Using Strive and Aware to Follow the TEA SLO Model

All Texas teachers—whether appraised using the state-recommended system or a locally-developed system—will need to include a measure of student growth as part of their evaluation process. TEA has outlined many options currently available for measuring student growth.

One option is an SLO process developed by the state. Eduphoria’s Strive application accommodates teachers whose district has chosen to follow the state-developed SLO model. TEA outlines their process in three phases.

Phase 1: Creating a Student Learning Objective

The first step of this phase requires teachers to identify the SLO focus, create an instructional plan, and identify where their students are academically at the beginning of the course as well as expectations for growth. This is an excerpt from the SLO paper form:

In Strive, teachers will write their SLO focus using the enhanced goal feature for Student Growth Goals.

• The General Information section is where teachers can include the specific goal statement related to their Skill Focus Area.
• The Success Criteria section helps teachers establish what success for achieving the goal will look like.
• The Standards & Tags section allows teachers to select the standards that will be addressed with the goal.
• The Actions section outlines the specific steps teachers take over time to accomplish the goal, including adding evidence of student measurement.

The State provides static documents that include the following initial student skill profile and targeted descriptions for the rubric:

To create a more dynamic rubric with multiple milestones, teachers will use the Student Portfolio, which can be created in Aware and connected to Strive's Student Growth Goal.

Create a Student Portfolio in Aware

Step 1: To begin building a portfolio, select My Student Portfolios under the Analyze tab. All of your existing portfolios will be listed here. 

Step 2: Select Add New Portfolio.

Step 3: Beside (No name), select the three dots, then choose Edit Portfolio Details to enter the portfolio name and description of your portfolio. Select Done when finished.

Step 4: Select New Milestone or the Plus icon. Select Rubric to enter the first milestone, including the performance levels and descriptors for the milestone.

• An unlimited number of milestones can be entered in a portfolio.
• Up to six performance levels can be entered for each milestone.
• Eduphoria recommends deleting unused performance level entry panes.

Step 5: Once you have entered a label and descriptor for a milestone, select Done. To add additional milestones, click the Plus icon to open an additional entry window. 

Teachers can also add Assessment Milestones as they build Student Portfolios. They can assign students to a portfolio and score them as well as attach a portfolio to a Student Growth Goal within Strive.

Phase 2: Monitoring Progress to Drive Instruction

After the Student Learning Objective is completed and approved by the appraiser, teachers will work with each other and their appraiser, engaging in ongoing dialogue about progress toward goals. 

Teachers and principals can use the messages within the goals feature for this ongoing dialogue. The messages will notify the recipient by email when they are sent a new message, but sending and replying within the goal will give you a documented history of the conversations through the year.

Teachers can also continue to use the Evidence feature to upload additional evidence about progress toward the goal.

Find additional help for using the evidence feature in the article titled Goals - Add Evidence.

Phase 3: Evaluating Success and Reflection

This last phase takes place at the end of the course and includes a conversation between the teacher and his or her appraiser regarding students’ overall progress throughout the year. 

The SLO Rating Rubric has been incorporated into the Summative document, and will be discussed with the teacher at the End-of-the-Year Conference.

This updated Summative document is also in the Eduphoria Community, in the Summatives folder, titled "* NEW T-TESS Summative with SLO."