The Power of Learning Targets
Transform Learning in the Classroom
Ken Mattingly
Rockcastle County Middle School
Stephanie Harmon
Rockcastle County High School
Representing PIMSER K-12 Outreach
Group Norms
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Start and end on time
Put cell phones on silent
Be respectful of all comments
Everyone participates
Exercise the rule of “two feet”
You may not agree with me
…and I’m okay with that!
Who’s in the Room
Please stand for the role that best
represents your current position:
Classroom Teacher
Resource Teachers (curriculum coaches,
academic specialists, etc.)
Building level administrators
District level administrators
Others
Our Roadmap for Today
Implications of Senate Bill 1
Stephanie’s Journey
Ken’s Journey
Where have we been?
Where are we going?
Preparing for Day 2
Tools
• T-chart
– Things I want to remember
– How will this impact my classroom/school
district?
Why are we here?
Questions you have about
Learning Targets
Why are we here?
• Senate Bill One—March 2009
KRS 158.6453
– (4) (a) The assessment program to be implemented in the 20112012 academic year shall be composed of annual student
assessments and state and local program reviews and audits in
selected content areas.
• (b) The state student assessments may include formative and
summative data…….
– (8) Local school districts may select and use commercial interim
or formative assessments of develop and use their own
formative assessments to provide data on how well their
students are growing toward mastery of KY academic core
content. Nothing in this section precludes teachers from using
ongoing teacher-developed formative processes.
What Does Senate Bill 1 mean for
the Classroom?
• A shift in how assessment is used
– Formative & Summative
• Becoming assessment literate
– SB1 requires that KDE provide professional
development programs that support
assessment literacy
Point of View
Senate Bill 1 defines what
it means to be
assessment literate and
the types of assessments
that should be included in
instruction. Explain what
assessment means from
the viewpoint of an
administrator, a teacher
and a student.
Point of View
Table Share
Pair & Share
SB 1 Talking Points
• Assessment Literacy
• How assessments are
defined/described
Balanced Assessment
• What does it look like?
• How is it developed?
• Assessment for Learning vs. Assessment of Learning
BALANCED
ASSESSMENT
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
Formal and informal processes
teachers and students use to
gather evidence to directly
improve the learning of students
assessed
Provides evidence of
achievement to certify student
competence or program
effectiveness
Targets, Assessments, &
Grading
What do I do with
targets after I have
them?
Ken Mattingly
B.A. – University of Kentucky
M.A. – Eastern Kentucky University
National Certification in Early Adolescent Science
ken.mattingly@rockcastle.kyschools.us
My Job…
1.
2.
3.
To show you the process I
have taken to incorporate
Classroom Assessment for
Student Learning into my
classroom practices.
To give examples of how I
used it to sharpen my focus
on what my students learn,
how they learn it, and how
they are assessed.
To show you how I have
taken CASL and transformed
the way I assess my students
and report their successes
and shortcomings.
I will do that by…
1. Sharing a year-by-year synopsis of my
progress.
2. Introducing you to ways of linking targets to
activities and summative assessments.
3. Sharing examples of formative and summative
assessments that focus on learning targets.
4. Presenting a method for using targets as the
structure for a standards-based grading scale.
5. Sharing examples of student opportunities to
demonstrate target mastery that allows them to
take ownership of their learning.
Rockcastle County Middle
School
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625 students grade 6-8
2 teams per grade level
70% Free and reduced lunch
2007 AI – 95, 2008 AI – 98, 2009 AI – 105
Science P+D%:
– 2007: 70
– 2008: 73
– 2009: 84
Classroom Assessment for Student
Learning
• Assessment of Learning
– Summative, documents individual or group
achievement, occurs after learning, sorts students
into groups, primary motivator is threat of punishment
or promise of rewards
• Assessment for Learning
– Formative, promotes increase in achievement, occurs
during learning, help teachers diagnose and respond
to student needs, primary motivator is the belief that
success in learning is achievable.
» Classroom Assessment for Learning, p. 33
What are targets, really?
• Statements of intended learning.
• The building blocks for student attainment
of the standards.
• Principal driver of classroom instructional
decisions.
• The framework for classroom assessment
practices.
Year One: In the beginning
The Long and Winding Road
What do we want to assess?
• Start with the end in mind.
– What do we want students to know and do?
– Sources :Common Core Standards, POS, CCD, not
CCA
• Turn those documents into manageable chunks
of information
– Take standard and break into the learning pieces that
when put together form the scaffolding for
performance of the standard (Deconstruction)
– Knowledge, Reasonings, Skills, Products
• These are the pieces that give your instruction
direction and you want to assess
Side Note on Deconstruction
• Taking standards and
deconstructing them is hard
and time consuming.
