Georgia Department of Education — Student Learning Objectives and Charter Schools
How many growth measures are required in Charter Schools for the 2014-2015 school year?
Cohort 1: LEAs and locally approved charter schools within Cohort 1 must have a minimum of two growth measures per teacher in 2014-2015.
Cohorts 2- 4: All other LEAs and charter schools must have a minimum of one growth measure per
LOCALLY APPROVED CHARTER SCHOOLS
Who is responsible for the development of SLOs?
Locally approved charter schools are required to use LEA developed SLOs for all courses the LEA offers that the charter school also offers.
When a charter school does not have access to the assessment tool selected by the LEA for a SLO, then the charter school will develop a separate SLO and utilize a different assessment. The LEA will be responsible for developing a process to verify that the charter school does not have access to the LEA selected assessment. This process eliminates the need for the LEA or charter to purchase specific resources used in this process.
If a locally approved charter school offers a course that the LEA does not offer, the charter school must write their own SLO for that course if it is needed to meet the growth measure requirements. All required supporting SLO documents will be submitted to the DOE for audit and approval.
Are charter schools required to use the LEA targets for SLO implementation?
Locally approved charter schools are required to use LEA targets for all courses they both offer and when the same assessment is available. However, if a locally approved charter school develops a SLO for a course that the LEA does not offer, the charter school must develop their own targets.
Who is responsible for the submission of the SLOs?
Locally approved charter schools will work collaboratively with the LEA to determine who will enter the charter school’s SLO statements. In some cases, the LEA may enter the SLO statements for the charter school. In other cases, the charter school may need to have their own GaDOE TLE portal account in order to submit SLO statements and the required documentation.
Charter schools should ask the following questions to determine the appropriate submission process.
- Does the charter school offer the same course as the LEA but use a different assessment?
- Does the charter school offer a course that the LEA does not offer?
- If yes, then the charter school will need to submit a SLO statement(s) and required documents that align with the different assessment.
- If no, the charter school will use the LEA’s SLO statement.
- If yes, the charter school OR the LEA can create and submit the SLO statement for the
How will the SLO student data be collected?
The SLO student data will be captured through the GaDOE Data Collections process. The student class file will capture the student’s pre and post assessment scores for each SLO course. The SLO targets will be captured through the course file for each SLO course. In situations where a charter school may have the same course number, but utilize a different assessment, the LEA will report a different target for that course at the school location. If no school level target is given, Data Collections will apply the same target to all school locations within the LEA.
STATE CHARTER SCHOOLS
All charter schools will implement Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) as part of the Teacher Keys Effectiveness System. State Charter Schools are treated as independent LEAs and should develop and submit SLOs according to the GaDOE SLO guidance that is currently in place.
