This document discusses research on effective teacher goal setting and its impact on student achievement. It finds that setting specific, moderately challenging goals can improve student performance by 8-16% depending on task complexity. Goals work best when they direct effort, build persistence and strategies, and foster commitment. Proper goal setting considers context, sets interim benchmarks, and provides leadership support through communication, modeling, and praise. The research suggests that teacher goal setting, if implemented well, can powerfully increase student learning.
AUDIENCE THEORY -CULTIVATION THEORY - GERBNER.pptx
Teacher goal setting in texas
1. Making Teacher Goal
Setting More Powerful
Andy Hegedus, Ed. D.
Sr. Research Manager
November 2014
2. Agenda
• Why should we care about
goal setting in education?
• What does the research say
about it?
• What are typical policies?
• Suggestions for applying
research findings to your
work
3. One note
• This presentation talks about teacher goal
setting
• The research is about human beings
– Applies to adults universally
– Some of the points should apply to students
equally well
4. Why should we care about goal
setting in education?
Because we want students
to learn more!
• Policy view
–Evaluating teachers in rigorous ways
will improve teaching
• Reward, support, remove
5. Why should we care about goal
setting in education?
Because we want students
to learn more!
• Research view
–Setting goals improves performance
6. How do we know
students learn more?
• K-12 research very thin
• Two studies specific to this issue by CTAC
– Denver ProComp Study – 2004
– Charlotte-Mecklenburg TIF-LEAP Study – 2013
• Findings:
– Teachers who set a high quality goal were associated
with increased student achievement
– Teachers who set and met goals were associated with
increased student achievement
– Implementation of SLOs can make a 12-13% difference
in student achievement growth rate
Catalyst for change (2004), Community Training and Assistance Center, retrieved 10-2-13, http://www.ctacusa.com/PDFs/Rpt-CatalystChangeFull-2004.pdf
It’s more than money (2013), Community Training and Assistance Center, retrieved 10-2-13, http://www.ctacusa.com/PDFs/MoreThanMoney-report.pdf
7. What does research say on goal
setting?
Goals
Essential Elements of Goal-Setting Theory
and the High-Performance Cycle
How much
they impact
(Moderators)
How they
impact
(Mechanisms)
Performance
Willingness to
commit
Satisfaction
with
Performance
and Rewards
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American psychologist. American
Psychological Association.
8. What does research say on goal
setting?
Essential Elements of Goal-Setting Theory
Goals
and the High-Performance Cycle
Moderators
Mechanisms
Performance
Willingness to
commit
Satisfaction
with
Performance
and Rewards
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American psychologist. American
Psychological Association.
9. Goals
• Specificity
– SMART
– Performance and
learning goals
• Difficulty
– Challenge
– Interim goals
Goals
Explanation
• Specific goals are typically stronger
than “Do your best” goals
• If complex and new knowledge or skills
needed, set learning goals
– Implement 10 new formative
assessment techniques by June 1 as
modelled in PD
• Moderately challenging is better than
too easy or too hard
– Challenge is judged by the teacher
– Can combine performance and learning if
challenge level is appropriate
• If complex, set short term goals to
gauge progress and feel rewarded
10. What does research say on goal
setting?
Essential Elements of Goal-Setting Theory
Goals
and the High-Performance Cycle
Moderators
Mechanisms
Performance
Willingness to
commit
Satisfaction
with
Performance
and Rewards
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American psychologist. American
Psychological Association.
11. How do goals impact
performance?
• Choice/Direction
• Effort
• Persistence
• Strategies
Mechanisms
Explanation
• Influence choices on what
to do and not do
• Generate increased effort
• Work through more issues
until attained
• Engage new and different
strategies and learn if
needed
12. What does research say on goal
setting?
Essential Elements of Goal-Setting Theory
Goals
and the High-Performance Cycle
Moderators
Mechanisms
Performance
Willingness to
commit
Satisfaction
with
Performance
and Rewards
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American psychologist. American
Psychological Association.
13. How much do goals
impact performance?