• Decisions often have to be
made on what is essential
learning.
• There will be differences of
opinion on how standards
break out.
• Put the book away when
deconstructing
• Don’t let this step frustrate
you and keep you from
implementing AFL.
Learning/Achievement Targets
Statements of what
we want students to
learn and be able to
do.
Student Friendly Learning Target
Example
• Standard: SC-07-4.6.2 Students will:
– describe the transfer and/or
transformations of energy which occur in
examples that involve several different
forms of energy (e.g., heat, electrical, light,
motion of objects and chemical).
– Explain, qualitatively or quantitatively, that
heat lost by hot object equals the heat
gained by cold object.
Student Friendly Learning Target
Example
1. I can give examples of energy.
2. I can give examples of energy transfer. That
means when energy is moved from one object
to another.
3. I can give examples of energy transformations.
That means when energy is changed from one
form to another form.
4. I can describe the exchange of energy
between hot objects and cold objects.
Impacting My Classroom?
• Formulated targets for a unit.
• Put those targets on the bulletin board.
• Read them to the students the first day of
the unit.
• Never referred to them again.
So What Was The Benefit?
• I had to examine my standards in greater
depth.
• I learned what I needed to learn about my
content.
• I was more aware of the specifics I wanted
my students to know.
• My students had at least a casual
exposure to what they needed to learn.
Working Group Discussion
• How would developing learning targets
change the instructional environment in
your school?
• What challenges do you foresee with
developing learning targets?
Year Two: Implementing Targets
Now We’re Getting Somewhere
Students who can identify what they are
learning significantly outscore those who
cannot.
– Robert Marzano
Clear, Student-friendly Targets
• Turn knowledge, skill, reasoning, and
product pieces into “I can” target statements.
• Targets should use student-friendly
language.
• Targets should be attainable.
• Provide clear, stationary targets for students
to aim at and they will hit them.
• Give students a copy of learning targets for
the unit.
Using Targets for
Post-Assessment Development
• Matching the assessment method to the
type of target.
• Determining adequate sampling size.
• Assessment format considerations: open
response vs. multiple-choice, time
constraints
• Quality of questions, information value of
incorrect answers
Working Group Discussion
• How do you determine the questions that
are on your assessments?
• What is the benefit, if any, for common
summative assessments?
• How would you have to prepare your
faculty for this process?
Year Three
Targets as the driving force of
instruction.
Using Targets for
Pre-Assessment Development
• Targets can easily be turned into questions
for a pre-assessment to see where
students are at the beginning of a unit.
• Develop questions that give students an
indication of what they are to learn.
• Pre-assessment as feedback throughout
unit.
Linking Lessons to Targets
• Each learning experience should be
explicitly linked to a target.
• Students are introduced to the target at
the beginning and ending of the
experience.
• Each learning experience is evaluated for
its effectiveness at moving students
toward mastery of the target.
Year Four
How can I identify problems
before it’s too late?
How do I know my
instruction is “good”?
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The students seem to enjoy the activities?
I think they understand it?
When I get back their unit test results?
When the state test scores arrive?
By the number of parent compliments or
complaints?
• What my peers/administrator say about
me?
Formative Assessments
• Assessments conducted during learning to
promote, not merely judge or grade,
student success
• Provide information to teacher and student
on student performance.
• Supplies opportunities to make mid-course
corrections to learning experiences.
Research on Feedback
• Quality of feedback matters. Specifically
descriptive ,criterion-based feedback is better
than numerical scoring or letter grades.
• Emphasis on the importance of learning leads to
greater learning vs. looking good or being
compared to others.
• Descriptive feedback that focuses on strengths
and weaknesses is most effective
» Classroom Assessment for Learning, p. 40
My Philosophy on Formative
Assessments
• FA does not count as a grade
• Feedback is generally descriptive or otherwise
informs on attainment of mastery
• Blanks, I don’t knows, IDC’s, etc. are
unacceptable (You have to develop a classroom
culture of this)
• Returned to students and compared to “good
work” to inform them of where they are
• Followed by a discussion of how to close the
gap to mastery
Working Group Discussion
• What are your thoughts on not grading
formative assessments?
• How would your classroom have to
change in order to incorporate it?
• As a learner, what makes you feel an
assignment is worth doing?
