Getting serious about school improvement: new models of teacher professional developmentDylan Wiliam

Presentation to Governor’s Institute for Data Driven Instructional Practices in Reading and Mathematics for School Improvement

Hershey, PA: July 2008

www.dylanwiliam.net

Overview of presentationWhy raising achievement is important

Why investing in teachers is the answer

Why formative assessment should be the focus

Why teacher learning communities should be the mechanism

How we can put this into practice

Raising achievement mattersFor individuals Increased lifetime salary Improved healthLonger life

For societyLower criminal justice costsLower health-care costs Increased economic growth

…now more than ever…

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1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

Dropout

HS Diploma

Some College

BA/BSc

Prof Degree

Source: Economic Policy Institute

Which of the following categories of skill is disappearing from the work-place most rapidly?

1. Routine manual

2. Non-routine manual

3. Routine cognitive

4. Complex communication

5. Expert thinking/problem-solving

…but what is learned matters too

Autor, Levy & Murnane, 2003

Where’s the solution?Structure

Small high schools K-8 schools

Alignment Curriculum reform Textbook replacement

Governance Charter Schools Vouchers

Technology Computers Interactive white-boards

School effectivenessThree generations of school effectiveness researchRaw results approaches

Different schools get different results Conclusion: Schools make a difference

Demographic-based approaches Demographic factors account for most of the variation Conclusion: Schools don’t make a difference

Value-added approaches School-level differences in value-added are relatively small Classroom-level differences in value-added are large Conclusion: An effective school is a school full of effective classrooms

It’s the classroom…In the USA, variability at the classroom level is up to 4 times that at school level

It’s not class size

It’s not the between-class grouping strategy

It’s not the within-class grouping strategy

It’s the teacher

Turkey . Hungary . Japan .Belgium .Italy .Germany .Austria .Netherlands .Czech Republic .Korea .Slovak Republic .Greece .Switzerland .Luxembourg .Portugal .Mexico .United States .Australia .New Zealand .Spain .Canada .Ireland .Denmark .Poland .Sweden .Norway .Finland .Iceland .

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Within schoolsBetween schools explained by social background of schoolsBetween schools explained by social background of studentsBetween schools not explained by social background

USA

Within schools

Between schools

OECD PISA data from McGaw, 2008

Teacher quality matters…

Barber & Mourshed, 2007

…but more for some than others

Achievement gaps

Disadvantaged background (mother’s education)

Poor behavior

Teacher’s provision of instructional support

High No (good)Average No (good)Low Yes (bad)

High Yes (bad)Average Yes (bad)Low Yes (bad)

Teacher’s provision of emotional support

High Yes (bad)Average Yes (bad)Low Yes (bad)

High No (good)Average Yes (bad)Low Yes (bad)

Impact of teacher quality on student outcomes (Hamre & Pianta, 2005))

20-25%Total “explained” difference

<5%Further professional qualifications (MA, NBPTS)

10-15%Pedagogical content knowledge

<5%Advanced content matter knowledge

The ‘dark matter’ of teacher qualityTeachers make a differenceBut what makes the difference in teachers?

Most of the rest is probably pedagogyIn real classrooms, over extended periods, using distal measures of achievement, adoption of formative assessment practices increases student achievement by 0.3 standard deviations.

One standard deviation of increased teacher quality is associated with an increase of 0.2 sd of student achievement

Therefore the range of teacher quality (4 sd) is associated with 0.8 sd of student achievement.

Formative assessment practices would therefore seem to be equivalent to half of the “unexplained” difference

Teacher qualityA labor force issue with 2 (non-exclusive) solutionsReplace existing teachers with better ones?

Important, but very slow, and of limited impact “Teach for America” Gradually raising the bar for entry to teaching

Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers The “love the one you’re with” strategy It can be done

Provided we focus rigorously on the things that matter Even when they’re hard to do

Cost/effect comparisonsIntervention Extra months of

learning per yearCost/yr

Class-size reduction (by 30%) 4 $30k

Increase teacher content knowledge from weak to strong

2 ?