• Goal Commitment
• Goal Importance
• Self-Efficacy
• Feedback
• Task Complexity
Moderators
Explanation
• Perception of consistency with
interests and values and chance of
attainment
• Participation in goal setting
– Trust and fairness are required
• Leader communication and
persuasion
– Confidence, support for working with
others, rewards for attainment, PD
• Progress checks to adjust effort
and strategies
– The more complex, the more needed
Paarlberg, L. E. & Lavigna, B. (2010). Transformational leadership and public service motivation: Driving individual and organizational performance. Public
administration review. Wiley Online Library.
14. • Autonomy
Essential Elements of
Motivation
– The desire to direct our own lives
• Mastery
.
– The urge to get better and better at something
that matters
• Purpose
– The yearning to do what we do in the service of
something larger than ourselves
Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
15. Moderator Pitfalls
Areas where things can
go wrong
• Goal Commitment
• Goal Importance
Explanation
• Perception of threat vs. challenge
• More cheating with performance
goals
– Alignment between intended value
and measures
• Ignore non-goal areas
– Unintended consequences
• Reduced intrinsic motivation with
extrinsic
– Performance change limited or can
decrease in public sector
Heinrich, C. J. & Marschke, G. (2010). Incentives and their dynamics in public sector performance management systems. Journal of Policy Analysis and
Management. Wiley Online Library.
Paarlberg, L. E. & Lavigna, B. (2010). Transformational leadership and public service motivation: Driving individual and organizational performance. Public
administration review. Wiley Online Library.
16. What does research say on goal
setting?
Essential Elements of Goal-Setting Theory
Goals
and the High-Performance Cycle
Moderators
Mechanisms
Performance
Willingness to
commit
Satisfaction
with
Performance
and Rewards
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American psychologist. American
Psychological Association.
17. What changes in
performance can be
expected?
• Productivity
• Cost improvement
Performance
Explanation
• Varies with task complexity
– More complex = less
improvement
– 8% to 16% improvement
from most to least complex
• Consistent with CTAC study
• In financial terms, these
improvements are huge
– Each person, year after year
Wegge, J. & Haslem, S. A. (2013). When Group Goal Setting Fails: The Impact of Task Difficulty and Supervisor Fairness. Creativity, Talent and
Excellence (pp. 165–184). Springer.
18. What does research say on goal
setting?
Essential Elements of Goal-Setting Theory
Goals
and the High-Performance Cycle
Moderators
Mechanisms
Performance
Willingness to
commit
Satisfaction
with
Performance
and Rewards
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American psychologist. American
Psychological Association.
19. Satisfaction and
Willingness
• Satisfaction with
performance and
rewards
• Willingness to commit
to new challenges
Cycle
Explanation
• Rewards come with
improved performance
– Recognition, promotion
• Leads to improved
personal satisfaction and
belief that they can do
more
• Leads to more willingness
to commit to new and
higher goals
20. Think-Pair-Share?
• What are two things you think
are important that we should
consider in education and why?
• Is there any part of this theory
that you can apply now?
21. Typical policy
• Teacher Evaluation
– Observation
– Student growth goal
– Professional growth goal
• SLOs used for student growth goal
• Combined with various weights
– Often professional growth goal not weighted in
rating
22. • Population
• Learning Content
• Interval of Instructional
Time
• Evidence
• Baseline
• Target(s)
What content is typically
included in a SLO?
New York Template Charlotte-Mecklenberg
Template
• Population
• Learning Content
• Interval
• Assessment(s)
• Growth expectations
• Strategies
NY State SLO Template, http://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-student-learning-objective-template, downloaded 10-2-13
Charlotte-Mecklenberg SLO template, http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/cmsdepartments/Tif-Leap/Pages/StudentLearningObjectives.aspx,
downloaded 10-2-13
23. Population
• All students should be “in play” relative to the
goal
– Set another for a sub-group if warranted
24. Number of Students
What gets measured and attended to
Mathematics
Fall RIT
No Change
Down
Up
really does matter
Proficiency
One district’s change in 5th grade mathematics performance
relative to the KY proficiency cut scores
25. Number of Students
Changing from Proficiency to Growth
means all kids matter
Mathematics
Student’s score in fall
Below projected
growth
Met or above
projected growth
Number of 5th grade students meeting projected
26. Evidence
• There should always be multiple data sources
and metrics
• Data should be triangulated
– Classroom assessment data to standardized test
data
– Domain data (mathematics) to sub-domain data
(fractions and decimals) to granular data (division
with fractions)
27. 9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Fun with Fractions Intervention
Overall Math Growth
2011
2012
28. 12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Fun with Fractions Intervention
Fractions Number
Sense
Measurement Algebra Statistics
2011
2012
29. Context matters
• Lack of a historical context
– What has this teacher and these students done in
the past?
