T I O N A L

EDUCA ,
G O A L S
STATE
D A R D S
STAN
AND
R N I N G
LEA
R G E T S
TA
“Assessment is today's means
of modifying tomorrow's
instruction.”

–Carol Ann Tomlinson

Instruction involves three fundamental activities

1 3
Deciding what students Evaluating the learning
are to learn

Note: These 3 activities are

interactive rather than a
straight 1-2-3 process.
2 Setting clear goals helps you
Carrying out the actual plan your teaching efficiently,
instruction conduct your instruction
effectively, and assess
students outcomes validly.
Importance of Specifying Learning Targets

A learning objective specifies what you would like your

Note 1 students to achieve when they complete the
instructional segment.

Some learning targets are cognitive (knowledge

Note 2 and skills), affective (feelings and values), and
psychomotor (motor skills)

Deciding the specific targets is one

Note 3 important aspect in the teaching
process
• The general planning for an assessment procedure us made easier by knowing the
specific outcomes you wish students to achieve.

• Selecting and creating assessment procedures depend on your knowing which

specific achievements you should assess.

• Evaluating an existing assessment procedure is easier when ou now the specific

learning targets.

• Properly judging the content relevance of an assessment procedure requires you to

know the specific achievements you should assess.
 Assessments should compare the
performance of students to a set of
expectations, never to the
performance of other students.
Alfie Kohn
Table of Contents

Educational goals General learning targets

01 versus specific
learning targets
02 versus specific
learning targets

Danger of Creating assessments that

03 overly specific
learning targets 04 require students to use
combinations of learning
targets
 Educatio
nal
goals
versus sp
learning
ecific
targets 01
Relationships among concepts of standards, goals and learning targets
Educational Goals (A.k.a General Learning Target)

Educational goals are stated in

broad terms. They give
direction and purpose to
planning overall educational
activities.
Usually found in documents for Goal: Every student should
state department of education, acquire skills in using
local school systems and scientific measurement.
associations.
 General l
earning

02 targets
versus sp
learning
ecific
targets
General Learning Target

A general learning target is a

statement of an expected learning
outcome derived from an educational
goal.

Example:
Acquire the skills needed to
use common instruments to measure
length, volume, and mass in metric
units.
Specific Learning Targets

• Measure the length • Measure the

• Measure the mass of volume of liquids
of objects to the objects to the nearest
nearest tenth of a to the nearest tenth
tenth of a kilogram of a liter using a
meter using a meter using a simple beam
stick graduated cylinder
balance and one set
of weights
 g e r o f
Dan

03
O v e r l y
S p e c i f i c
r n i n g
L ea
Ta r g e ts
DANGER OF OVERLY SPECIFIC LEARNING
TARGETS
The student is able to:

Too specific Better Rationale

2) Solve practical problem
1) Estimate the number
using calculations and
of beans in a jar.
estimation.
“Beans in a jar” is not the real
target of learning rather it is but
one of the many possible tasks
that a student should complete to
demonstrate achievement of
estimation and calculation.

The learning target statement should describe this less specific achievement
Another Example
The student is able to:

Too specific Better Rationale

Explain the meaning of
the term cold front
Explain the meaning of
key weather terms
“Cold front” is only one of
several key weather terms
that are included in a unit.
Listing a separate learning
target for each term taught
in the unit fragments the
unit’s focus on general
weather terminology

Long lists of very narrow “bits” can fragment the subject to be taught.
Standards
State education agencies take the process
further by publishing expected learning
outcomes or standards, and your school is
accountable for students’ achieving these
particular standards.
Standards are statements about what students
are expected to learn.
Some states call these essential skills,
learning expectations, learning outcomes,
achievement expectations or other names.
There are two sets of achievement standards:
content and performance
Content Standard Example:
“Students should know that the cell
nucleus is where genetic
information is located in plants and
animals.”
Performance Standard Example:
“Students can identify the cell
nucleus in microscopic slides of
various plant and animal cells”
Learning Targets

Learning Targets are standards that

students ought to achieve.
Most standards are written at a fairly
general level. The better-written
performance standards are essentially the
same as the general learning targets. You
will need to break down each standard
into 2 or more specific learning targets.
See example on the
The terms objectives, learning targets, or
following page
standards used interchangeably
 Example
State standard Communicate well in writing for a variety of purposes