Year Five
Into the Grading Abyss
Summative Feedback
• Before using targets: score 65%
– Student knows what questions they got
right/wrong
– Kept the score and went on, maybe reviewed,
but still went on
– No diagnosis of problems and ways to
address them – perhaps taking a test again
but no plan as to what to focus on
– No idea on student or teacher’s part of
strengths and weaknesses
Summative Feedback
• After using targets: score 65%
– Get results broken out by target
– Students know what they do well and what
they need to work on
– Students have opportunities to work on
identified targets and gain understanding
before trying again to show mastery
– Diagnostic tool to show strengths and
weaknesses by student and class
Re-testing
• Students have received summative
assessment results by target
• Identify targets needing improvement
• Work on target practice in preparation for
re-testing
• Re-test only over identified targets
• Evaluate results, rinse, and repeat!
Summary of Targets and
Assessments
• Learning targets form the backbone of
instruction and assessment program
• LT allow for focused development of preand post-assessments
• LT give clear direction to selection and
development of instructional activities
• LT provide students with clear learning
goals and a format for organized feedback
on their performance
My Take Home Message
• Learning targets inform students and teachers
specifically what the learning intention is
• They can be used as a basis for instructional
design and assessment formulation
• Formative and summative assessments should
provide feedback to all parties on how to
improve understanding
• Students should be given multiple opportunities
to develop and show mastery of learning targets
• Standards-based grading gives students the
chance take ownership of their performance
The Teacher I Was . . .
Stephanie Harmon
Rockcastle County High School
BS – Cumberland College
MS – Eastern Kentucky University
Rank I – Union College
stephanie.harmon@rockcastle.kyschools.us
“If you grade it, then they will do it.”
The grade should be enough motivation to
get the student to complete the work.
Ready, Set, Change
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Deconstructing Standards
Learning Targets based on Standards
Reviewed Units of Study
Assessments
My attitude about grading
Teaching is more deliberate
Year One –Power of the Learning Target
• Why I began Deconstructing Standards
• What I learned from it
• The Power of the Learning Target
• Deconstructing standards is
NOT about my teaching; it’s
about what the STUDENT
needs.
• It IS HARD but worth every
moment – once I realized
the depth of the standards
my teaching became more
focused.
Deconstruction of Standards
Combined Curriculum Document
Classroom Assessment for
Student Learning (CASL)
Clear Learning Targets
“Making targets clear to students at the
outset of learning is the fundamental
underpinning to any assessment for
learning practices we will implement.”
– Rick Stiggins, Classroom Assessment for
Student Learning, p. 59.
Clear Learning Targets
• Know what kinds of targets are
represented in the curriculum
• Know which targets each assessment
measures
• Communicate the learning targets in
advance in student-friendly language
Chemical Concepts Unit
SC-HS-1.1.1
Students will classify or make generalizations about elements from data
of observed patterns in atomic structure and/or position on the
periodic table.
The periodic table is a consequence of the repeating pattern of outermost
electrons. DOK 2
• SC-H-STM-S-1
Students will classify samples of matter from everyday life as being
elements, compounds, or mixtures.
• SC-H-STM-U-1
• Students will understand that the configuration of atoms in a molecule
determines the molecule’s properties. Shapes are particularly important in
how molecules interact with others. (stop at shape – personal note)
• SC-H-STM-U-4
• Students will understand that not all atoms of an element are truly identical.
Some may vary in their number of neutrons (isotopes) or electrons (ions).
These variations result in properties which are different than the more
common forms of that element
Knowledge Reasoning
SC-HS 1.1.1
- protons
- neutrons
- electrons
- element
- compound
-mixture
- electron configuration
-Periodic Law
- electron cloud
- nucleus
- Families on Periodic
Table
- valence electrons
- Periods on Periodic
Table
- heterogeneous
- homogeneous
- molecule
- isotopes
- ions
- group elements based
on certain properties
- determine if a sample
is an element,
compound or mixture
- determine the
number of protons,
neutrons and electrons
in an element
- compare/contrast
periodic tables ordered
by atomic mass vs.
atomic number
Skills
Products
Learning Targets
I will group elements based on certain properties.
I will determine if a sample is an element, compound or
mixture.
I will determine the number of protons, neutrons and
electrons in an element.
I will compare/contrast periodic tables ordered by
atomic mass vs. atomic number.
Learning Targets in Daily Instruction
Daily Agenda (what the
student sees/uses)
AGENDA
I will determine if a sample
is an element, compound or
mixture.
- Review criteria for
element, compound or
mixture.
- Sorting Samples
- Quick Write: Describe the
method you used for
sorting the samples into
the categories (element,
compound, mixture).
T-chart Time
Year Two
Learning Climate
• Would I want to be a student in my
classroom?
