Marzano Center Student Learning Objectives
We use teachers’ formative assessment data to track student growth over time, empowering teachers to track student progress.
West Palm Beach, Florida (PRWEB) July 13, 2015
A new paper from Learning Sciences Marzano Center describes the advantages of using SLOs to assess student growth, particularly for teachers in courses or subjects lacking standardized assessments. It also outlines a next-generation model that incorporates predictive metrics and formative assessments to track student progress on state standards. Both the paper and the model were co-developed by nationally acclaimed researcher Dr. Robert J. Marzano in collaboration with Dr. Lindsey Basileo and CEO of Learning Sciences International, Michael Toth.
The authors discuss the adaptability and flexibility of SLOs across subject matter and grade levels and note that SLOs allow for customization to target students’ needs and course goals more effectively than other value-added models. They illustrate how SLOs also improve collaboration between teachers and principals, pushing educators to use data to drive instruction, ultimately helping to improve instructional practice.
The approach the authors describe is a unique new way of designing and implementing SLOs. It uses teacher-designed assessments, so average student growth rates can be computed and aggregated across teachers. Additionally, the precision of teacher assessments can be estimated and used to interpret the utility of individual student scores, as well as aggregated scores. The Marzano Center SLO process outlined in the paper was designed to improve upon the traditional SLO process and foster teacher autonomy.
“Marzano Center SLOs take traditional SLOs to the next level,” says Dr. Basileo. “We use teachers’ formative assessment data to track student growth over time, empowering teachers to track student progress.”
Learning Sciences International, a leading provider of web-based and on-site solutions for professional development and performance management in education, supports schools and educational initiatives in 11 countries, 3 provinces in Canada, and 40 states in the United States of America. Based in West Palm Beach, Florida, the company currently serves 427 school districts; 5,575 school buildings; 311,000 teachers; and more than 4 million students in the United States alone.
The paper can be downloaded here. For further information about the company, visit Learning Sciences International.