collaboratively determine the quality of the goal: Baseline Data, Targets, and Rigor. If the answers to all the questions in the checklist are “YES”, then the goal can be approved.

7. Scoring SLG Goals
Category 2 goals scored using state SLG Scoring Rubric
Student Growth Percentiles no longer required
The use of Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) are no longer required as the result of the expiration of Oregon’s NCLB waiver on August 1, 2016.

8. SLG Scoring Rubric
Regardless of “on cycle” or “off cycle” year, all teachers and administrators set and score two goals every year
Clarifying “a few points, a few percentage points, or a few students”
It is important to remember that though some teachers and administrators are on a two year evaluation cycle, they are still setting and scoring SLG goals each year. Once educators enter their summative or “on” year they select two of the four scored goals for inclusion in their summative score.
The rubric has 4 levels, 1 being lowest and 4 being highest. There has been concern about the percentages included in these levels and whether they are too rigorous. If you are already familiar with the rubric you’ll know that in the language of both Level 2 and Level 3 the words “ a few points, a few percentage points, or a few students on either side of the target” are included.
The midyear and summative conferences between educator and evaluator provides an opportunity to provide additional context and information that may inform the final SLG score. The “few” language is intentionally included to allow for that conversation to provide flexibility in scoring where appropriate.

9. Recommendations Content is focused, not everything you teach
Context can help ascertain instructional needs
Tier goals/targets where appropriate
Include the support YOU need
Content - It is not a list of standards, and it is not all the content to be taught in the course. What is the focused, deep, content that you are going to measure student progress on? It should be specific, but broad enough to cover the period of instruction and be based on an analysis of student data and areas where the educator sees potential for improvement in their practice. For example, the CCSS for Mathematics would not qualify.
Context – possible categories: the number of students and their gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and any students with diverse learning needs (e.g., EL, IEP, 504 plans), length of class period/contact time
Tiered targets – talk about this on next slide
Professional Support – important not to forget to ask your evaluator for what you need to make progress toward your goal. Self-reflection and identification of professional learning needs can help focus efforts to provide meaningful professional learning opportunities to educators.

10. Tiered Targets
Students enter the classroom with a range of knowledge and skills
Tiered targets help ensure that each student is appropriately challenged
Tiers typically set for groups of students with similar performance
Tiered targets allow for more realistic expectations for goal attainment
At its most basic, target setting for SLGs occurs when educators describe where students are, in regards to the prioritized content knowledge or skills, at the beginning of the interval of instruction (Point A) and then name a goal for where students will be in regards to that knowledge and skills at the end of the interval of instruction (Point B).
In some courses, most students enter with very little background knowledge about the subject area, as in an introductory course to a world language, for example. In this case, the teacher would likely have similar expectations for what students will know and be able to do upon completion of the course. In other cases, particularly in courses that focus on more linear content that spans many grade levels, such as reading comprehension, students’ background knowledge and skills will have significant bearing on their expected performance by the end of the course.
Simply put, different groups of students, are expected to make different amounts of progress or reach different levels of proficiency by the end of the interval of instruction based on baseline data. All students in a course (including multiple sections, if applicable) should be included in an educator’s SLG and all students are expected to meet their targets, but those targets should be tiered to be appropriate for each student.

11. Role of SLG Goals in Evaluation
Districts required to use the Oregon Matrix in determining summative scores
Y axis represents combined performance on PP and PR
X axis represents combined performance on 2 SLG goals
Use X and Y thresholds outlined in the Oregon Framework for Evaluation and Support
Informs plan for professional growth
As we discussed earlier, SLGs represent one piece of the collection of evidence that is examined as part of the evaluation process. The scores from the two SLGs selected provide the X axis score on the matrix. The matrix is purposefully weighted so that professional practice and responsibility have more impact on the overall summative score than the SLGs.
In addition to reporting the overall summative score for teachers and administrators to ODE, who in turn report to USED, districts use these summative scores to inform the planning for professional growth for each educator.

12. Common Questions Where does goal setting originate?
Who has to set SLG goals?
Who are SLG goals set for?
What kinds of assessments can be used?

13. Where does goal setting originate?
Goal setting begins with the individual educator and is based on data
a part of a collaborative process within their school and/or district and with the evaluator
All SLG goals must be based on data about the educator and his/her students. Once the educator has drafted a goal, it is shared with the evaluator. Because this is a collaborative process, the evaluator may ask the educator to clarify or identify how their goal aligns with the larger school or district needs.

