Student Growth - Archive
Work Group Develops Survey
The Student Growth Objectives Work Group is developing a survey for teachers and and specialists to give their feedback on the objective-setting process. Questions are designed to determine how the process has worked this year and how it can be improved. The survey will be modified and sent to principals at a later date.
Educators will be asked about resources they used and instruction they received on objective-setting, the tools they use to record and track data they collect on students and specific feedback on the web-based objectives system. Responses to the survey will be anonymous. The goal is to distribute the survey to teachers and specialists in February.
January 05
Teachers Setting Objectives to Track Student Growth
Teachers throughout DPS are setting measureable objectives for student growth this year, using web-based tools to help them track progress.
The Student Growth Work Group will be gathering feedback from educators in all schools and programs and will use that information to refine the system before 2006. Starting that year, teachers who join ProComp will begin receiving pay increases for meeting their annual student growth objectives.
The process being used is described in two handbooks--one for elementary teachers and one for secondary teachers.
October 04
The Scope and Purpose of the Objective Setting Project
from the Student Growth Objectives Work Group
During the 2004-2005 school year, all DPS teachers will collaborate with their principals to set two student growth objectives. The process being used this year is described in two handbooks, one for elementary teachers and one for secondary teachers, available through the links at the bottom of this page.
Setting student growth objectives and monitoring student growth are strategies all teachers, principals and instructional leaders will use to help make DPS the high performing district we all envision.
The objective setting process has been part of the teacher evaluation process agreed to by DPS and DCTA since the 1995-1996 school year. The process being used this year is a refinement of the one used last year by nearly 3200 DPS teachers. It fulfills commitments made in both the Master Agreement and the ProComp Agreement. This is the first year DPS and DCTA have expected every teacher to set objectives using this common method. DPS and DCTA are committed to learning from the experience. The system in use this school year is provisional and will continue to develop as the Student Growth Work Group uses feedback gathered from educators in all schools and programs, and uses it to refine the system in upcoming years. Feedback will be gathered from a variety of means, including surveys and focus groups, and answers to frequently asked questions will be available on the Teacher Objectives website.
There are several important general points to communicate to all educators during this school year when engaging in the objective setting process.
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Objective setting is not related to teacher pay during the 2004-2005 school year. Objective setting will not be related to teacher pay until the 2006-2007 school year, and then only for teachers who are participating in ProComp.
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All teachers will set objectives online at www.dpsteacherobjectives.org. The web based teacher objectives database (WBO) is being updated for this school year and will be available for teachers and principals to use after September 22.
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Teachers participating in district related initiatives will follow the specific guidance provided in the Objective Setting Handbook. All other teachers will use generic objective setting guidance provided in the Objective Setting Handbook. Teachers in district initiatives include those teachers participating in the elementary literacy initiative, Connected Math, Everyday Math, the Secondary Literacy Studio, and Cognitive Tutor. All specific guidance provided in the Teacher Objective Setting Handbook will be evaluated and refined during the course of this year based on experience, educator feedback and results.
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Objective setting is indirectly related to teacher evaluation. The standard for evaluation is that teachers will be evaluated based on whether they make "a concerted effort to reach their objectives." This standard, which has been in place since 1996, means that teachers will not be rated unsatisfactory just because they fail to meet their objectives, or, conversely, they will not be rated satisfactory just because they meet their objectives.
This year's iteration of the Student Growth Objective Setting Process is part of the 22-month ProComp Transition. A work group will oversee development, implementation and evaluation of the process through the transition. Rosanne Fulton, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, chairs the Student Growth Objectives Work Group; Connie White, literacy coach and National Board Certified Teacher is teacher lead. Together they will serve as point people in the feedback/ feed forward process this year. The membership of the work group will be finalized later this fall.
October 04