Visible Learning - An Introduction, Grades 1-12 PDF

Know thy impact. John Hattie

Policy The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning. Assessment is the process of gathering information that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a subject or course The purpose of improving student learning is seen as both assessment for learning and assessment as learning. As part of assessment for learning, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback and coaching for improvement. Teachers engage in assessment as learning by helping all students develop their capacity to be independent, autonomous learners who are able to set individual goals, monitor their own progress, determine next steps, and reflect on their thinking and learning. As essential steps in assessment for learning and as learning, teachers need to: plan assessment concurrently and integrate it seamlessly with instruction; share learning goals and success criteria with students at the outset of learning to ensure that students and teachers have a common and shared understanding of these goals and criteria as learning progresses; gather information about student learning before, during, and at or near the end of a period of instruction, using a variety of assessment strategies and tools; use assessment to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help students monitor their progress towards achieving their learning goals; analyse and interpret evidence of learning; give and receive specific and timely descriptive feedback about student learning; help students to develop skills of peer and self-assessment.

Context Students interest in learning and their belief that they can learn are critical to their success. After reviewing the impact of testing on students motivation to learn, Harlen and Deakin Crick (p. 203) recommended the use of assessment for learning and as learning including strategies such as sharing learning goals and success criteria, providing feedback in relation to goals, and developing students ability to self-assess as a way of increasing students engagement in and commitment to learning. Assessment plays a critical role in teaching and learning and should have as its goal the development of students as independent and autonomous learners. As an integral part of teaching and learning, assessment should be planned concurrently with instruction and integrated seamlessly into the learning cycle to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help teachers and students monitor students progress towards achieving learning goals. Researcher John Hattie defines/summarizes the value of Visible Teaching Visible Learning in three ways:

1. When teachers SEE learning through the eyes of the student. 2. When students SEE themselves as their own teachers.

Hatties 15 year research findings (800+ meta-analyses, 50 000 studies, 200+ million students) on the most important influences on student learning provide teachers/principals with opportunities to renew healthy debate about the merits of various influences, instructional interventions and strategies. Hattie argues that, if the starting point of effect is zero, then almost all teaching strategies can claim to show an impact on student learning. Instead, he says that we need to ask the question whether the strategy is effective compared with other strategies? We also need to know the story behind the use of any given strategy. Hattie uses .40 as the typical, average effect size or hinge point. He wants us to pay attention to strategies that are both above and below this hinge point. He does not argue for all teachers simply using the top ten or twenty strategies, but rather, if we are using strategies currently ranked below .40 the question becomes, what is the impact of this or that strategy on student growth and learning and how do we know? Is it working or not working? The purpose of this monograph is to provide an introductory overview of Hatties research findings and conclusions as a way to stimulate critically thoughtful discussions among Peel educators about the impact their teaching is having on student learning . Hatties work provides us with a third point to assess the (relative) effectiveness of our own actions. The monograph is not intended to be a blanket endorsement of Hatties research methods, findings or personal philosophy. We must always review current educational research through a critical filter of our own individual and collective professional judgment and practice. Of course teachers and principals are invited to read Hatties work in full (Visible Learning for Teachers and Visible Learning) and to make vital comparisons/connections between it and Growing Success.

Revised April 2013

CISESS, Peel D istr ict School Board

Peels Growing Success Monograph Series: Visible Learning, An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Which Classroom Practices Embody Visible Learning?

Teachers use... Such that students

Clear learning intentions

Challenging success criteria

Range of learning strategies

Know when students are not progressing

Providing feedback

Visibly learn themselves

Understand learning intentions

Are challenged by success criteria

Develop a range of learning strategies

Know when they are not progressing

Seek feedback

Visibly teach themselves

What Are the Principles Behind Visible Learning?