Write for narrative persuasive imaginative and expository

General learning target
purposes

Specific learning targets - Explains the difference between narrative persuasive,

a.k.a. specific learning imaginative and expository writing purposes.
outcomes - Applies prewriting skills and strategies to generate ideas,
clarify purpose, and define audience before beginning to
write.
- After receiving feedback on the first draft in the areas of
ideas, organization, voice, word choice, and sentence
fluency, uses the feedback to revise the draft
- Reviews and revises the second draft for grammatical
correctness and proper use of standard writing conventions
Statements of what students can do at the
end of instruction may be called mastery
learning targets, but also specific learning
outcomes and behavioral objectives.
Mastery versus
Developmental
Targets
Difference

Dev el o p men t a l
x Mastery
Abstract/comple
All-or-none
Lifelong nature
Right then
Broad & there
Bits
Sources for Locating Learning Targets

Where can I really Insturctional materials,

teachers’ manuals, curriculum
find Learning documents, schools websites,
Targets ? methods textbooks, and
reports.
Developmental Learning Target and
Interprets and uses Boyle’s Law to explain phenomena and solve problems.

Specific learning targets clarifying the developmental target

• States a definition of Boyle’s law

• States the domain to which Boyle’s law applies
• Describes the relationship between Boyle’s law and Charles’s law
• Uses Boyles law to explain an observation in a lab experiment
• Appropriately analyzes a new (to the student) situation in terms of Boyle’s law
• Solves a new problem or makes an appropriate choice for a course of action taking into
account the implications of Boyle’s law
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Taxonomies!

Cognitive Psychomotor
Affective domain
domain domain
Focus on feelings,
Focus on knowledge and Focus on motor
interests, attitudes,
abilities , requiring skills and perceptual
dispositions, and
memory, thinking, and processes
emotional states
reasoning processes
 Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge/Remember Comprehension/Understand Application/Apply

Recall Factual Knowledge Explain Conceptual Apply Conceptual
Knowledge Knowledge

Analysis/Analyze Synthesis/Evaluate Evaluation/Create

Analyze Procedural Evaluate Using Conceptual Create Using Conceptual and
Knowledge and Procedural Knowledge Procedural Knowledge
 Examples (LT= Learning Target; SA = Sample Assessment)
Knowledge/Remember
LT:
SA:
Analysis/Analyze
LT: identify the literary devices
that authors use to convey their
feelings to the reader.
SA: in Witch’s Forest, Sally
was upset with her mother.
What words or phrases did
the author use to convey
how upset characters are?
Comprehension/Understand
LT: explain the main ideas and
themes of the short stories
we read
SA: write using your own words
what the Witch’s Forest was
all about.
Synthesis/Evaluate
LT: develop ones own set of three
or four criteria for judging the
quality of a short story.
SA: read the two new short
stories. Use the criteria you
developed to evaluate these.
Application/Apply
LT: relate the personal problems of
the characters in the short stories
to those in real world
SA: are the problems Sally had
with her mother in the story
similar to those with yours.
Explain.
Evaluation/Create
LT: describe across all of the stories
read, the general approach that
characters used to resolve
problems unsuccessfully.
SA: How did the characters try to
solve there problems?
Writing Specific Learning Targets
Poor
• Provide the opportunity for students to
express their opinions in classroom
discussions about why peace is so
difficult to attain.
• The student is able to put an x on the
picture of the correct geometric shape
(circle, triangle, rectangle, square, or
ellipse) when the name of the shape is
given.
• The student is able to write definitions
of the important terms used the text.
Better
• A student will express his or her opinion in
classroom discussions about why peace is so
difficult to attain.
• The student is able to identify a picture of a
geometric shape (circle, triangle, rectangle,
square, or ellipse) when the name of the
shape is given.
• The student is able to write definitions of the
terms listed in the “Important terms” sections
of chapters 1-5 of the textbook.
Final Note

Don’t Forget! For Tomorrow’s Class

● Do your homework ● Read the PPt. closely
BEFORE class

● Check your connection

● Have questions ready

● Be on time
● Prepare to share
WHOA!