Formative assessment/Assessment for learning

8 $3k

The research evidenceSeveral major reviews of the researchNatriello (1987)Crooks (1988)Kluger & DeNisi (1996)Black & Wiliam (1998)Nyquist (2003)

All find consistent, substantial effects

The formative assessment hi-jack…Long-cycle Span: across units, terms Length: four weeks to one year Impact: Student monitoring; curriculum alignmentMedium-cycle Span: within and between teaching units Length: one to four weeks Impact: Improved, student-involved, assessment; teacher cognition about learningShort-cycle Span: within and between lessons Length:

day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours

Impact: classroom practice; student engagement

Unpacking formative assessmentKey processesEstablishing where the learners are in their learningEstablishing where they are goingWorking out how to get there

ParticipantsTeachersPeersLearners

Aspects of formative assessment

Where the learner is going

Where the learner is How to get there

TeacherClarify and share

learning intentions

Engineering effective discussions, tasks and

activities that elicit evidence of learning

Providing feedback that moves learners

forward

PeerUnderstand and share learning

intentions

Activating students as learningresources for one another

LearnerUnderstand

learning intentionsActivating students as owners

of their own learning

Five “key strategies”…Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentionscurriculum philosophy

Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learningclassroom discourse, interactive whole-class teaching

Providing feedback that moves learners forward feedback

Activating students as learning resources for one another collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, peer-assessment

Activating students as owners of their own learningmetacognition, motivation, interest, attribution, self-assessment

(Wiliam & Thompson, 2007)

…and one big ideaUse evidence about learning to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs

Keeping Learning on Track (KLT)A pilot guides a plane or boat toward its destination by taking constant readings and making careful adjustments in response to wind, currents, weather, etc.

A KLT teacher does the same:Plans a carefully chosen route ahead of time (in essence building the track)Takes readings along the way Changes course as conditions dictate

Putting it into practice

Why research hasn’t changed teachingThe nature of expertise in teachingAristotle’s main intellectual virtues

Episteme: knowledge of universal truths Techne: ability to make things Phronesis: practical wisdom

What works is not the right question Everything works somewhere Nothing works everywhere What’s interesting is “under what conditions” does this work?

Teaching is mainly a matter of phronesis, not episteme

Knowledge ‘transfer’

aaa

Dialogue

Learning by doing

Socializationsympathised knowledge Externalizationconceptual knowledge

Internalizationoperational knowledge Combinationsystemic knowledge

Tacit knowledge Explicit knowledgeto

from

Tacit knowledge

Explicit knowledge

Sharing experience Networking

After Nonaka & Tageuchi, 1995

Implementing formative assessment requires changing teacher habitsTeachers “know” most of this already

So the problem is not a lack of knowledge

It’s a lack of understanding what it means to do formative assessment

That’s why telling teachers what to do doesn’t work

Experience alone is not enough—if it were, then the most experienced teachers would be the best teachers—we know that’s not true (Hanushek, 2005; Day, 2006)

People need to reflect on their experiences in systematic ways that build their accessible knowledge base, learn from mistakes, etc. (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999)

Teacher learning takes timeTo put new knowledge to work, to make it meaningful and accessible when you need it, requires practice.A teacher doesn’t come at this as a blank slate. Not only do teachers have their current habits and ways of teaching—

they’ve lived inside the old culture of classrooms all their lives: every teacher started out as a student!

New knowledge doesn’t just have to get learned and practiced, it has to go up against long-established, familiar, comfortable ways of doing things that may not be as effective, but fit within everyone’s expectations of how a classroom should work.

It takes time and practice to undo old habits and become graceful at new ones. Thus… Professional development must be sustained over time

A model for teacher learningContent, then process

Content (what we want teachers to change)Evidence Ideas (strategies and techniques)Process (how to go about change)ChoiceFlexibilitySmall stepsAccountabilitySupport

Two opposing factors in any school reformNeed for flexibility to adapt to local conditions, resources, etc

Implies there is appropriate flexibility built into the reform

Need to maintain fidelity to core principles, or theory of action of the reform, if it is to achieve desired outcomes Implies you have a well-thought-out theory of action

“Tight but loose”Some reforms are too loose (e.g., the ‘Effective schools’ movement)

Others are too tight (e.g., Montessori Schools)

The “tight but loose” formulation

… combines an obsessive adherence to central design principles (the “tight” part) with accommodations to the needs, resources, constraints, and particularities that occur in any school or district (the “loose” part), but only where these do not conflict with the theory of action of the intervention.