I see learning through the eyes of my students

I help students to become their own teachers

Mind Frames

I am an evaluator/activator

I am a change agent

I am a seeker of feedback

I use dialogue more than monologue

I enjoy challenge I have high

expectations for all I welcome error I am passionate

about and promote the language of learning

A Cooperative and Critical Planner

I use learning intentions and success criteria

I aim for surface and deep outcomes

I consider prior achievement and attitudes

I set high expectation targets

I feed the gap in student learning

An Adaptive Learning Expert

I create trusting environments

I know the power of peers

I use multiple strategies

I know when and how to differentiate

I foster deliberate practice and concentration

I know I can develop confidence to succeed

A Receiver of Feedback

I know how to use the three feedback questions

I know how to use the three feedback levels

I give and receive feedback

I monitor and interpret my learning/ teaching

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12 Page 3

Visible Learning Checklist for Planning and Self-assessment (Pg 1.)

The following checklist is meant as a prompt for reflection and action by teachers and principals. Each item comes directly from John Hatties findings. The meaning of most items is apparent/obvious but other items might require a teacher/principal to be more conversant with the accompanying explanations in Hatties book, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. Hopefully, teachers and principals can use the checklist as a way forward through continuous self-assessment, to minimize the amount of variability across classrooms in a single school or schools across a district. Hatties checklist aligns well to Growing Success policy and demonstrates the power of absolute clarity, transparency and commitment to learning goals, success criteria and descriptive feedback. The column on the right allows teachers and/or principals to self-assess by indicating B=Beginning, D=Developing, A/I=Applying/Innovating and the evidence to support this assessment.

Visible Learning Self-assessment (B, D, A/I) & Evidence

6. The school has, and teachers use, defensible methods for: a. monitoring, recording, and making available, on a just in time basis, interpretations about prior, present and targeted student achievement; b. monitoring the progress of students regularly throughout and across years, and this information is used in planning and evaluating lessons; c. creating targets relating to the effects that teachers are expected to have on all students learning.

7. Teachers understand the attitudes and dispositions that students bring to the lesson, and aim to enhance these so that they are a positive part of learning.

8. Teachers within the school jointly plan series of lessons, with learning intentions (goals) and success criteria related to worthwhile curricular specifications.

9. There is evidence that these planned lessons: a. invoke appropriate challenges that engage the students commitment to invest in learning; b. capitalize on and build students confidence to attain the learning intentions; c. are based on appropriately high expectations of outcomes for students; d. lead to students having goals to master and wishing to reinvest in their learning; and e. have learning intentions and success criteria that are explicitly known by the student.

10. All teachers are thoroughly familiar with the curriculum in terms of content, levels of difficulty, expected progressions and share common interpretations about these with each other.

11. Teachers talk with each other about the impact of their teaching, based on evidence of student progress, and about how to maximize their impact with all students.


Visible Learning Checklist for Planning and Self-assessment (Pg. 2)

Visible Learning

Self-assessment (B, D, A/I) & Evidence

12. The climate of the class, evaluated from the students perspective, is seen as fair: students feel that it is okay to say I do not know or I need help; there is a high level of trust and students believe that they are listened to; and students know that the purpose of the class is to learn and make progress.

13. The staffroom has a high level of relational trust (respect for each persons role in learning, respect for expertise, personal regard for others, and high levels of integrity) when making policy and teaching decisions.

14. The staffrooms and classroom are dominated more by dialogue than by monologue about learning.

15. The classrooms are dominated more by student than teacher questions.

16. There is a balance between teachers talking, listening, and doing: there is a similar balance between students talking, listening and doing.

17. Teachers and students are aware of the balance of surface, deep and conceptual understanding involved in the lesson intentions (goals).

18. Teachers and students use the power of peers positively to progress learning.

19. In each class and across the school, labelling of students is rare.

20. Teachers have high expectations for all students, and constantly seek evidence to check and enhance these expectations. The aim of the school is to help all students to exceed their potential.

21. Students have high expectations relative to their current learning for themselves.

22. Teachers choose the teaching methods as a final step in the lesson planning process and evaluate this choice in terms of their impact on students.

23. Teachers see their fundamental role as evaluators and activators of learning.

24. Teachers have rich understandings about how learning involves moving forward through various levels of capabilities, capacities, catalysts, and competencies.

25. Teachers understand how learning is based on students needing multiple learning strategies to achieve surface and deep understanding.

26. Teachers provide differentiation to ensure that learning is meaningfully and efficiently directed to all students gaining the intentions (learning goals) of the lesson(s).



Visible Learning


27. Teachers are adaptive learning experts who know where students are on the continuum from novice to capable to proficient, when students are and are not learning, and where to go next, and who can create a classroom climate to attain these learning goals.

