SGO

Q. How can SGOS be adjusted?

SGO adjustments may be made with the approval of the chief school administrator by February 15th each school year. The following is a non-exhaustive list of situations that may warrant adjusting SGOs:

• The teacher's schedule or assignment has changed significantly

• Class compositions have changed significantly

• New, higher-quality sources of evidence are available, e.g. baseline data or SGO assessments

• An unusual event in the classroom, school, or district has occurred that significantly interrupts student learning, e.g. prolonged school closure

• The teacher has an extended leave of absence

• Closer inspection of the SGO has revealed flaws in its construction that make it impossible to use as an appropriate measure of teacher effectiveness

Administrators should work with teachers to review and revise SGOs wherever necessary, ensuring that SGO targets remain ambitious and achievable. For guidance on assessing SGO quality and making adjustments to them, please click this link.

Q: How should SGOs be handled for a teacher on a leave of absence or otherwise away from teaching for a period of time?

Teachers should be present for at least a nine-week continuous period of time during the year to set an SGO. A teacher who has not set an SGO before the November 15 deadline due to an extended leave should set an SGO as early as possible after his or her return to the classroom.

How can teachers who instruct in semester blocks or nine-week cycles set SGOs?

A: These teachers should set SGOs as early in the semester as possible. If the instructional period is less than nine weeks (e.g. 30-day cycles), teachers should set goals for several of these short cycles and then aggregate performance on these goals into their SGOs when possible.

How should SGOs be handled for a teacher on a leave of absence or otherwise away from teaching for a period of time?

A: Teachers should be present for at least a nine-week continuous period of time during the year to set an SGO. A teacher who has not set an SGO before the November 15 deadline due to an extended leave should set an SGO as early as possible after his or her return to the classroom.

Q: Since SGOs must be set by November 15th, should they include only standards being taught after this date?

A: No; teachers should start addressing the standards that will be included in the SGO assessment as soon as possible (i.e. once the assessment has been identified).  SGOs should incorporate a significant portion of the school year, and this will be difficult if teachers wait until 2.5 months into the school year.  The November 15 deadline is there only to provide time for teachers to become familiar with the SGO process and to collect baseline data on their students.

My district has said that all teachers must have the same SGO. Is this acceptable to the State?

A: Setting an SGO around a shared set of standards and a common assessment for a particular group of teachers who are teaching the same subject and grade makes sense. The Department encourages teachers to develop and use common assessments as much as possible. However, the target that each teacher sets for his or her students and the scoring plan associated with this should be tailored to each particular set of students. This is because it is important to set goals that are appropriate for a teacher's particular group of students.

Are teachers required to use a pre-assessment?

A: No. Pre-assessments may be used to collect baseline data, but there are several other ways to determine students' starting points as mentioned in the preceding question. Additionally, unless they are carefully constructed, pre-assessments may not provide the type of information that will be useful for setting appropriate goals. For instance, a pre-assessment that is identical to a post-assessment may be so challenging for students that most score very poorly and some become discouraged by their test performance early in the school year. Additionally, a pre-assessment on content in a subject area to which students have never been exposed (e.g. German 1) may provide little useful information.

Q: If a high school ELL teacher has a class of only 3 students, and has 9 students in all, how should he/she create the SGO?

A: While a teacher can set an SGO for as few as two students, the best practice is to include as many students as possible in an SGO. Therefore, teachers of few students should consider using learning standards that apply across classes.  In addition, teachers should provide multiple assessment opportunities for each student in a small group.

Q: How will ELL teachers who "push-in" to classrooms set SGOs?

A: In this situation, teachers should select groups of students that they directly instruct and set SGOs that are proportional to the instructional time they spend with them.  As with small groups of students, they should consider using learning standards that apply across classes.

Q: I teach Special Education. How will my SGOs be different than a general education teacher's?

A: Like a general education teacher, your SGO should be tailored to meet the needs of your students. As much as possible, your SGOs should encompass the curriculum and students for which you are responsible. The IEPs of the students you teach contain added guidance to help you provide the type of instructional support that will help your students succeed. You may use this guidance to help inform your SGOs. For example, you may set an SGO that includes standards for reading comprehension. The IEP of a student may include strategies to improve the comprehension skills that the individual student has not yet learned. In this case, the IEP and SGO for that student are aligned.

 I teach classes in which students are very transient. Many students who start the school year do not complete it and many join classes mid-way though the school year. How can I set appropriate goals for these students and have these be a fair measure of my performance?

A: One way to tackle this is to set several goals for shorter periods of time (e.g. 10 weeks) and collect these into one SGO. You can develop each goal with baseline data at the start of a unit of instruction, and develop a scoring plan that reflects the number of students you currently have. Your goal can be written in terms of a percentage of students that is enrolled in the class for a significant proportion of the unit. At the end of the unit, you can assess the performance of your students and get a rating for the goal you have set. Those students who have left the class during this period of instruction would not count in this rating. Students who have newly entered the class would not count either. You would repeat this cycle with the new population of students making adjustments to reflect the change in your student population. At the end of the SGO period, your final rating is based on your average success in each of the unit goals you have set. Teachers who teach quarterly courses may use a similar approach to this.

Q: I am the Special Education teacher in an inclusion class. Should the general education teacher and I have the same SGO?

A: This is one of few cases where teachers may have identical SGOs. If you both have the same students, teach the same material, and use the same assessments, it makes sense to develop and apply the same SGO. In cases where this type of collaborative relationship is not present, teachers may set different SGOs.

 I teach courses that only last one marking period. How do I set SGOs in this case?

A: There are two options here. 1) Create goals for several marking periods and aggregate the student performance for each of these marking periods into 2 SGOs. This ensures that fewer students are left out of the teacher's SGO. 2) Set one SGO for one marking period and one for another.

Q: If I have to submit my SGOs by November 15th, how do I set an SGO for a course that starts after this date?

A: In the case of semester or marking period courses, you could develop the SGO before the deadline using the assessment you use for the course. You would submit the SGO using a hypothetical scoring plan for the course and then adjust it (with the superintendent's permission) by February 15th once you have real student baseline data with which to work.

 I teach multiple grade levels. How do I set SGOs?

A: If you teach the same standards in these classes, you may set SGOs as you would if the students were in one grade level.  However, if you teach multiple sets of standards or subject areas, you should set an SGO for two of the grades or subjects you teach.