Strategies and techniquesDistinction between strategies and techniquesStrategies define the territory of formative assessment (no brainers)Teachers are responsible for choice of techniques

Allows for customization/ caters for local context Creates ownership Shares responsibility

Key requirements of techniquesembodiment of deep cognitive/affective principles relevance feasibilityacceptability

Examples of techniquesLearning intentions“sharing exemplars”

Eliciting evidence“mini white-boards”

Providing feedback“find it and fix it”

Students as owners of their learning“colored cups”

Students as learning resources“pre-flight checklist”

Design and interventionOur design process

Teachers’ implementation process

cognitive/affectiveinsights

synergy/comprehensiveness

set ofcomponents

set ofcomponents

synergy/comprehensiveness

cognitive/affectiveinsights

Sustaining formative assessment with teacher learning communities

Signature pedagogies

In Law

In Medicine

How to set up a TLCPlan that the TLC will run for two years

Identify 8 to 10 interested colleagues Should have similar assignments (e.g. early years, math/sci)

Secure institutional support for: Monthly meetings (75 - 120 minutes each, inside or outside school time) Time between meetings (2 hrs per month in school time)

Collaborative planning Peer observation

Any necessary waivers from school policies

A “signature pedagogy” for teacher learning?Every monthly TLC meeting should follows the same structure and sequence of activities

Activity 1: Introduction & Housekeeping (5-10 minutes)

Activity 2: How’s It Going (35-50 minutes)

Activity 3: New Learning about formative assessment (20-45 minutes)

Activity 4: Personal Action Planning (10 minutes)

Activity 5: Summary of Learning (5 minutes)

The TLC leader’s roleTo ensure the TLC meets regularlyTo ensure all needed materials are at meetingsTo ensure that each meeting is focused on AfL To create and maintain a productive and non-judgmental tone during

meetings To ensure that every participant shares with regard to their implementation

of AfL To encourage teachers to provide their colleagues with constructive and

thoughtful feedbackTo encourage teachers to think about and discuss the implementation of

new AfL learning and skillsTo ensure that every teacher has an action plan to guide their next stepsBut not to be the AfL “expert”

Peer observationRun to the agenda of the observed, not the observer

Observed teacher specifies focus of observation

Observed teacher specifies what counts as evidencee.g., teacher wants to increase wait-timeprovides observer with a stop-watch to log wait-times

The synergyContent: formative assessment

Process: teacher learning communities

Components of a model Initial workshopsMonthly TLC meetingsPeer observations ‘Drip-feed’ resources

Writings New ideas

SummaryRaising achievement is important

Raising achievement requires improving teacher quality

Improving teacher quality requires teacher professional development

To be effective, teacher professional development must addressWhat teachers do in the classroomHow teachers change what they do in the classroom

Formative assessment + Teacher learning communitiesA point of (uniquely?) high leverageA “Trojan Horse” into wider issues of pedagogy, psychology, and curriculum

Comments?

Questions?

Practical techniques

Eliciting evidenceKey idea: questioning should

cause thinking provide data that informs teaching

Improving teacher questioning generating questions with colleagues closed v open low-order v high-order appropriate wait-time

Getting away from I-R-E basketball rather than serial table-tennis ‘No hands up’ (except to ask a question) class polls to review current attitudes towards an issue ‘Hot Seat’ questioning

All-student response systems ABCD cards, Mini white-boards, Exit passes

Questioning in math: discussionLook at the following sequence:

3, 7, 11, 15, 19, ….

Which is the best rule to describe the sequence?

A. n + 4

B. 3 + n

C. 4n - 1

D. 4n + 3

Questioning in math: diagnosisIn which of these right-angled triangles is a2 + b2 = c2 ?

A a

c

b

C b

c

a

E c

b

a

B a

b

c

D b

a

c

F c

a

b

Questioning in science: discussionIce-cubes are added to a glass of water. What happens to the level of the

water as the ice-cubes melt?

