Cohort Facilitation Guide

Setting Instructional Outcomes

8 hr stand-alone

This facilitation guide is designed for those leading cohort groups who are taking or have taken Danielson PD modules through Pennsylvania’s PD Center. Please be encouraged to steer your cohort group toward discussion that is most appropriate for your particular environment and needs.

In the table below, you will find guiding or essential questions related to the module content and applications in the left-hand column, and potential discussion points in the right-hand column. The last column of the table shares Pennsylvania-specific resources that might be of use or interest to the cohort group.At the end of this guide, you will findthe alignment(s) between Danielson’s Framework for Teaching and this module as well as correlations to the Framework for Leadership, should any groups wish to explore those connections further.

Guiding Questions / Possible/Guiding Responses
How can appropriate, measurable, and clear instructional outcomes improve professional practice and effectively support student learning? /
  • Focusing on key concepts/big ideas to help students understand content.
  • Measuring whether students have mastered key ideas presented and whether they can make transferrable connections to real-life situations.
  • Ensuring a clear, concise understanding of what students need to know and be able to do as a result of those outcomes.

How can a balance of different types of learning outcomes that address understanding, skills, and disposition improve student learning? /
  • The balance can provide options and opportunity for all learners, optimizing each one’s potential.
  • A variety of outcomes can help to assess different facets of content acquisition, thereby creating a more complete picture of strengths and challengesby content/concept.
  • Choosing alternative ways to word outcomes can create an a-ha moment that might not have been possible with wording an outcome only one way.

How can a better understanding of student needs improve the process of setting clear, appropriate, and rigorous instructional outcomes? /
  • When teachers know what students need, they are more apt to design instructional outcomes based on how much/how little can be chunked at a time for meaningful instruction.
  • Having a knowledge of students’ learning needs allows for implementation of rigorous instruction.
  • Meeting students where they are can help to encourage them from their comfort zones into new learning challenges.
  • Knowing where students are both in their learning continuum for that particular content/concept and also in their physical/emotional state.

In what ways can you improve professional practice and increase student achievement? /
  • Taking the time to create strong instructional outcomes is worthwhile in order to reach each student. If a student gets lost on the outcomes level, they might be lost for the entire topic or unit.
  • Sharing best practices and newly acquired knowledge with a PLC.
  • Incorporating new ideas/techniques into practice.
  • Reflecting on practice and willing to modify practices in order to meet student needs.

*What specific educational outcomes have you identified for the students in your class? /
  • Formulating differentiated instructional outcomes for each student based on the individual’s current academic performance in conjunction with his or her identified learningdisabilities.

*How did you identify specific outcomes for the students in your class? /
  • Developingdifferentiated outcomes linked to state standards and student’s IEP goals and objectives.

*Are your identified outcomes consistently differentiated, based on the individual student’sinstructional level and learning disability? /
  • Verifying the appropriateness of the differentiated outcomes by using ongoing curriculum based and standards basedassessments.

What PA-specific resources are available to you that will help guide setting instructional outcomes? /
  • The Assessment Creator on SAS offers a means for searching by standard/eligible content to ensure student mastery is on task.
  • The PA Core Standards as aligned with the Pennsylvania Standards serve as a guide for what students are supposed to be able to do at each grade level.Using them as my guide, teachers can design instructional units using the “backward design” template (UbD) to chunk appropriate learning goals toward that ultimate Standard.
  • Applying instructional strategies per each particular unit, as appropriate, with the ultimate understanding that students need to show that they understand and are able to meet the standard.
  • PDE Questioning Guide (p. 3)

Primary alignment between Setting Instructional Outcomes and the Framework for Teaching:

  • 1c: Setting Instructional Outcomes

Correlations between Setting Instructional Outcomes and the Framework for Leadership:

  • 1b: Uses Data for Informed Decision Making
  • 3b: Aligns Curricula, Instruction, and Assessments
  • 3c: Implements High Quality Instruction
  • 3d: Sets High Expectations for All Students
  • 3e: Maximizes Instructional Time

* Modified from Guiding Questions: Conversations Between Principals and Teachers © Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2013.

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