The document provides information about setting learning objectives and targets. It discusses how learning objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. When students are provided clear learning objectives, their achievement on tests is on average 34 percentile points higher. However, only 4% of classrooms have clear evidence of a learning objective. Effective learning objectives are accessible and understood by students, embedded throughout instruction, measurable, aligned with tasks, and used for student self-assessment. Separating the learning target from the activity or context makes it more transferable. Success criteria should include verbs that allow students to demonstrate their learning.

1. Kristen Rossheim
Academic Coach
Imagine Town Center
North Florida, Sunshine and
South Carolina Regional Forum
August 7th, 2014
Powerful Expectations
Setting Objectives

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How long until you get there
Purpose of a GPS
Where you are
The distance to your destination
What to do when you make a wrong
turn
GPS provides up-to-the minute information about:

4. ONTARGET
Purpose of a GPS
But without knowing where you are going or
precisely how to get there…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mininBIakZtDmMgo&feature=player_detailpage

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How to demonstrate new learning
Purpose of a Student Learning Objective (SLO)
What to learn
How deeply to learn it
“Without a precise description of where they
are headed, too many students are “flying
blind.”
Learning objectives convey the destination for the
lesson:

6. ONTARGET
Gallery Walk
• Read through all of the quotes on the
on the wall.
• Choose one that resonates with you
and/or stretches your thinking.
• Stand by the quote you chose. Share why you chose
that quote with the others who selected the same
quote. As a group, be prepared
to share out. Experts are on the
walls. I’m learning
with you.

7. Mission and Vision of Instructional Standards
Mission: All students prepared for college, careers and life
Vision: All students will develop knowledge, skills and attitudes to be successful
life-long learners and engaged citizens in a diverse, global society.
• Quality instruction in every classroom
• Articulated, aligned curriculum and assessments across the system
• 21st Century teaching, learning and leading
In everything we do, we will:
• Focus on learning, collaboration, results and continuous improvement
• Ensure data-driven decisions
• Provide equity of opportunities and resources
• Communicate with and engage students, families, staff and community
Critical questions that guide our work:
• What do students need to know?
• How will we know they have learned it?
• What will we do when they haven’t learned it?
• What will we do when they already know it?
PLCs
5Ds
21st Cent

8. Teaching Learning
 Teacher knows what needs
to be taught.
 Student can articulate the
learning target and why it is
relevant and meaningful to him or
her.
 Teacher makes
instructional decisions
based on strategies that
work for the class.
 Student knows the learning
strategies to choose from and can
describe his or her learning
progress.
 Teacher measures
performance against set
standard for all students.
 Student measures performance
against his or her own progress.
 Teacher reports degree of
student success or failure
to students and parents.
 Student articulates what s/he did
well, what s/he needs to do
better, and what s/he will do
differently next time in relation to
the learning target and success
criteria.
A Shift from Teaching to Learning

9. ONTARGET
Why should we focus on the
learning?
A recent analysis of 53
research studies found that
when students were clear in
advance about what they
were learning, their
achievement was, on
average, 34 percentile
points higher on tests than
students in control groups.

10. ONTARGET
Why should we focus on the
learning?
In most cases neither
teachers nor students can
articulate what they are
supposed to be learning
that day; they can only
describe the activity or
assignment. There is a
glaring absence of the most
basic element of an
effective lesson – clearly
defined learning
objectives.

11. ONTARGET
Why should we focus on the
learning?
Classrooms in which
there was evidence of
a clear learning
objective were ONLY
4% in a study of 1,500
classrooms!
(Learning 24/7)

12. What do you notice about the
following learning targets?
Share you ideas with your
shoulder partner.

13. ONTARGET
Standards-Based Objectives
“To write a persuasive essay about a key election issue to
publish in our school Voters’ Guide.”
(11th grade, U.S. History)
“Good readers make personal connections to help them
understand what they are reading.”
(2nd grade, Language Arts)
“Understanding Acute, Obtuse, and Right Angles”
(10th grade, Math)
“What is the most justifiable interpretation of a poem?
How do we know?”
(7th grade, Language Arts)
“Survey your classmates to find out what foods we
should have at our class party next week.”
(4th grade, Math)
Center for Educational Leadership

14. Planning and Instruction
with Purpose in Mind
A measurable learning objective
guides instructional planning.
“Think of your instruction as
being like a train that takes
your students from one place
to another. The question to
be answered by an objective
is, “What are students
expected to be like when
they arrive at their
destination?”
Masser

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Purpose: What do you hope to see
and hear?
Thinking about the critical
elements contained in
learning objectives, what
would you hope to see and
hear if these were present
in a classroom?

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FEEDBACK

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Common Language
Effective instruction requires
that teachers be clear about
what it is they want students
to know and be able to do as a
result of each lesson and about
how they will gauge students’
success. A clear purpose can
guide teaching decisions, focus
assessment efforts, and engage
students in taking ownership
for their learning.
Center for Educational Leadership

18. I can write effective
learning targets and success criteria.
Success Criteria (product):
My learning targets and success criteria are effective if they
are:
• Written for one lesson
• Linked to previous and future lessons
• Based on knowledge of standards and students
• Transferable and relevant beyond the lesson
• Accessible and understood by all students
• Embedded throughout instruction
• Measurable
• Aligned with the task
• Used for student self-assessment

19. Having a clear, posted
purpose/learning objective for a
lesson is not simply for the
benefit of the adults coming into
the classroom. The
purpose/learning target should
be directly tied to what we want
our students to know and be able
to do as a result of the lesson.