14. Who has to set SLG goals? As defined by law:
Teacher – anyone holding TSPC license or registration, employed as an instructor at .5 FTE and at least 135 consecutive days
Administrator - any teacher the majority of whose employed time is devoted to service as a supervisor, principal, vice principal or director of a department or the equivalent in a fair dismissal district
Exceptions: superintendents, non-TSPC licensed personnel, teachers who do not instruct students directly (e.g., TOSAs, instructional coaches)
When determining who has to set SLG goals, the primary question is “who is required to be evaluated under SB 290?” To that end, the department developed a guidance document by that name that can be found on the FAQ and Guidance page of the Educator Effectiveness toolkit. ODE was required to use the statutory definitions of “teacher” and “administrator” in this process. There is a flow chart on p.3 of the guidance (
Additionally, the FAQs for educator effectiveness address specific questions about who has to be evaluated.
FAQs -

15. Roles: Requirements for Goal Setting
Teachers, Principals, and Vice Principals
Goals specific to subject and/or grade level standards
Must use direct measures for those standards
Specialized Instructional Support Personnel
Goals focused on academic standards OR the standards they use to guide their practice
Can use direct measures specific to subject OR social, emotional, behavioral, or skill development
Can use indirect measures (attendance, graduation, discipline)
Instructional period and intact group may be different due to nature of instruction
Classroom teachers along with principals and vice principals are required to set subject area goals. Direct measures that assess student learning of content specific standards must be used to determine if goals were met.
Some educators may use direct measures that focus on or skill development if these domains reflect their primary job function and responsibilities (e.g., counselors)
Staff in specialized positions such as counselors, library/media, interventionists (including speech paths who provide direct instruction) can set goals around academic standards or skill development as appropriate to the content they teach. Both the intact group and instructional period may look different than a classroom teacher

16. Roles: Requirements for Goal Setting
Non-Building Administrators
Broad discretion based on the individual circumstances and assignment of the administrator
Goals can focus on groups of schools, groups of students, or subjects most relevant to the administrator’s job responsibilities, or on district- wide student outcomes related to district priorities and Achievement Compacts
They may use direct or indirect measures that reflect the supervisory foci of the administrator
Can use direct measures specific to subject OR social, emotional, behavioral, or skill development
Can use indirect measures (attendance, graduation, discipline)
The flowchart referenced earlier will help districts decide which administrators are required to set SLG goals. For those that are, there is more flexibility in identifying both the content of the goal and the measures to be used.

17. Who are SLG goals set for?
Teachers
Course or class
Intact group
Administrators
Targeted goals rather than school wide
All goals must be focused on academic growth
Teachers
Not necessarily all students you teach/lead, depends on your role/level. Students in a course or class, or a specific instructional timeframe for interventionists; students who are present for both the pre and post assessment (intact group)
Administrators
ODE has received additional guidance from USED on goal setting for administrators. Previous guidance put out by ODE indicated that administrator goals had to address all the grades within the school. The new guidance is that administrator SLG goals can focus more narrowly on one or two grade levels, if the data warrants it. For example, if the analysis of school data shows that primary mathematics is the highest area of need the administrator could set a goal for K-2 students in math.
The previous version of the guidance also indicated that administrators could set one of their goals in a non-academic area such as behavior, graduation rates, attendance, etc. In the revised guidance the USED has made clear that all administrators SLG goals must be focused on academic growth. Administrators are free to set professional goals in non-academic areas or use non-academic areas as strategies to meet academic goals.

18. What assessments can be used?
Category 1 – statewide assessments
Statewide assessments are no longer required, but can be used as an OPTIONAL measure
Category 2 – school-wide or district-wide
Purchased or developed
Include pre and post measures
Aligned to assessment criteria
Category 1 assessments are state assessments. In Oregon, this includes SMARTER Balanced (formerly OAKS) and Extended Assessments in ELA and Math. With the removal of Oregon’s waiver, statewide assessments are now an OPTIONAL measure for SLG goal attainment.
Category 2 assessments are school-wide or district-wide assessments that have been purchased or developed by the school or district. They can include, but are not limited to:
Commercially developed assessments that include pre- and post-measures
Locally developed assessments that include pre- and post-measures
Results from proficiency-based assessment systems
Locally-developed collections of evidence, i.e. portfolios of student work that include multiple types of performance
Classroom measures developed by individual teachers would not meet this requirement.

19. Resources Toolkit Resources from Districts
Guidance Documents
FAQs, SLG Guidance, Oregon Matrix, Assessment Guidance, Who is Evaluated under SB 290
Sample SLG Goals
Resources from Districts
Additional technical assistance from ODE
There are a number of materials provided on the SLG Goal webpage within the Educator Effectiveness toolkit on the ODE website. Additionally, as the result of the PRP summaries, ODE has begun identifying materials from districts across the state that can serve as examples for districts seeking additional resources. These are posted in the toolkit as well.
In addition, ODE EE team members are available between now and mid May to provide regional support in areas of need. This includes a ½ day module on SLG Goals for download or facilitation, and facilitation of work sessions.

20. Questions?

21. Contacts Educator Effectiveness Team:
Tanya Frisendahl
Sarah Martin
Brian Putnam