28. Teachers are able to teach multiple ways of knowing and multiple ways of interacting, and provide multiple opportunities for practice.

29. Teachers and students have multiple strategies for learning.

30. Teachers use principles from backward design moving from the outcomes (success criteria) back to the learning intentions (goals), then to the activities and resources needed to attain the success criteria.

31. All students are taught how to practise deliberately and how to concentrate.

32. Processes are in place for teachers to see learning through the eyes of students.

33. Teachers are aware of, and aim to provide feedback, relative to, the three important feedback questions: Where am I going, How am I going there?; and Where to next?

34. Teachers are aware of, and aim to provide feedback relative to, the three important levels of feedback: task, process and self-regulation.

35. Teachers are aware of the importance of praise, but do not mix praise with feedback information.

36. Teachers provide feedback appropriate to the point at which students are in their learning, and seek evidence that this feedback is appropriately received.

37. Teachers use multiple assessment methods to provide rapid formative interpretations to students and to make adjustments to their teaching to maximize learning.

38. Teachers: a. are more concerned with how students receive and interpret feedback; b. know that students prefer to have more progress than corrective feedback; c. know that when students have more challenging targets, this leads to greater receptivity to feedback; d. deliberately teach students how to ask for, understand, and use the feedback provided; and e. recognize the value of peer feedback, and deliberately teach peers to give other students appropriate feedback.



Visible Learning


39. Teachers provide evidence that all students feel as though they have been invited into their class to learn effectively. This invitation involves feelings of respect, trust, optimism, and intention to learn.

40. Teachers collect evidence of the student experience in their classes about their success as change agents, about their levels of inspiration, and about sharing their passion with students.

41. Together, teachers critique the learning intentions (goals) and success criteria, and have evidence that: a. students can articulate the learning intentions (goals) and success criteria in a way that shows that they understand them; b. students attain the success criteria; c. students see the success criteria as appropriately challenging; and d. teachers use the information when planning their next set of lessons/learning.

42. Teachers create opportunities for both formative (for learning) and summative (of learning) interpretations of student learning, and use these interpretations to inform future decisions about their teaching.

Hatties Six Signposts Towards Excellence in Education (Visible Learning, pp. 238-9)

1. Teachers are among the most powerful influences in learning.

2. Teachers need to be directive, influential, caring, and actively engaged in the passion of teaching and learning.

3. Teachers need to be aware of what each and every student is thinking and knowing, to construct meaning and

meaningful experiences in light of this knowledge, and have proficient knowledge and understanding of their content to provide meaningful and appropriate feedback such that each student moves progressively through the curriculum levels.

4. Teachers need to know the learning intentions (goals) and success criteria of their lessons, know how well they are

attaining these criteria for all students, and know where to go next in light of the gap between students current knowledge and understanding and the success criteria of : Where are you going?, How are you going?, and Where to next?.

5. Teachers need to move from the single idea to multiple ideas, and to relate and then extend these ideas such that

learners construct and reconstruct knowledge and ideas. It is not the knowledge or ideas, but the learners construction of this knowledge and these ideas that is critical.

6. School leaders and teachers need to create school, staffroom, and classroom environments where error is welcomed as

a learning opportunity, where discarding incorrect knowledge and understandings is welcomed, and where participants can feel safe to learn, re-learn, and explore knowledge and understanding.

In these six signposts, the word teachers is deliberate, as a major theme is when teachers meet to discuss, evaluate and plan their teaching in light of the feedback evidence about the success or otherwise of their teaching strategies and conceptions about progress and appropriate challenge. This is not critical reflection, but critical reflection in light of evidence about their teaching.


Visible Learning Your Personal Health Check Instructions: Think carefully about each statement below and Check B, D, or A/I beside each item. Take some time to discuss your findings with a partner or small group.

