encourages collaboration on the actual SLO document itself. Standards-alignment - The development of an effective SLO starts with locating an academic standard that promotes rigorous student learning that results in a measurable student product or outcome. One way to motivate reluctant learners to engage in rigorous academic achievement is to add relevance to their instruction and assessments. For example, when working with a literacy standard dealing with non-fiction reading comprehension it would be beneficial to use real-world documents like an electric bill or an over-the-counter children's pain relief label. The students apply their reading comprehension strategies to documents that they are likely to encounter in the future. Instructional timeframe - A SLO can occur within any given timeframe between pre-assessment and post-assessment, but the recommended time period is one academic year. Parts Learning goals - A teacher-developed description of what the student will know and be able to do at the end of a course based upon an overarching idea for the academic or elective discipline. A teacher will know that they have an effective learning goal when the knowledge or skill can be applied to life outside the classroom. Learning goals provide a common thread that link all units and learning situations within a course. It often answers the question, "What is the BIG idea?" Assessments - Valid assessments should support the student progress toward meeting an enduring understanding within the learning goal. The assessments should be based upon standards-aligned to the learning goal. Formative assessment should be collected at multiple points in the semester to determine if the students are on pace to meet the learning goal in the final summative assessment. Targets - Using baseline data gleaned from past performance or collected with a pre-assessment, the teacher will contextualize the SLO by establishing class-specific targets for performance levels. It is important to be ambitious and also realistic about expectations of student performance. References School terminology Standards-based education