This document discusses revising the "Set Big Goals" pillar in TAL 1.0 to focus more on teacher vision and goal setting informed by student and family aspirations within the local context. It suggests that vision should come before goal setting, and goals act as accountability. It also discusses experiments with delaying vision/goal setting to allow relationship building and contextual understanding first. It raises questions around how teacher, regional, and organizational visions and goals should interact and be represented in the new TAL 2.0 model.

2.  “Set Big Goals” in TAL 1.0 has neglected the
relationship between annual goal-setting and
broader vision/aspiration setting, and we’ve
moved towards a conceptualization where a
teacher’s vision, driven by an understanding
of the localized context and the aspirations of
students/families is central to determining
annual goals.

3.  Vision setting comes first, and the goals of a
classroom become a “line in the sand” for
personal accountability.

4.  As we evolve our understanding of our
aspirations and the proxies for those
aspirations (see “Aspirations and Outcomes”
executive summary), we must similarly evolve
this action.

5.  Our selection, admissions, and strategy
teams have done research indicating that the
local context (of region, of school) has huge
implications for how a given teacher should
set their vision

6.  Emerging sense that visions and goals must
emerge from and be informed by the
aspirations of students and families to a
much greater extent than previously believed.

7.  Several regions, and several of our external
partners, are experimenting with delaying the
vision and goal setting process for several
months after the start of the school year, in
order to focus on the building blocks of
vision – relationships, contextual
understanding, etc.

8.  Vision setting comes first, and the goals of a
classroom become a “line in the sand” for
personal accountability.

9.  Should we replace the Big Goal pillar with a
broader pillar on vision, of which goal-setting
is a part?

10.  Given the cyclical relationship between goal-
setting and summative assessments, should
we incorporate assessments within this pillar?

11.  How do CM visions and goals relate to
regional – and organizational – visions and
goals, and how should this interaction be
schematized in TAL 2.0?

12.  How do we incorporate the various important
inputs, especially student/family
aspirations, into a visual model that stresses
their importance?

13.  Relatedly, are there ways to re-envision and
re-model vision/goal setting to combat
interpretations of vision-setting as being “top
down” or forced upon students?

14.  Should our teachers set multiple goals around
aspects of their vision (e.g. academic
achievement, personal growth), or seek to
find a single measure that is representative of
all parts of their vision?

15.  How do we present vision and goal setting as
a constant, evolving journey, rather than a
one-and-done document?