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Unpacking Student Objectives:
Jigsaw in Color Groups
 You have been given a color
 Go to the area with the corresponding color
table tent
 By that table tent is a set of grade level
standards and Imagine curriculum guides.
 With your color group, “unpack” several of the
standards and create meaningful learning
objectives. Prepare to share 1
standard/objective with the group.

22. ONTARGET
Standard vs. Learning Objective
Standard: What we
want students to be
able to know and do
at the end of any
given time; standards
are provided by the
state(s) and derived
from the National
Standards.
Learning Targets:
These are statements
of intended learning
based on the
standards. Learning
targets are in kid
friendly language and
are specific to the
lesson for the day and
directly connected to
assessment.

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Unpacking Objectives:
Accessible and understood by all students
A reading objective might be that students can identify
the main idea in passages of a certain type and level. We
want students being able to say more than "identify main
idea."
We want students to understand that they will learn how
to get a better grasp on the meaning of what they read,
why that should be a goal for them, and what it feels like
to do that.
For the student, this means both understanding the
learning goal and knowing what good work on the
assignment looks like. It's not a goal if the student can't
envision it.

25. ONTARGET
Unpacking Objectives:
Embedded throughout instruction
We find evidence of the teaching point
of a lesson in the ways effective
teachers target questions to lesson
objectives or how the teacher talks
with students about the expectations
for learning or the relevance of what
is to be learned.

26. ONTARGET
Unpacking Objectives:
Measurable
We know that students’ chances of
success grow markedly when they start
their learning with a clear sense of where
they are headed and when they play a
role in tracking and communicating about
their own progress along the way.
Teachers help them succeed, therefore,
by providing an understandable vision of
success with examples of what success
will look like when they get there.”

27. ONTARGET
Unpacking objectives:
Aligned with the task
The single most important method for
routinely setting learning objectives is using
assignments that match the learning goal.
It is in the assignment that the teacher
translates the learning goal into action for
the student.
The assignment or activity is such a close
match with the goal that the student would
be able to think, ‘If I can do [this
assignment], then I can do [the learning
objective].’”

28. ONTARGET
Unpacking Objectives:
Used for student self-assessment
Students cannot regulate learning,
use thoughtful reasoning processes,
set meaningful goals, or assess the
quality of their own work unless
they understand what success looks
like in today’s lesson.

29. ONTARGET
Unpack the Student Objectives:
• For one lesson
• Linked to previous and future lessons
• Based on knowledge of standards and
students
• Transferable and relevant beyond the
lesson
• Accessible and understood by all students
• Embedded throughout instruction
• Measurable
• Aligned with the task
• Used for student self-assessment

30. ONTARGET
Muddled learning targets lead to:
 Focusing on the work instead of the
learning
 Mismatched activities that don’t fulfill the
learning target
 Awkward success criteria
Muddling the learning objective with
the context
(Clarke, 2005)

31. ONTARGET
“To understand the effect of banana production
on the banana producers”
What are students likely to focus on?
What is the teacher likely to focus on?
“To understand the effect of banana production
on the banana producers”
By separating the learning target explicitly from
its context, students are able to see the
connections: that learning targets can often be
applied to a number of different contexts.
Muddling the learning objective with
the context
(Clarke, 2005)

32. ONTARGET
Turn & Talk: How does removing the context from these
learning objective statements make them transferable?
Learning Objectives Needing Revision
To write one body
paragraph convincing
the principal to allow
a longer time for lunch
To analyze the use of
similes in Eve
Bunting’s Riding the
Tiger
Revised Learning Objectives
I can use data and
counterarguments to
strengthen a position
in a persuasive essay
I can explain how the
use of a literary
device shapes the
theme in a story

33. ONTARGET
By separating the
learning target from the
activity, students can
apply the skill or concept
in a number of different
contexts. This
transferability is critical
to student learning.
Separate the learning objective from
the activity.

34. ONTARGET
How do we organize the class data on number
of hours spent on homework into a graph?
We are learning to include counterarguments in
the essay to be more convincing about the need
for gun control.
Readers use visualization to picture the setting
in chapter 1 of Tuck Everlasting by Natalie
Babbitt.
Revise one of the following learning
targets so it is transferable.

35. ONTARGET
Write a Learning Objective
Resources:
Different kinds
of objectives
Bloom’s
Taxonomy/DOK
verbs
Verbs/phrases
that turn into
success criteria
Target
Standard
& Unit
Life
Relevancy
Today I can/will… Today we are learning to…

36. Circle of
Viewpoints
How does a learning
objective help you? Help
your students?

37. ONTARGET
In what ways might a learning target be helpful to…
Teachers Students

38. ONTARGET
A learning objective in and of itself
can look measurable, but unless
you explicitly spell out how it is
measured, then it isn’t a
measurable learning objective.
SUCCESS CRITERIA

39. ONTARGET
Verbs that allow us to measure student
success and allow access for ALL students:
Analyze, build, classify, design, investigate,
prove, ask questions to clarify, press others to
explain or justify, translate, graph, use evidence
from the text, use, estimate, represent,
visualize, make inferences, list, wonder, model,
connect, compare, describe …
When children are engaged in the kinds of
“verbs” above, it is virtually impossible
for them to be passive observers.
Success Criteria

40. ONTARGET
Self-Assessment
Sharing Learning Targets
What level of support
do you need to meet
today’s learning target?
I do it
(independently)
We do it
(with the
support of
peers)
You do it
(explain
and model)

41. ONTARGET
Purpose of
Learning