B=Beginning (I am beginning to learn more about this and how it can transform my classroom) D=Developing (I am reshaping my classroom as I construct new ways to implement these ideas) A/I=Applying/Innovating (I am refining these ideas with increasing effectiveness in my classroom) ___I am actively engaged in, and passionate about teaching and learning. ___I provide students with multiple opportunities for learning based on surface and deep thinking. ___I know the learning intentions and success criteria of my lessons, and I share these with students. ___I am open to learning and actively learn myself. ___I have a warm and caring classroom climate in which errors are welcome. ___I seek regular feedback from my students. ___My students are actively involved in knowing about their learning (that is, they are assessment- capable). ___I can identify progression in learning across multiple curricular levels in my student work and activities. ___I have a wide range of teaching strategies in my day-to-day teaching repertoire. ___I use evidence of learning to plan the next learning steps with students.

What Expert Teachers Know and Can Do

a. Expert teachers can identify the most important ways in which to represent the subject that they teach

b. Expert teachers are proficient at creating an optimal classroom climate for learning

c. Expert teachers monitor learning and provide feedback

d. Expert teachers believe that all students can reach the success criteria

e. Expert teachers influence surface and deep student outcomes


8 Mind Frames Hattie points out that teachers do have theories of practice. The argument for Visible Learning rests on holding a set of mind frames that underpin every action/decision made by a teacher in a school. These have been reproduced here as a third point for discussion among teachers and administrators. Mind Frame 1: Teachers/leaders believe that their fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of their teaching on students learning and achievement Key Questions:

How do I know that this is working? How do I compare this with that? What is the merit and worth of this influence on learning? What is the magnitude of the effect? What evidence would convince me that I was wrong in using these methods and resources? Where is the evidence that shows that this is superior to other programs? Where have I seen this practice installed where it has produced effective results (which would convince me and my

colleagues on the basis of the magnitude of the effects)? Do I share a common conception of progress with other teachers?

Mind Frame 2: Teachers/leaders believe that success and failure in student learning is about what they, as teachers or leaders, did or did not doWe are change agents! Some positive beliefs that need to be fostered include the following:

All students can be challenged Its all about strategies, never styles It is important to develop high expectations for all students relative to their starting point It is important to encourage help-seeking behaviours It is important to teach multiple learning strategies to all students It is important to develop assessment-capable students Developing peer interactions is powerful for improving learning Critique, error and feedback are powerful opportunities for improving learning Developing student self-regulation and developing students as teachers are powerful mechanisms for improving

learning Dont blame the kids Handicaps of social class and home resources are surmountable There is no place for deficit thinking-that is, there is no labelling of students, nor are there low expectations of

students

Mind Frame 3: Teachers/leaders want to talk more about the learning than the teaching

Mind Frame 4: Teachers/leaders see assessment as feedback about their impact Critical questions:

Who did you teach well and who not so well? What did you teach well and what not so well? Where are the gaps, where are the strengths, what was achieved, and what has still to be achieved? How do we develop a common conception of progress with the students and with all of the teachers in our school?

Mind Frame 5: Teachers/leaders engage in dialogue not monologue

Mind Frame 6: Teachers/leaders enjoy the challenge and never retreat to doing their best

Mind Frame 7: Teachers/leaders believe that it is their role to develop positive relationships in classrooms and staffrooms

Mind Frame 8: Teachers/leaders inform all about the language of learning


Hatties Research Findings and the Assessment Framework in Growing Success Influences on Student Achievement that align to assessment for learning Practices (.40 is the typical/average effect size) in Growing Success (indicated in brackets). Hatties findings support the power of learning intentions and success criteria.

