Learning+Targets


 * Learning Targets in The Framework for Quality Learning **


 * What is a Learning Target? **

A “Learning Target” is a clear statement of the intended learning. Written in student-friendly language, the Learning Target is specific to a particular lesson, project or investigation. A single Learning Target can be influenced by several sources, including:


 * Local, state, or national standards
 * School or district curriculum maps and skills continuums
 * Reading, writing, math or other program materials
 * School-developed character traits and codes of conduct
 * Guiding questions or big ideas of learning expeditions
 * Skills and understandings associated with the product or performance medium
 * Student participation in the process of assessment.


 * How do Learning Targets connect to Assessment? **

We use assessment to //engage, support, and hold students accountable for rigorous learning//. Crafting and using learning targets with students is central to the aims of balanced assessment because learning targets drive all areas of assessment: - assessment for and of learning, and the communication of results. //Refer to “Assessment, Analysis, Communication and Feedback” in the FQL.//

We use Learning Targets to clearly frame curricular goals, guide instructional choices, and provide a focus for reflection and revision of curriculum and instruction. Students are involved in the assessment process, actively monitoring and evaluating their own growth and performance. Learning targets also directly communicate to students precisely what they will be assessed on and provide a structure for the communication of student achievement. Students are much more likely to reach specific expectations for a product if the learning targets are provided at the outset, the steps of the task outlined, and a scoring rubric created where each criterion is aligned with a learning target.

There are three ways to categorize learning targets:
 * 1) Long-term or supporting
 * 2) Outcome area: subject area, literacy, craftsmanship, and/or character
 * 3) Type: conceptual, knowledge, skill, or reasoning

When learning targets are written to express the intended learning over a long period of time, we refer to those targets as //long-term learning targets//. When a target describes the intended learning for a short period of time, we refer to them as //supporting learning targets,// as they are often one step toward attaining one or more of the long-term learning targets. Teachers’ time and situations with their students varies greatly; there is no pat answer for how many long-term and supporting targets one should have.
 * // 1. Long-term and Supporting Learning Targets //**

It is helpful to explain to students how //supporting targets// connect to the //long-term targets// (e.g., how a learning target for the day’s lesson plan connects to a key learning target for the investigation.) Connecting supporting targets to long-term targets is one way to make learning targets live in the classroom and to engage students in the assessment process.


 * ** Long-term target ** || ** Supporting targets ** ||
 * I can create a diagram of similar triangles that shows how the height of the school building can be found. || * I can look at pictures of similar triangles and match the corresponding sides.
 * I can determine the difference between two triangles that are similar and two that are not.
 * I can convert feet to inches in order to reduce ratios.
 * When comparing two similar triangles, I can find the lengths of the missing sides. ||
 * I can explain the role the land and landscape played in fostering migration of white Americans. || * I can describe the geography and landscape of the Colorado in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
 * I can describe the types and locations of mining resources that drew people to Ute land in Colorado. ||

Teachers create learning targets in four student outcome areas. These outcomes areas are consistent with the Lifelong-Learner Standards and Habits of Mind from the Framework for Quality Learning.
 * // 2. Learning Targets in Expeditionary Learning’s Four Outcome Areas: //**

¨ Subject area outcomes: content, concepts, skills, and processes of the discipline (i.e. history, science, math, art, etc.) ¨ Literacy outcomes: reading, writing, listening and speaking ¨ Craftsmanship of a medium outcomes: arts & technology ¨ Character outcomes: social skills and character traits

See the example below, which shows targets in all four outcome areas drawn from a middle school expedition on wolves. (//Thanks to Diane Welch of Pocatello Community Charter School for the use of her targets, some of which have been modified.)//

I can describe the differences between vertebrate and invertebrate animals and give examples of each. I can explain what wolves need to survive in their environment. I can represent my understanding of the food chain in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem through the creation of a diagram. I can explain how scientists use technology to observe, track and collect data on wolf packs. || I can use text clues to determine importance in non-fiction science texts. I can draw conclusions based on information gathered from non-fiction science texts. I can use semantic organizers to summarize information read from various non-fiction science texts. I can revise my written work for organization using suggestions from my peers. I can use proofreading marks correctly to edit my written work. || I can create an accurate illustration of a wolf.
 * ** Subject-area outcomes ** || ** Literacy outcomes ** || ** Craftsmanship outcomes ** || ** Character outcomes ** ||
 * I can use examples to explain how wolves adapt to their environment.

I can apply the elements of color, shape, and line in my wolf illustration to correctly convey how a wolf looks. I can select and use tools and techniques that enhance a viewer’s understanding of how a wolf looks. || I can follow our norms during the critique protocol to ensure a productive critique. (Compassion) I can meet deadlines for turning in my work. (Responsibility) I can push myself to complete a high quality final illustration. (Perseverance) ||

__It is not necessary to create targets in all four outcome areas all of the time.__ It is, however, important to always have subject-area targets and to strive for targets in all outcome areas over the course of an expedition. These four outcome areas exist to prod teachers’ thinking as they plan, so that intentional inclusion and layering of literacy, craftsmanship, and character are considered in addition to subject-area targets.


