C. Goal Proposal Guidance

It is important to set high quality goals, but these are difficult to write. It is tempting and easy to write a Student Learning Goal as the results from one particular assessment, but the CEA strongly recommends that you not do so. The MTA put out excellent guidance about goal setting (Emphasis has been added):

“There is a temptation to simply state a learning goal as a specific outcome – such as a specific percentage of students performing on a certain assessment. However, that is not actually a specific, actionable and measurable area of student learning.

A test score is not a definition of learning – it is a performance measure. A test score may be used as one piece of evidence that a student has learned a specific body of knowledge. However, learning is the body of knowledge – not the score. The body of knowledge MUST be the specific, actionable and measurable area of improvement. This means that the educator identifies where students are starting (part of the self‐assessment) and defines the body of knowledge or skills that students will learn from that starting point over the instructional period.

The regulations define measurable as: that which can be classified or estimated, in relation to a scale, rubric or standards. So a goal must be measurable, but the measure is not required, and MTA recommends that it not be part of the goal. The new educator evaluation framework is based on evidence from multiple measures. The use of a single measure undercuts this basic premise. Evidence of goal attainment should not be a part of the goal itself, but rather should be included in the Educator Plan that addresses the goal. In addition, the evidence should list multiple and specific ways for students to demonstrate their learning: for example, completed visual inventories (oral or written), assessment of color and shape identification.”

NOTE: If your Evaluator insists on including a measure in your student learning goal, MCAS scores should not be used. If you are on a 1 year plan, the results will not be available until after the evaluation must be completed. If you are on a 2 year plan, the goal is then only a 1 year goal again because the results for the second year will not be available until after the evaluation is complete.

Some example Student Learning Goals put forth by the MTA are:

KINDERGARTEN ELA EXAMPLE: By the end of the school year, all of my students will actively engage in small‐group reading activities using emergent reader texts with purpose and understanding [MA ELA Reading Standards: Literature, K‐10; Informational Text, K‐10; Foundational Skills, K‐4]

GRADE 2 ARTS (FINE ARTS) EXAMPLE: Students will improve their skills in listing images seen in a work of art and in identifying color and shapes in the work. [MA Arts Framework K‐12 Standard 5 and PK‐4 Standard 5.1]

GRADE 3 CLASSROOM TEACHER EXAMPLE: By the end of the year, my students will write an opinion piece related to informational text. [MA ELA Curriculum Framework, Grade 3 Writing Standard 1]

GRADE 10 ENGLISH‐HISTORY‐ESL TEAM EXAMPLE: In all of our instructional areas, students will learn to write routinely over short time frames, such as a single sitting or a day or two, on a range of tasks, and for different purposes and audiences. [MA ELA Grade 10 writing standard 10].

See the complete MTA Guidance on Student Learning Goals and Plan Design.

The Professional Practice Goal is more straight forward. Using the results from your self-assessment, write a goal that will address an area of weakness. This could be something you want to learn or do.

Once you have written your goals, enter them into the Goal Proposal form on Teachpoint and share them with your evaluator. If you and your evaluator have time, review and edit this form together. Both of you then sign the form.