Student Learning Objectives (SLO)

This tool by the Washington, D.C., Office of the State Superintendent of Education is designed for the use of an evaluator to approve an SLO. It highlights all the necessary criteria for a highly effective SLO and provides space for the evaluator to indicate the approval status for each individual criterion.

This reference document from the Washington, D.C., Office of the State Superintendent of Education explains the criteria for writing a quality student learning objective (SLO) by providing details and definitions of each component of the process. 

This webinar from the South Dakota Department of Education introduces and provides an overview of SLOs. The webinar discusses the basics of SLOs and their benefits and challenges. It outlines the four steps within the SLO process and provides guidance on developing high-quality SLOs. The webinar concludes with how to find additional resources on SLOs. 

This presentation from the South Dakota Department of Education discusses the types of SLOs for special education teachers and considerations for these teachers when writing SLOs. The presentation outlines the different types and their strengths and drawbacks. 

The South Dakota Department of Education developed a planning guide to help teachers create or choose assessments to use in SLOs. The guide includes guiding questions to connect content to student learning expectations, connect learning expectations to assessment criteria, connect assessment criteria to assessment type, and consider assessment quality. 

The South Dakota Department of Education developed an assessment quality checklist to be completed prior to SLO approval to ensure that the selected assessment meets basic requirements. The checklist helps teachers determine whether the assessment is ready for use or if additional modifications are needed. The checklist asks questions to ensure that the assessment is aligned to standards and course content, has enough stretch for all students, and is valid and reliable.  This document also includes a checklist for rubrics and performance-based assessments. 

The South Dakota Department of Education created this checklist to help educators ensure that SLOs are high quality. The checklist includes guiding questions to ensure that the SLO is specific, measurable, appropriate, realistic yet rigorous, and time bound. 

The South Dakota Department of Education created this guide to help educators develop their SLOs. This guide outlines the key steps in developing an SLO by providing guiding questions for each section of the SLO. The guide also includes guiding questions for the “ongoing communication” step of monitoring student progress and modifying instruction. In addition, there are guiding questions to help teachers prepare for the summative conference based on the final SLO score.

The South Dakota Department of Education created a guidebook on student learning objectives (SLOs) for teachers.  The guidebook introduces what SLOs are, the benefits of SLOs, and potential implementation challenges. This resource outlines the SLO process, including development, approval, ongoing communication, and the summative conference. The guidebook provides guidance on prioritizing learning content, establishing accurate baselines, determining assessment selection, and writing quality SLOs. The appendix also includes additional resources for writing SLOs.

This is a sample SLO from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education focused on eighth-grade physical education.