 * // 3. Knowledge, reasoning, and skill targets: //**

Learning targets in any of these outcome areas can be further categorized by looking at the cognitive process they demand of students. Discriminating among different types of learning targets becomes particularly important as teachers begin to design assessments that best match the different types of targets. The verb in the learning target is often the key to categorizing targets into their various types.


 * ** Target Type ** || ** Explanation ** || = Key Verbs = ||
 * Knowledge || Some knowledge, facts, concepts to be learned outright; some to be retrieved using reference materials. || Explain, understand, describe, identify, tell, name, list, define, label, match, choose, recall, recognize, select, know ||
 * Reasoning || Thinking proficiencies - using knowledge to solve a problem, make a decision, plan, etc. || Analyze, compare/contrast, synthesize, classify, infer/deduce, evaluate ||
 * Skills || Behavioral demonstrations where the doing is what is important; using knowledge and reasoning to perform skillfully. || Observe, focus attention, listen, perform, do, question, conduct, work, read, speak, assemble, operate, use, demonstrate, measure, investigate, model, collect, dramatize, explore, make ||


 * Crafting Quality Targets **

__// Using student-friendly language //__

As noted above, learning targets are almost always linked to or based on standards. Standards or unit objectives can sometimes serve directly as clear learning targets, but they often need to be “deconstructed” to describe the intended learning in language that is student-friendly and contextually specific.

Since learning targets are written with the learner as the intended audience, they usually start with the stem “I can…”. Learning targets for younger students look different than learning targets for older students. Targets for younger students will be less complex in content and language.


 * ==** Science targets for younger students **== || ** Science targets for older students ** ||
 * * I can sort butterflies from moths.
 * I can describe the differences between living and non-living things.
 * I can act out how ants interact with each other within their habitat. || * I can name the atomic properties of carbon.
 * I can explain why carbon sits where it does in the periodic table.
 * I can explain the role of genetic mutation in fruit fly reproduction. ||

__// Using specific, contextualized language //__

Expeditionary Learning places a strong focus on teaching content, organized through well-chosen in-depth investigations or case studies. This focus emphasizes the need for learning targets to be contextually specific, which is often not the case in the standards from which they are derived.

For example, take the process of inferring. The following learning target seems too all-purpose and vague: “I can infer.” Infer about what? The student may be able to infer when it comes to reading simple narratives, but be back to square one when it comes to inferring about data from a science experiment. Learning targets are more helpful to students when they are specific about the context and about which aspect of the thinking/learning process should be a focus. For example, “I can use scientific data to make inferences about the best growing conditions for plants” is contextualized and specific. Here are some more examples:

Note that learning targets have varying levels of specificity and contextualization; the more short-term a supporting target is, the more likely it is to be specific and contextualized. For instance, using one of the examples from above, the long-term learning target may be that students can explain the life cycle of an insect. Then, specific investigations on the dragonfly, bee, and ant would reflect students being able to describe the life cycles for each insect before creating a generalization.
 * ** Standard ** || ** Learning Target ** ||
 * Students know and understand the characteristics and structures of living things, the processes of life, and how living things interact with each other and their environment. || I can explain each phase of the life cycle of a dragonfly. ||
 * Students will understand the chronological order of historical events and recognize the complexity of historical cause and effect, including the interaction of forces from different spheres of human activity, the importance of ideas, and of individual choices, actions, and character. || I can analyze how the Battles of Lexington and Concord served as a catalyst for the American Revolution. ||

__// Crafting clear targets //__

Writing learning targets requires clear thinking about which kind of outcome we are after and whether we want students to know, reason, or demonstrate a skill. There are some common pitfalls in writing learning targets:

__ Example #1 __
 * // I can successfully draw a realistic map and locate plate boundaries //.

This target describes a product instead of identifying a content or skill outcome, and is not specific about craftsmanship outcomes.

Possible revision: Separate into two learning targets and be more specific about quality of craftsmanship:


 * // I can draw a to-scale map that shows plate boundaries // . (Outcome: craftsmanship; Type: skill)
 * // I can identify plates and describe how they move. // (Outcome: academic; Type: knowledge)

__ Example #2 __
 * // I can create a piece of work that looks beautiful and teaches someone about the most important things about an ant habitat. //

If the teacher’s goal was to write a long-term, more generalized learning target, the current target is overly contextualized and complex. A possible revision would be:
 * // I can explain how insects and habitats relate. // (Outcome: subject-area; Type: knowledge)

If the teacher’s goal was to be specific, the target is too broad. A possible revision would be to focus on the content outcomes and split the target into two:
 * // I can explain how the ant’s habitat provides for the basic needs of an ant. //
 * // I can identify the features of an ant’s habitat // .(Outcome: subject-area; Type: knowledge)

Separate targets would then be created to describe the craftsmanship outcomes related to the product.


 * Concluding Thoughts **

Recall that learning targets form the foundation for all areas of assessment: assessment for learning, assessment of learning, and communicating results. The importance of crafting quality learning targets cannot be underestimated; they play an integral role in //using assessment to engage, support, and hold students accountable for rigorous learning//, all of which are essential goals of The Framework for Quality Learning.