Self-Directed Growth Plan

Educators: Alex Hinchcliff	Team Leader: NA	School Year: Fall 2016
Grade(s): 7th	Subject Area(s): Communication Arts
Evaluator: NA	School: CJMS

1.      Professional Practice Goal	Assessment Criteria - Rubrics
2.      Professional Learning Program	Trial and error, peer review by cooperating teacher and examples from the 7 West team, professional development sessions
3.      Anticipated New Knowledge (KUDO)	Know the proficiency based standards for the district and standards for Communication Arts. Understand how to make assessment criteria accessible to students and create (do) rubrics for each unit over the semester.
4.      Time Frame	Ongoing until December 9th, 2016
5.      Specific PD activities	MEA-MFT 2016 sessions: Fair Grading: Proficiency-Based Model in Any Class other professional development opportunities, CJMS PIR Days
6.      Anticipated Work Products/Evidence	Proficiency-based assessment rubrics with at least 75% of students attaining advanced proficient because they were able to meet the criteria for advanced proficient by the last unit that I have created a rubric for.
7.      Resources Needed:	District’s policies, time, books: The Keys to Planning to Planning for Learning by Donna Clementi and Laura Terrill, The Keys to Assessing Language Performance by Paul Sandrock

How does your goal fit into the school goals?

-          Chief Joseph Middle School is moving into standard-based assessment/proficiency-based assessment. Where students are assessed on a 4 point system: 1 is emerging proficiency, 2 is developing proficiency, 3 is proficient and 4 is advanced proficient. I’ve had some experience with proficiency based assessment in my Modern Language methods course and practicum class but I have not applied this concept to the English standards. Thereby if I make my goal assessment criteria with an emphasis in rubrics, I can move into understanding and applying the English standards to a proficiency-based assessment which would then align with the school goals.

Why did you choose this goal?

-          I chose this goal because it is one that I believe I need the most work/improvement in. I’ve seen and experienced several different assessment type with various criteria so I believe my type of assessing is a meld of theses assessments and is overwhelming when meshed together. By choosing this goal, I can work with my cooperation teacher (CT) during my student teaching to create and revise assessment criteria to align with the standards. Similarly, by creating a student-friendly rubrics I can plan more specific lessons for students to be successful in the summative assessment. Also, by working on this goal, I am aligning my teaching strategies with the Bozeman District’s policies on assessment which allows me to stay up-to-date on Montana’s education policies.

How will your goal contribute to student improvement?

-          If I can create proficiency-based assessments with corresponding rubric, students will know what to work towards and what is expected of them to be considered proficient at their grade level. Also the standards and proficiency based assessment are guidelines that teachers we can use as a way to scaffold the standards for students to reach advanced proficiency. It can also show us how we can scaffold lessons to build students up to be able to obtain advanced proficient. It has also been stated and experienced that creating assessment criteria is a strenuous processes especially for new teachers and if I can practice now with my CT I can spend some of that extra time on other teaching tasks.

What information will you collect to monitor your progress?

-          I will work closely with my CT to produce assessment criteria that is in line with the proficiency based assessment as well as review the district’s policies. I will get feedback from my CT and qualify and graph student’s progress through the levels of proficiency. I will also like feedback from my students to determine what worked and what didn’t for example if the work choice was confusing.   

How will you determine whether you have or have not met you goal?

-          I will feel I have succeeded when at least seventy-five percent students have met a level four and considered advanced proficient by the end of my student teaching semester. When I can reach that percentages I would feel as though I have succeeded in reaching my goal of creating proficiency-based assessment criteria. I would say I have not met my goal if the percentages of students who do not reach advanced proficient is below fifty percent.

Part B

1.      Summarize your progress in meeting your professional practice goal.

a.       I have grown in creating student-friendly rubrics; they have come from being vague and complicated to clear and concise. The students were able to understand the reasons for an assessment as well as what criteria they would be graded on. At first it was a bit rough because rubrics that I understood were not comprehensible for students. Overtime the rubrics improved to the point where students were able to look at a rubric and know what needed to be done. This saved time that was used for instructional time or student work time.

2.      If you met your goal, what factors were most helpful? If you did not meet your goal, what were your obstacles or barriers?

a.       The last assessment that I created a rubric for is still a work in progress and will be turned in on December 9^th. I have a feeling that I will reach my goal of 75% of my students will achieve advanced proficient on this assessment. The assignment was scaffolded over a period of two weeks and students were able to have a group discussion to aid in meeting all the criteria. However, at this moment with the last assessment only 67 percent of students reached advance proficient. This assessment was due just before Thanksgiving vacation which I can see factored into the assessment. Students only put partial effort into the assessment due to the excitement of the holiday; also, based on repeated questions from class to class I did not specify all the requirements necessary to obtain an advanced proficient grade. 

3.      What professional learning, including extra-curricular activities and/or workshops did you participate in this semester? Which of these experiences were most helpful in supporting your goal?

a.       I attended the MEA-MFT conference in October and a session I went to was called Fair Grading: Proficiency-Based Model in Any Class. Although, the presenter talked a lot about implementing this model across any content area there was a very helpful section on rubrics. I also spent some of my invaluable free-time reading texts on proficiency-based assessment. The books I found most helpful were the ones put out by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Overall, I would say that the session at the MEA-MFT conference was the most beneficial. I learned more by being able to take notes from the lecture as well as ask specific questions about creating rubrics.

4.      What did you learn from this process?

a.       From this process I learned that teachers always need to be learning so that they can be on top of their game for their students. Also I learned that I what I think is understandable will not be understandable to others; therefore, overly stated criteria is a must. Furthermore, having a measurable goal keeps teachers focused on reaching their benchmarks and improves instruction.