Rank (out of 135) Influence Studies Effect ES

1 Student expectations of their own achievement (self-assessment)

209 305 1.44

3 Providing formative evaluation (assessment for learning)

30 78 .90

8 Teacher clarity (learning goals and success criteria)

Na Na .75

9 Reciprocal teaching (peers as instructional resources)

38 53 .74

10 Feedback (feedback that moves learners forward)

1287 2050 .73

11 Teacher-student relationships (7 Fundamental Principles, Climate for Learning)

229 1450 .72

13 Meta-cognitive strategies (peer and self-assessment, goal setting)

63 143 .69

25 Direct Instruction (explicit instruction gradual release of responsibility)

304 597 .59

29 Mastery learning (criterion-referenced assessment)

377 296 .58

30 Worked examples (inquiry/use of models and samples)

62 151 .57

34 Challenging goals (learning goals and success criteria)

604 820 .56

36 Peer tutoring (peers as instructional resources)

767 1200 .55

53 Questioning (checking for understanding, assessment for learning)

211 271 .46

Barometer of Influence

For each influence or strategy, Hattie provides a visual in the form of a barometer which indicates the effect size of any given influence/strategy. Typical or average effect size is .40. The barometer starts at below zero and goes beyond 1.0 in terms of effect size. The thinking behind the barometer is captured in the question-whether this strategy or teaching method worked better than alternative strategies? All influences above the hinge point (d=0.40) are labeled in the Zone of desired effects as these are the influences that have the greatest impact on student achievement outcomes. Typical effects from teachers fall between d=0.15 and d=0.40-any influences in this zone are similar to what teachers can accomplish in a typical year of schooling. The zone between d=0.0 and d=0.15 is what students could probably achieve if there was no schooling. Any effects below d=0.15 can be considered potentially harmful and probably should not be implemented. The final category includes the reverse effects-those that decrease achievement. The sample barometer for Formative Evaluation demonstrates that it is well above the typical or average effect size and is one of the most effective classroom strategies that improve student achievement (0.90 Effect Size). For any influence/strategy, key questions for

teachers include: what impact am I having on my students? What did I teach well? Why? Not so well? Why not?


RANK INFLUENCES ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT (143 out of 150 are listed) Effect Size 1 Self-reported grades/Student expectations (students estimations of own performance) 1.44 2 Piagetian programs (knowing students Piagetian stages of development) 1.28 3 Response to intervention (everything is examined in terms of its impact on the student) 1.07

4 Teacher credibility (students perceptions of value added teaching) 0.90 5 Providing formative evaluation (assessment for learning) 0.90

6 Micro-teaching (student teachers teaching small group of students in lab followed by debrief) 0.88

7 Classroom discussion 0.82

8 Comprehensive interventions for learning disabled students 0.77

9 Teacher clarity (clear learning intentions and success criteria) 0.75

10 Feedback (descriptive feedback) 0.75

11 Reciprocal teaching 0.74

12 Teacher-student relationships (climate for learning, working and assessment) 0.72

13 Spaced vs. mass practice (multiple and varied opportunities to practice) 0.71

14 Meta-cognitive strategies (assessment as learning) 0.69

15 Acceleration 0.68

16 Classroom behavioural 0.68

17 Vocabulary programs 0.67

18 Repeated reading programs 0.67

19 Creativity programs on achievement 0.65

20 Prior achievement 0.65

21 Self-verbalization and self-questioning 0.64

22 Study skills 0.63

23 Teaching strategies 0.62

24 Problem-solving teaching 0.61

25 Not labelling students 0.61

26 Comprehension programs 0.60

27 Concept mapping 0.60

28 Cooperative vs. individualistic learning 0.59

29 Direct instruction (explicit instruction, not didactic, gradual release of responsibility model) 0.59

30 Tactile stimulation programs 0.58

31 Mastery learning 0.58

32 Worked examples 0.57

33 Visual-perception programs 0.55

34 Peer tutoring 0.55

35 Cooperative vs competitive learning 0.54

36 Phonics instruction 0.54

37 Student-centred teaching 0.54

38 Classroom cohesion 0.53

39 Pre-term birth weight 0.53

40 Kellers Master Learning 0.53 41 Peer influences 0.53

42 Classroom management 0.52

43 Outdoor/adventure programs 0.52

44 Home environment 0.52

45 Socio-economic status 0.52

46 Interactive video methods 0.52

47 Professional development 0.51

48 Goals 0.50

49 Play programs 0.50

50 Second/third-chance programs 0.50

51 Parental involvement 0.49

52 Small-group learning 0.49

53 Questioning 0.48

54 Concentration/persistence/engagement 0.48

55 School effects 0.48

56 Motivation 0.48

57 Quality of teaching 0.48

58 Early intervention 0.47

59 Self-concept 0.47

60 Preschool programs 0.45

61 Writing programs 0.44

62 Teacher expectations 0.43

63 School size 0.43

64 Science programs 0.42

65 Cooperative learning 0.42

66 Exposure to reading 0.42

67 Behavioural organizers/adjunct questions 0.41

68 Mathematics programs 0.40

69 Reducing anxiety 0.40

70 Social skills programs 0.39

71 Integrated curricula programs 0.39


RANK INFLUENCES ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT (143 out of 150 are listed) Effect Size 72 Enrichment 0.39

