Professional Learning:
Moving from Compliance to
Engagement
Jenny Ray
Mathematics Specialist
Kentucky Department of Education
www.jennyray.net
What is the value of using
Learning Targets?
Using Learning Targets Effectively in the
Classroom
Presentation Adapted from PIMSER
By Jenny Ray
60-Second Free Write
O Take a minute (literally) to write how you use
learning targets in your classroom.
O Share with an elbow partner at your table
and develop a response to the question,
“What is the value of using learning
targets?”
Research-based Strategies
5 Research-based strategies that significantly improve
student learning:
 Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for
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success
Effective Questioning (Engineering effective discussion,
questions, activities, and tasks that elicit evidence of
learning)
Descriptive Feedback that moves learners forward
Peer assessment (Students as instructional resources for
one another.)
Self-assessment (Activating students as owners of their
own learning.)
“Students who can identify what
they are learning significantly
outscore those who cannot.”
Robert J. Marzano
Where is the target?
Learning/Achievement
Targets
One definition:
Statements of what we want students to
know and be able to do.
CLEAR TARGETS
Assess what?
What are the learning targets?
Are they clear?
Are they good?
O Are the student learning targets assessable?
O Are the student learning targets focused—
are there too many?
O Are they clear to students?
O Are they appropriate for grade level
standards?
O Will students know when they’ve reached
the target?
Educators & Students
must be able to answer……
O Where am I going?
O Where am I now?
O How can I close the gap?
Is this a StandardsFocused Target?
What do you think?
O I can complete a senior project.
O I can build a bird Feeder.
O I can use a band saw safely.
O I can analyze a lab report.
O I can construct a diorama.
O I can set up linear equations that model
real-life situations.
A Mathematics Example
• Math
• Decimals
Subject
Topic
Assignment
• Page 152 in the book
• Going on a decimal hunt
• I can read decimals and put
them in numerical order
Activity
Learning
Target
“Teachers who truly understand what they
want their students to accomplish will
almost surely be more instructionally
successful than teachers whose
understanding of hoped-for student
accomplishments are murky.”
-W. James Popham
How do Learning Targets
connect to our assessment
practices?
Learning Triangle
Learning
Target
STANDARD
Assessment
Learning
Tasks
Some Challenges….
O How can we use assessments to help
the student believe that the target is
within reach?
O How can we use assessments to help
the student know if they have met the
target?
O How can we use formative
assessments of the target to adapt our
teaching?
Mrs. Addison
O Let’s watch a video clip of a teacher using
learning targets in her high school
classroom to differentiate and guide
instruction.
O Do you see students taking ownership of
their own learning?
O What else do you notice? (Jot down your
thoughts while you watch the video.)
The single most common barrier to
sound classroom assessment is the
teachers lack of vision of appropriate
achievement targets within the subjects
they are supposed to teach.
-Rick
Stiggins
Mrs. Cummins’
Students
Hear what students say about their use of
Learning Targets
Commit & Toss Activity
O Please answer honestly on the worksheet
entitled “Prerequisites to Accurate SelfAssessment and Meaningful Goal Setting” (an
excerpt from Stiggins’ book, Getting Started with Seven
Strategies of Assessment for Learning)
O Once you have answered the questions, please
make your paper into a snowball and toss it
across the room to no one in particular.
O Pick up a ‘snowball’ that is not your own and
toss it in the same manner.
Human Bar Graph
O Now, open your paper that you have
retrieved.
O For each numbered statement, 1-7, we will
make a human bar graph to formatively
assess where you are as a faculty in
response to each question.
O So, for #1 and ONLY #1, choose the poster
under which to stand that represents the
choice on your paper…
O All of the time, Some of the time, Not yet
A look at the Results…
O 1. Students have a clear vision of the
learning targets. Targets are communicated
to them in language they understand.
Rubrics are designed to function as effective
feedback about level of qualaity and are
written in language students can
understand.
A look at the Results…
O 2. Instruction centers on the learning
targets.
O 3. Assignments and assessments align
directly with the intended learning and
instruction provided.
O 4. Students have practice evaluating
anonymous work samples…differentiating
between strong and weak work, identifying
problems with correctness or quality, flaws
in reasoning , and misconceptions.
A look at the Results…
O 5. Students receive feedback during the
learning, pointing out strengths and offering
guidance on improvement. Students have
opportunities to act on the feedback before
a graded event.
O 6. Assignments and assessments are
designed so that students can interpret the
results in terms of the intended learning.
The results function as effective feedback.
A look at the Results…
O 7. Students have practice offering each
other effective feedback.
O Which of these prerequisites is your highest
priority to address, based on the results?
Learning Targets
OKnowledge
OReasoning
OPerformance/
skills
OProducts
Knowledge Targets
Mastery of substantive subject
content where mastery includes
both knowing and understanding
it.
Knowledge Examples
O Identify metaphors and similes
O Read and write quadratic
equations
O Describe the function of a cell
membrane
O Know the multiplication tables
O Explain the effects of an acid on a
base
Reasoning Targets
The ability to use
knowledge and
understanding to
figure things out
and to solve
problems.
Reasoning Examples
O Use statistical methods to describe, analyze,
evaluate, and make decisions.
O Make a prediction based on evidence.
O Examine data/results and propose a
meaningful interpretation.
O Distinguish between historical fact and
opinion.
Performance/Skill Targets
The development of proficiency
in doing something where
the process is most
important.
Performance/Skill
Examples
O Measure mass in metric and SI units
O Use simple equipment and tools to gather
data
O Read aloud with fluency and expression
O Participates in civic discussions with the aim
of solving current problems
O Dribbles to keep the ball away from an
opponent
Product Targets
The ability to create tangible
products that meet certain
standards of quality and
present concrete evidence
of academic proficiency.
Product Examples
O Construct a bar graph
O Develop a personal health-related fitness
plan
O Construct a physical model of an object
O Write a term paper to support a thesis
Clear Targets
Clear targets help us:
O Recognize if the formative assessment
adequately covers and samples what we
taught.
O Correctly identify what students know/don’t
know, and their level of achievement.
O Plan the next steps in instruction.
O Give meaningful descriptive feedback to
students.
Clear Targets (continued)
O Have students self-assess or set goals likely
to help them learn more.
O Keep track of student learning target by
target or standard by standard.
O Complete a standards-based report card.
Moving from Compliance to
Engagement
O How may I assist you in your journey?
O Contact me:
O Jenny.ray@education.ky.gov
O www.jennyray.net
O 606-782-0400