A. The level of the water drops

B. The level of the water stays the same

C. The level of the water increases

D. You need more information to be sure

Wilson & Draney, 2004

Questioning in science: diagnosis

The ball sitting on the table is not moving. It is not moving because:

A. no forces are pushing or pulling on the ball.

B. gravity is pulling down, but the table is in the way.C. the table pushes up with the same force that gravity pulls downD. gravity is holding it onto the table. E. there is a force inside the ball keeping it from rolling off the table

Dinosaurs extinctionWhy did dinosaurs become extinct?A) Humans destroyed their habitatB) Humans killed them all for foodC) There was a major change in climate

Save the ozone layerWhat can we do to preserve the ozone layer?

A. Reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by cars and factories

B. Reduce the greenhouse effect

C. Stop cutting down the rainforests

D. Limit the numbers of cars that can be used when the level of ozone is high

E. Properly dispose of air-conditioners and fridges

Questioning in English: discussion Macbeth: mad or bad?

Questioning in English: diagnosisWhere is the verb in this sentence?

The dog ran across the road

A B C D

Questioning in English: diagnosisWhich of these is the best thesis statement?

A. The typical TV show has 9 violent incidentsB. The essay I am going to write is about violence on TVC. There is a lot of violence on TVD. The amount of violence on TV should be reducedE. Some programs are more violent than othersF. Violence is included in programs to boost ratingsG. Violence on TV is interestingH. I don’t like the violence on TV

Questioning in history: discussionIn which year did World War II begin?

A. 1919

B. 1938

C. 1939

D. 1940

E. 1941

Questioning in history: diagnosisWhy are historians concerned with bias when analyzing sources?

A. People can never be trusted to tell the truthB. People deliberately leave out important detailsC. People are only able to provide meaningful information if they

experienced an event firsthandD. People interpret the same event in different ways, according to their

experienceE. People are unaware of the motivations for their actionsF. People get confused about sequences of events

Questioning in MFL: discussionIs the verb “être” regular in French?

Questioning in MFL: diagnosisWhich of the following is the correct translation for ”I give the book to him”?

A. Yo lo doy el libro.

B. Yo doy le el libro.

C. Yo le doy el libro.

D. Yo doy lo el libro.

E. Yo doy el libro le.

F. Yo doy el libro lo.

Hinge QuestionsA hinge question is based on the important concept in a lesson that is critical for students to understand before you move on in the lesson.

The question should fall about midway during the lesson.

Every student must respond to the question within two minutes.

You must be able to collect and interpret the responses from all students in 30 seconds

Figurative language

A. Alliteration

B. Hyperbole

C. Irony

D. Metaphor

E. Onomatopoeia

F. Personification

G. Simile

H. None of the above

1. He was a bull in a china shop.2. May I have a drop of water?3. This backpack weighs a ton.4. The sweetly smiling sunshine…5. He honked his horn at the cyclist.6. I’ve told you a million times already.7. The Redcoats are coming!8. “They in the sea being burnt, they

in the burnt ship drown’d.”9. He was as tall as a house.

Triangle shirt waist factory fire, March 25th, 1911

Triangle factory fireWhich of the following sources is biased?

A. Photograph of the event

B. New York Times story on Mar 26, 1911

C. Description of the fire in the textbook

D. Transcript of talk by Frances Perkins, Sep 30 1964

Practical techniques: feedbackKey idea: feedback should

cause thinking provide guidance on how to improve

Comment-only gradingFocused gradingExplicit reference to rubricsSuggestions on how to improve

‘Strategy cards’ ideas for improvement Not giving complete solutions

Re-timing assessment (eg three-fourths-of-the-way-through-a-unit test)

Practical techniques: sharing learning intentionsExplaining learning intentions at start of lesson/unit

Learning intentions Success criteria

Intentions/criteria in students’ language

Posters of key words to talk about learning eg describe, explain, evaluate

Planning/writing frames

Annotated examples of different standards to ‘flesh out’ assessment rubrics (e.g. lab reports)

Opportunities for students to design their own tests

Students owning their learning and as learning resourcesStudents assessing their own/peers’ work with rubricswith exemplars“two stars and a wish”

Training students to pose questions/identifying group weaknesses

Self-assessment of understandingTraffic lightsRed/green discs

End-of-lesson students’ review

Force-field analysis (Lewin, 1954)What are the forces that will support or drive the adoption of formative assessment practices in your school/district?

What are the forces that will constrain or prevent the adoption of formative assessment practices in your school/district?

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