• Controlled Chaos
Learning Climate
Ranking Activity
Teachers
Other Instructional
Leaders
My Results
BEFORE:
• #1 - Display effective and efficient classroom
management (e.g., in facilitating cooperative groups,
in safe and appropriate use of equipment or handson materials) that includes classroom routines that
promote comfort, order and appropriate student
behaviors.
NOW:
• #1 - Create an environment where student work is
valued, appreciated and used as a learning tool,
including the sharing of results from student
scientific investigations.
• Learning Climate: a safe environment
supported by the teacher in which high,
clear expectations and positive relationships
are fostered; active learning is promoted
URL for Characteristics of Highly Effective Teaching & Learning:
www.education.ky.gov/KDE/Instructional+Resources/Highly+Effective
+and+Learning/HETL+Common+Characteristics.htm
Controlled Chaos
Students learn at different rates, in different
ways – research supports this, personal
experience confirms this – why not use it to
the advantage of BOTH the teacher and the
student
Year Three – Grading & Feedback
• Student Self-Assessments
• Formative Assessments – What do they
tell me?
• Effective Feedback
• “Why. . . Would anyone want to change
current grading practices?
• The answer is quite simple: grades are so
imprecise that they are almost
meaningless.”
– Marzano, R.J. Transforming Classroom Grading, ASCD,
Alexandria, VA, 2000, pg.1.
Grading
Reflect
Thinking about your own
school experiences
(as both a student and in
your current role) . . .
- What do grades represent
to you?
- How are grades assigned?
The Shift
Formative Assessments are just that
FORMATIVE
Grades are based on summative evidence.
(i.e. I stopped grading homework.)
Not grading homework
- more time to provide better feedback on
projects and other forms of assessments
- keeping the student involved
Students should be involved in their own
learning. Teach them how to evaluate
their own progress.
Benefits from Student Self-Assessment
– Cognitive achievement – although all students
benefit, self-evaluation helps the lowest achieving
students the most
– Motivation – students taught to self-evaluate are
more likely to persist on difficult tasks, be more
confident about their ability, and take greater
responsibility for their work
– Attitude about evaluation – students who are taught
and regularly participate in self-evaluation have a
more positive attitude about evaluation and
assessments
from Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning
Sample Self-Assessment Tools
Physical Science
Test – Self Evaluation
Speed, Velocity & Acceleration
Reviewing & Analyzing Results
Name: ________________________________________
Unit: __________________________________________
Name: _________________________
As you complete each item on the test, also indicate whether or not you believe
your response is correct.
Item
Number
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Incorrect
Item
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Incorrect
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Learning Target Confident
Unsure
Right
Wrong
Simple Mistake
Don't Get It
There is a difference between praise,
guidance and feedback.
Without a learning target, it is easy to give
guidance but not feedback.
The Learning Target allows us to focus on
feedback.
Effective Feedback
• Centered on student’s learning AT THAT
MOMENT
• Motivating – corrects without tearing down
- Immediate (timely)
- Consistent
- Specific
- Opportunity to improve
- Ongoing
Taking Care of Business
Providing Remediation Opportunities
Learning is measured in terms of mastering
Learning Targets – not by the letter grade
Remediation Structure
Opportunities
Grading Practices
• Everything does NOT need to be graded
• The quality of the feedback is what makes
the difference in learning.
• They WILL do it when they realize that the
purpose in what we do is focused on
mastering the content
• Grades based on mastering the content
NOT based on behavioral factors
T-chart Time
Year Four - Communication
How did I communicate
the changes in my
grading practices?
Get the Word Out
Concerned Parties:
- Administrators
- Parents
- Students
Methods of Communication:
- Open Conversations
- Letters to Parents
- Syllabus
MY SCHOOL
950 students
75% Free & Reduced Lunch
Student-Teacher Ratio of 20 - 1
Year Five – Refining My Classroom
• Better communication with Students,
Parents, Administrators
• Refining the use of student-self
assessments and other formative
assessment tools
My School
Beginning our 4th year with CASL . . .
More than just compliance – compliance
doesn’t mean that change will occur.
Take Home Countdown
3 things I’ll remember
2 people I’ll tell it to
1 thing I’ll try
Review of Today
• Senate Bill 1 – the need for balanced
assessment
• Example of CASL incorporated in a middle
school setting
• Example of CASL incorporated in a high
school setting
• Reflection – similarities and differences
between the two examples
Reflecting in Style
Three ideas from our
work today:
Before today I thought:
Now I think:
One thing I would tell a
friend about this workshop:
Learning targets are best
described as a road map, a
recipe book, a lever, or a
self-assessment. Pick one
and explain