Ahhhh!! SLOs! Welcome to my world! I have been living and breathing them the past few weeks as her in Maryland we are writing them (teachers and administrators) for the first time. I am elementary so I may not be able to give you direct measures to use that would apply to your level...but I think you are dead on when you insist that your assessment show incremental progress. Here in Maryland, we are telling teachers NOT to use MSA (the state's standardized test) for SLOs because they are not going to show incremental growth, AND here, that MSA test score (soon to be replaced with PARCC) is already playing into evaluations so to use it for an SLO would be double jeopardy. I do like the SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) and the SMI (Scholastic Math Inventory) for growth scores at elementary because you can see incremental progress. Even better is the Fountas and Pinnell running records...which give great formative information as well as showing growth. If you HAVE to use the mea sures they are suggesting, certainly reword your SLO so that they goal is not so lofty because it will be much harder to show growth on a 4 point scale.
I don't know what APPR is.. .and I am thinking others on the listserv do not know either. You might have to clarify for others (and me) exactly what your SLOs are like because not every district has them and Maryland's version probably varies from yours ... what the purpose of SLOs are ...in order to get some responses to your post. Before this conversation continues, I would like to encourage everyone to keep an open mind and ask questions before stating your opinion. SLOs are controversial in some places, but in others, teachers feel empowered to choose the measures that will demonstrate student growth and find that SLOs are better as an accountability measure than using a "bubble" test. While this post is somewhat off-topic, and usually we try to keep to the topic of comprehension, I think this is important to discuss. Assessments and accountability measures do affect the way we teach so it is pretty crucial for us to understand all this so that we can make sure that the effects on our students are positive rather than negative. Jennifer L. Palmer, Ed. D, NBCT (Listserv Moderator) Magnolia Elementary School 901 Trimble Road Joppa, MD 21085 Phone 410-612-1553 Fax 410-612-1576 "Reaching, Teaching, Learning...Changing Lives!!" Norrisville Elementary School 5302 Norrisville Rd White Hall, MD 21161 410-692-7810 "Where Great Futures Begin!!" -----Original Message----- From: Mosaic [mailto:mosaic-boun...@literacyworkshop.org] On Behalf Of Carol McLoughlin Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 2:09 PM To: Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Subject: [MOSAIC] Assessments used for APPR I realize this isn't necessarily an instructional issue, but it's something we reading teachers have to deal with in connection with APPR, so I was hoping to get the group's advice. I teach struggling readers in grades 7-12. The new APPR regulations require that we measure student growth and achievement in order to evaluate teacher performance, and last year was the first time we had to establish Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), and identify a pre- and post-assessment tool and an assessment to use for an achievement score. Last year I used Gray Silent Reading Test as a pre- and post test, which is a standardized test which can measure incremental progress in reading comprehension. This year my district is pushing for me to use the NY State ELA scores, where available, or a proprietary ELA-type assessment through Right Reason Technology . My problem with that is that neither test can truly capture the progress my students make, when they start out with reading levels as much as 3-6 grade levels below placement. They may make up two or more years' progress in one year of instruction, but they are likely to still score a 1 (on a 1-4 scale) on a grade-level ELA test. So my questions are, for those of you who are also dealing with this: - What assessments are you using for growth measures? - What assessments are you using for an achievement score? - Any overall advice on SLOs? I would appreciate any advice or guidance you could provide. *Carol McLoughlin* *Reading Specialist Gr 7-12* _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
