Student Learning Objectives or SLO's

Today I had to present information to my staff about Student Learning Objectives or SLO's.  I wonder what folks were thinking when they created a term that had an acronym that sounded like 'SLOW.'  These objectives do seem to slow you down.  I did the best I could explaining all the components of  the template.  The SLO's need to define a population,  identify two points of time to measure growth, use historical data, and set clear criteria. This comparable growth component is worth 20 points to teachers on their effectiveness barometer. Point values are based on a possible score of 100.  New York State has designed the point system so that most teachers cannot reach into the 90+ range.  This range is also referred to as the 'highly effective' range.

Let's consider what we know about incentives.  Would we welcome a class of students and tell them that most of them will not master the material we are presenting and really cannot get an 'A.'  Most of the class will fall into the middle range or 'C' category.  How many students would get motivated to do their best with that system?

The NY State Education department has created a DISincentive.  Although the theoretical concept of showing student growth as a direct result of a teacher's effectiveness seems like a good idea, the practical application unveils the gossamer nature of this idea.

The following is an example of the many flaws in the system:  ESL teachers must use the NYSESLAT test as an assessment in their SLO.  This test is fairly easy for students and they do well on it.  At the end of one year students are required to take the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) assessment.  This is a three day test with ninety minute sessions each day.  The test is difficult and requires students to persevere.  It is very difficult for the ESL population.  If a student must use the NYSESLAT as the pretest and then the ELA as the posttest to demonstrate growth, the teacher is up a creek.  It will be very difficult to show growth using these measures. 

New York State has aslo decided to allow teachers in a single school to band together and gamble their points on a single assessment.  So, the art teacher, for example, can hitch his wagon to the ELA results of the fifth grade class.  Are you scratching your head yet? 

I do really believe that the former system of teacher evaluation was flawed and highly subjective.  However, this new system hurts teachers and will ultimately undermine their effectiveness and will hurt kids.  Can't we do better than this?