Truly Transformational Learning Practices: An Analysis of What Moves in the Best Classrooms Dylan Wiliam

A framework for teaching (Danielson, 1996)  Four domains of teacher practice 1.Planning and preparation 2.The classroom environment 3.Instruction 4.Professional responsibilities

A framework for teaching (Danielson, 1996)  Domain 2: The classroom environment  2a: Creating an environment of respect and rapport  2b: Establishing a culture for learning  2c: Managing classroom procedures  2d: Managing student behavior  2e: Organizing physical space  Domain 3: Instruction  3a: Communicating with students  3b: Using questioning and discussion techniques  3c: Engaging students in learning  3d: Using assessment in instruction  3e: Demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness

Teacher value-added ratings Sartain et al., (2011)

Teacher ratings and student growth

Reading

Mathematics

The basic mystery  We know that teachers make a difference  But what makes the difference in teachers?  An improvement of one category on the Danielson scale is associated with an increase of around:  0.2 standard deviations of teacher quality  0.04 standard deviations of student achievement  10% to 15% in the rate of learning  This is about twice the average improvement of a teacher over a career  But it’s a rather small improvement

What kind of school is this?

It’s very hard to spot good teaching 11  The available evidence is that Ofsted’s framework is not even as good as the Danielson framework for detecting good teaching  This suggests that Ofsted captures less than 20% of teaching quality  And in turn suggests that we need to look in more detail at particular kinds of teacher practices.

KMOFA Project 12  24 (later 36, later 48) teachers developing practice  Focus on formative assessment  Outcomes measures: KS3 tests, GCSE, A-level  Comparison groups  similar classes taught by the same teacher  similar classes taught by different teachers  Impact on student achievement  0.32 standard deviations  half a grade per subject at GCSE  80% increase in the rate of learning Wiliam, Lee, Harrison and Black (2004)

Effective learning environments  A prevalent, mistaken, view  Teachers create learning  The teacher’s job is to do the learning for the learner  A not so prevalent, not quite so mistaken, but equally dangerous view  Only learners can create learning  The teacher’s job is to “facilitate” learning  A difficult to negotiate, middle path  Teaching as the engineering of effective learning environments  Key features: Create student engagement (pedagogies of engagement) Well-regulated (pedagogies of contingency) Develop habits of mind (pedagogies of formation)

Unpacking formative assessment Where the learner is going Where the learner isHow to get there Teacher Peer Learner Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions Engineering effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating students as learning resources for one another Activating students as owners of their own learning 14

And one big idea Where the learner is going Where the learner isHow to get there Teacher Peer Learner 15 Using evidence of achievement to adapt what happens in classrooms to meet learner needs

Practical techniques

Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions

Sharing learning intentions  Explain learning intentions at start of lesson/unit:  Learning intentions  Success criteria  Consider providing learning intentions and success criteria in students’ language.  Use posters of key words to talk about learning:  e.g., describe, explain, evaluate  Use planning and writing frames judiciously  Use annotated examples of different standards to “flesh out” mark schemes (e.g., lab reports)  Provide opportunities for students to design their own tests 18

Engineering effective discussions, activities and classroom tasks that elicit evidence of learning

Eliciting evidence  Key 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)  ‘Hot Seat’ questioning  All-student response systems  Class poll, ABCD cards, Mini white-boards, Exit passes 20

Providing feedback that moves learners forward

Providing feedback that moves learning on  Key idea: feedback should:  Cause thinking  Provide guidance on how to improve  Comment-only marking  Focused marking  Explicit reference to mark schemes/scoring guide  Suggestions on how to improve:  Not giving complete solutions  Re-timing assessment:  e.g., three-quarters-of-the-way-through-a-unit test 23

Activating students as learning resources for one another

Students as learning resources  Students assessing their peers’ work:  “Pre-flight checklist”  “Two stars and a wish”  Training students to pose questions/identifying group weaknesses  End-of-lesson students’ review 25

Activating students as owners of their own learning

Students owning their own learning  Students assessing their own work:  With mark schemes or scoring guides  With exemplars  Self-assessment of understanding:  Traffic lights  Red/green discs  Coloured cups  Choose/swap/choose  +/—/interesting  Learning portfolio 27