73 Principals/school leaders 0.39

74 Career interventions 0.38

75 Time on task 0.38

76 Psychotherapy programs 0.38

77 Computer-assisted instruction 0.37

78 Adjunct aids 0.37

79 Bilingual programs 0.37

80 Drama/arts programs 0.35

81 Creativity related to achievement 0.35

82 Attitude to mathematics/science 0.35

83 Frequency/effects of testing 0.34

84 Decreasing disruptive behaviour 0.34

85 Various teaching on creativity 0.34

86 Simulations 0.33

87 Inductive teaching 0.33

88 Ethnicity 0.32

89 Teacher effects 0.32

90 Drugs 0.32

91 Enquiry-based teaching 0.31

92 Systems accountability 0.31

93 Ability grouping for gifted students 0.30

94 Homework 0.29

95 Home visiting 0.29

96 Exercise/relaxation 0.28

97 Desegregation 0.28

98 Teaching test-taking and coaching 0.27

99 Use of calculators 0.27

100 Volunteer tutors 0.26

101 Lack of illness 0.25

102 Mainstreaming 0.24

103 Values/moral education programs 0.24

104 Competitive vs. Individualistic learning 0.24

105 Programmed Instruction 0.23

106 Summer school 0.23

107 Finances 0.23

108 Religious schools 0.23

109 Individualized instruction 0.22

110 Visual-audio visual methods 0.22

111 Comprehensive teaching reforms 0.22

112 Teacher verbal ability 0.22

113 Class size 0.21

114 Charter schools 0.20

115 Aptitude/treatment interactions 0.19

116 Extra-curricular programs 0.19

117 Learning hierarchies 0.19

118 Co-/team teaching 0.19

119 Personality 0.18

120 Within-class grouping 0.18

121 Special college programs 0.18

122 Family structure 0.18

123 School counselling effects 0.18

124 Web-based learning 0.18

125 Matching style of learning 0.17

126 Teacher immediacy 0.16

127 Home-school programs 0.16

128 Problem-based learning 0.15

129 Sentence-combining programs 0.15

130 Mentoring 0.15

131 Ability grouping 0.12

132 Diet 0.12

133 Gender 0.12

134 Teacher education 0.12

135 Distance education 0.11

136 Teacher subject matter knowledge 0.09

137 Changing school calendars/timetables 0.09

138 Out-of-school curricular experiences 0.09

139 Perceptual-motor programs 0.08

140 Whole language 0.06

141 Ethnic diversity of students 0.05

142 College halls of residence 0.05

143 Multi-grade/multi-age classes 0.04


Activator or Facilitator ?

An Activator ES A Facilitator ES

Reciprocal teaching .74 Simulations and gaming .32

Feedback .72 Inquiry based teaching .31

Teaching self-verbalization .67 Smaller class sizes .21

Meta-cognition strategies .67 Individualized instruction .20

Direct Instruction .59 Problem-based learning .15

Mastery learning .57 Different teaching for boys & girls .12

Goals - challenging .56 Web-based learning .09

Frequent/ Effects of testing .46 Whole Language Reading .06

Behavioral organizers .41 Inductive teaching .06

ACTIVATOR .60 ES FACILITATOR .17 ES ES=Effect Size ES=Effect Size

An active teacher, passionate for their subject

and for learning, a change agent?

OR

A facilitative, inquiry or discovery based

provider of engaging activities?

OR

A bit of both? Why?


The Six Factors (Adapted from Visible Learning, pp. 31-38) The shaded areas (within the Six Factors that influence student achievement) are all areas where principals and teachers can influence and take action to improve student learning and growth. These shaded areas then become the focus of ongoing professional learning, purposeful talk and conversation, collaborative inquiry and school planning efforts.

Factor Influences on Student Achievement/Student Learning:

The Child

Prior knowledge of learning;

Expectations;

Degree of openness to experiences;

Emerging beliefs about the value and worth to them from investing in learning;

Engagement;

Ability to build a sense of engagement in learning, and a reputation as a learner.

