Seven Practices for Effective Learning

Created by:Kelly Cassibry

Teacher of the Gifted Reeves Elementary

LBSD Gifted PLC PresentationApril 1, 2014

“Like successful athletic coaches, the best teachers recognize the importance of ongoing assessments and continual adjustments on the part of both teacher and student as the means to achieve maximum performance.” 

Types of Assessments

Summative: Summarizes what was learned

Diagnostic: Pre-Assessments

Formative: Occurs concurrently with instruction

Practice 1: Use summative assessments to frame meaningful

performance goals.O First, the summative assessments clarify

the targeted standards and benchmarks for teachers and learners.

O Second, the performance assessment tasks yield evidence that reveals understanding. 

O Third, presenting the authentic performance tasks at the beginning of a new unit or course provides a meaningful learning goal for students. 

Critical Questions to Ask Yourself:• What do ALL of my students need to KNOW?• What should ALL of my students be able to DOto demonstrate they know?• What standards do I want to measure?• Which outcomes are not being assessed adequately?

Practice 2: Show criteria and models in advance.

Rubrics

Examples of Product (Show a variety of examples to prevent copying)

Practice 3: Assess before teaching.

The teacher will know WHAT to teach.

The teacher will know HOW to teach.

Can use checklists, pre-tests, KWLcharts, questions, etc.

Practice 4: Offer appropriate choices.

First, teachers need to collect appropriate evidence of learning on the basis of goals rather than simply offer a “cool” menu of assessment choices.

Second, the performance assessment tasks yield evidence that reveals understanding.

Third, presenting the authentic performance tasks at the beginning of a new unit or course provides a meaningful learning goal for students. 

Practice 5: Provide feedback early and

often.  

It must be timely, specific, understandable to the

receiver, and formed to allow for self-adjustment on the

student's part. 

Specificity is key to helping students

understand both their strengths and the areas in which they can

improve. 

 The learner needs

opportunities to act on the

feedback.

Practice 6: Encourage self-assessment and

goal setting. What aspect of your work was most

effective? What aspect of your work was least

effective? What specific action or actions will

improve your performance? What will you do differently next

time?

Show students how to assess their own and others' work against the performance standards, expectations or levels.

Help students learn “Habits of Success”, how to set goals and both reflect on and monitor their own work

Practice 7: Allow new evidence of

achievement to replace old evidence.

A driver education student fails his driving test the first time, but he immediately books an appointment to retake the test one week later. He passes on his second attempt because he successfully demonstrates the requisite knowledge and skills. The driving examiner does not average the first performance with the second, nor does the new license indicate that the driver “passed on the second attempt.”

Students are more likely to put forth the required effort when there isTask clarity—when they clearly understand the learning goal and know how teachers will evaluate their learning (Practices 1 and 2).Relevance—when they think the learning goals and assessments are meaningful and worth learning (Practice 1).Potential for success—when they believe they can successfully learn and meet the evaluative expectations (Practices 3–7).

Guidelines for Assessment Practices1. Use summative assessments to frame meaningful performance goals - in terms of desirable outcomes2. Show criteria and models in advance to help students understand criteria3. Assess before teaching4. Offer appropriate choices5. Provide feedback early and often - F³ (timely, specific and understandable)6. Encourage self-assessment and goal-setting7. Allow new evidence to replace old evidence

“The principal limitation of any grading system that requires the teacher to assign one number or letter to represent . . . learning is that one symbol can convey only one meaning. One symbol cannot do justice to the different degrees of learning a student acquires across all learning outcomes.”

Tombari and Borich, Authentic Assessment in the Classroom,Prentice Hall, 1999,

Bibliography

Johnston, Howard. “Best Practices in Grading”. Shaker Regional School District. Education Partnerships, Inc. December 2011.

Moore, Barbara. “Effective Grading Practices 12 Fixes for Broken Grades. Southern Regional Education Board. 2014.

O’Connor, Ken and McTighe, Jay. “Seven Practices for Effective Learning.” Educational Leadership. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, November 2005.