With the return this school year to full Comprehensive evaluations with three Student Growth Goals, there is an opportunity to pilot Student Growth Goal rubrics for 3.1, 3.2, 6.1, 6.2, and 8.1. The revised Student Growth Goal rubrics and guidance serve to advance educational equity through planning with a deep knowledge of students and implementing practices that will yield student and educator growth.
Student Growth Goals: General Guidance has been developed for these pilot rubrics and new pilot tools and resources are posted on the Student Growth page with more to come later in the school year. Districts may choose to fully implement, partially implement, or wait on implementing the changes in 2021-22. Full implementation will be required in 2022-23. eVAL will be adjusted to reflect the return to the regular Comprehensive evaluation process. Districts using eVAL will be able to use either the original or the pilot Student Growth Goal rubrics this year.
The purpose of the revised Student Growth Goal rubrics is to promote instructional practice that is culturally responsive, socially and emotionally literate, and inclusive of all students. It is advisable to view both the .1s and the .2s together from the beginning to see how the goal will set students on a trajectory of learning that results in growth. Generally, the process for setting a goal, planning instruction towards attainment of that goal, monitoring progress and determining growth would occur in a unit of study. In between setting the goal (.1s) and determining student growth (.2s) is where the instructional frameworks can be useful in supporting effective instruction that moves student learning forward.
It has been ten years since Washington’s Teacher and Principal Evaluation Program (TPEP) began with a small cadre of pilot districts from around the state. The last decade has provided opportunities to hone evaluation practices to better support educator growth. It has also allowed for drift from the original intent of growing teaching practice; regarding Student Growth Goals this has led, in some schools and districts, to a singular focus on assessment scores. When this process becomes perfunctory, we lose a critical tool for more deeply understanding our students, their learning, and how we must respond as educators.
The foundational principles below guide the process for setting, monitoring, and reflecting on Student Growth Goals:
- The process requires reflection and conversation, and favors learning and growth over attainment of a certain level of performance or achievement.
- It advocates for racial equity and culturally responsive practice at every level for every stakeholder.
- It provides safety for both students and teachers to be vulnerable learners.
- It invites personalization to foster student ownership of the learning.
- It provides an opportunity for teachers and supervisors to return to evaluation as a natural harvest of teaching and learning. It should not be an add-on or check-off, done simply to complete an evaluation.
The following student growth goal vignettes are intended to illustrate examples of how the revised Student Growth Goals might live inside a classroom. They are meant to be examples, not exemplars, and to provide an opportunity for discussion. A key shift in the revised Student Growth Goals is the responsive nature of the process to the students a teacher has at that time, as well as to the community, school, and district context. The process does not exist in isolation, hence the use of vignettes which invite discussion rather than an exhaustive list of example goals for each grade level and each content area.
For more information, contact Sue Anderson, Director of Educator Effectiveness/Educator Growth and Development for OSPI.