The Home

Parental expectations and aspirations for their child;

Parental knowledge of the language of schooling.

The School

The climate of the classroom, such as welcoming errors, and providing a safe, caring environment;

Peer influences.

The Curriculum

Developing a curriculum that aims for the best balance of surface and deep understanding;

Ensuring a focus on developing learning strategies to construct meaning;

Having strategies that are planned, deliberate, and having explicit and active programs that teach specific skills and deeper understanding.

The Teacher

The quality of the teaching as perceived by the students; Teacher expectations;

Teachers conception of teaching, learning, assessment, and the students-this relates to teachers views on whether all students can progress and whether achievement for all is changeable (or fixed), and on whether progress is understood and articulated by teachers;

Teacher openness-whether teachers are prepared to be surprised;

Classroom climate-having a warm socio-emotional climate in the classroom where errors are not only tolerated but welcomed;

A focus on teacher clarity in articulating success criteria and achievement;

The fostering of effort;

The engagement of all students.

Teaching

Approaches

Paying deliberate attention to learning intentions and success criteria;

Setting challenging tasks;

Providing multiple opportunities for deliberative practice;

Knowing when one (teacher and student) is successful in attaining these goals;

Planning and talking about teaching;

Ensuring the teacher constantly seeks feedback information as to the success of his or her teaching on the students.


Additional Resources Growing Success, Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement, John Hattie, Routledge, 2009

Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning, John Hattie, Routledge, 2012

Visible Learning Power Point Presentation by John Hattie, 2012

John Hattie-Leaders in Educational Thought, http://resources.curriculum.org/secretariat/leaders/

Webinar How to Make Your School a Visible Learning School, The Leadership and Learning Centre Critical Thinking: Learn the Tools the Best Thinkers Use, Concise Edition, Richard Paul and Linda Elder, 2006

Something to Think About: 1. To what extent does my own teaching reflect a Visible Learning stance?

How do I know? What are my strengths? What are my gaps/needs?

2. To what extent is our school a Visible Learning school? How might we reduce the amount of variation between classrooms through adoption of a Visible Learning stance towards our students? What might be some other barriers and possible solutions to these barriers?

3. Do we hold a shared definition of student success, growth or progress? Does our definition need some

revision or refinement? How might we involve our parent community in understanding what is meant by Visible Learning?

4. What actions might we take to create a healthy, safe and non-judgemental school climate where not

knowing, error and risk-taking are more possible and where teachers and leaders discuss the effectiveness of teaching and learning more openly? How might we encourage teachers to replicate this supportive climate in every school classroom?

Thinking More Critically About John Hatties Research

1. What is the goal(s) purpose(s) behind Hatties research? Is it clear? To what extent do his goal(s) or purpose(s) reveal something about the complexity of teaching and learning? To what extent do his goal(s) or purpose(s) oversimplify or reduce the complexity of teaching and learning? Why or why not?

2. What is the question at issue or problem to be solved by Hatties research? Can you articulate it? To what extent do you think Hattie has answered the question at issue or resolved the problem? Why?

3. Hattie deals in meta-analyses of research done by other educational researchers. What is the relative quality of the information (research studies) from which he draws many of his inferences and conclusions? What are the strengths and weaknesses of his methodology? Do you agree with his notion of a hinge point? What can be learned from a close reading of the original Visible Learning text? How valid, reliable or current is his meta-analysis of the educational research? Should other evidence be examined from other researchers conducting meta-analyses (i.e. Marzano)? Why?

4. What might be some implications and consequences of the visible learning research findings for where teachers, administrators and system support people spend their time, energies and resources? What are the advantages/disadvantages of evidence-based teaching as understood by John Hattie?

5. Which concepts, theories, definitions, models, principles, paradigms underpin Hatties Visible Learning research? Which are implicit? Which are made explicit? How do these affect your perceptions?

6. Can you articulate Hatties point of view and frame of reference? What aspects of his point of view need to be challenged or interrogated? Why? Which aspects do you sympathize with? Why?

7. What are Hatties assumptions or presuppositions about visible learning? Can you articulate

what they might be?

Documents

Visible Learning - An Introduction, Grades 1-12 PDF