• Lack of comparison groups
– What have other teachers done in the past?
• What is the objective?
– Is the objective to meet a standard of
performance or demonstrate improvement?
• Do you set safe goals or challenging goals?
30. Suggestions
• Goals and targets themselves
– Specific SLOs with appropriate information
included
• MUST have learning goals
• Can have growth or achievement targets
• Combination of elements needs to be moderately
challenging
– Set additional learning goals if complex and
new
31. Suggestions
• Goals and targets themselves (cont.)
– Appropriately balance moderately
challenging goals with consequences
• Only use “Stretch” goals for the organization to
stimulate creativity and create unconventional
solutions
– Professional growth goal leads to
attainment of student growth goal
• Weight as much as possible within policy
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2013). New developments in goal setting and task performance.
32. Suggestions
• Goals and targets themselves (cont.)
– Set interim benchmarks for progress
monitoring
– Carefully consider what will not happen to
attain the goal
• Can you live with the consequences?
• How will you look for other unintended ones?
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2013). New developments in goal setting and task performance.
33. 8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
-2.00
-4.00
-6.00
New phenomenon when used as part of
a compensation program
Mean value-added growth by school
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71
Students taking 10+ minutes longer spring than fall All other students
34. • Leadership
Suggestions
– Be fair and trustworthy
• If goal is assigned, explain the logic behind it
– Communicate and support teachers in their learning
• Encourage teamwork on strategies
• Emphasize the positive and the impact on others
– Importance to students to attain goal
• Provide PD, models, coaching
– Sincerely and specifically praise progress
Sholihin, M., Pike, R., Mangena, M. & Li, J. (2011). Goal-setting participation and goal commitment: Examining the mediating roles of procedural fairness and
interpersonal trust in a UK financial services organisation. The British Accounting Review. Elsevier.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2013). New developments in goal setting and task performance.
Porter, R. L. & Latham, G. P. (2013). The Effect of Employee Learning Goals and Goal Commitment on Departmental Performance. Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies. SAGE Publications.
Dramatic differences between standards based vs growth
KY 5th grade mathematics
Sample of students from a large school system
X-axis Fall score, Y number of kids
Blue are the kids who did not change status between the fall and the spring on the state test
Red are the kids who declined in performance over spring – Decender
Green are kids who moved above it in performance over the spring – Ascender – Bubble kids
About 10% based on the total number of kids
Accountability plans are made typically based on these red and green kids
Same district as before
Yellow – did not meet target growth – spread over the entire range of kids
Green – did meet growth targets
60% vs 40% is doing well – This is a high performing district with high growth
Must attend to all kids – this is a good thing – ones in the middle and at both extremes
Old one was discriminatory – focus on some in lieu of others
Teachers who teach really hard at the standard for years – Teachers need to be able to reach them all
This does a lot to move the accountability system to parents and our desires.
Measure over two years. 2011 – 8 pts, 2012 – slightly lower
On the face it slipped in its effectiveness
Let’s look at fractions specifically. Overall score went down.
Other strands declined. Something in the way the intervention was delivered caused other areas to decline.
This year we will work on computation skills and measure by that goal area. No improvement in mathematics. Could be so much focus on intervention, rather than other areas. If only working on one piece of the domain, the remainder of the curriculum may suffer.
You want to evaluate the intended impact is seen and look more broadly for unintended consequences in the broader domain.
No solid research on learning and performance goals at the same time. For complex situations where learning is required, learning goals work best, then “Do your best” goals, then performance goals. Focus should be on mastering skills rather than reaching a desired level of performance. That will come later. Performance goals distract from the learning that is needed.
Learning goals help moderate cheating as opposed to performance goal
No solid research on learning and performance goals at the same time. For complex situations where learning is required, learning goals work best, then “Do your best” goals, then performance goals. Focus should be on mastering skills rather than reaching a desired level of performance. That will come later. Performance goals distract from the learning that is needed.
Learning goals help moderate cheating as opposed to performance goal