1. Sustaining formative assessment with teacher learning communities Dylan Wiliam www.dylanwiliam.net

2. Overview of the day Why 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

3. Raising achievement matters For individuals  Increased lifetime salary  Improved health  Longer life For society  Lower criminal justice costs  Lower health-care costs  Increased economic growth

4. 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

5. …but what is learned matters too… Autor, Levy & Murnane, 2003

6. …now more than ever Source: Economic Policy Institute

7. Where’s the solution? Structure  Small high schools  Larger high schools  ‘All-through’ schools Alignment  Curriculum reform  Textbook replacement Governance  Specialist schools  Academies and trusts Technology  Computers  Interactive white-boards

8. School effectiveness Three generations of school effectiveness research  Raw 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

9. It’s the classroom… In the UK, 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

10. And it’s teachers that make the difference The commodification of teachers has received widespread support:  From teacher unions (who understandably resist performance-related pay)  From politicians (who are happy that the focus is on teacher supply, rather than teacher quality) But has resulted in the pursuit of policies with poor benefit to cost To see how big the difference is, take a group of 50 teachers  Students taught by the best teacher learn twice as fast as average  Students taught by the worst teacher learn half as fast average And in the classrooms of the best teachers  Students with behavioural difficulties learn as much as those without  Students from disadvantaged backgrounds do as well as those from advantaged backgrounds

11. Teacher quality matters… Barber & Mourshed, 2007

12. How to make teachers better… Replace existing teachers with better ones  Important, but very slow, and of limited impact  Raising the bar for entry to teaching (5 percentage points in 30 years)  Teach First (at most 1% of teaching force) Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers  Not because they are not good enough, but because they can be better  (so ‘good enough’ is not good enough)  The “love the one you’re with” strategy  It can be done  Provided we focus rigorously on the things that matter to students  Even when they’re hard to do

13. 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 quality Teachers make a difference But what makes the difference in teachers?

14. Cost/effect comparisons InterventionExtra months of learning per year Cost/class- room/yr Class-size reduction (by 30%)4£20k Increase teacher content knowledge from weak to strong 2? Formative assessment/ Assessment for learning 8£2k

15. Pareto analysis Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923)  Economist, philosopher, etc., associated with the 80:20 rule Pareto improvement  A change that can make at least one person (e.g., a student) better off without making anyone else (e.g., a teacher) worse off. Pareto efficiency/Pareto optimality  An allocation (e.g., of resources) is Pareto efficient or Pareto optimal when there are no more Pareto improvements

16. Schools are rarely Pareto optimal Examples of Pareto improvements  Less time on marking to spend more time on planning questions to use in lessons  Increased use of peer assessment  Larger classes with reduced teacher contact time  Larger classes with increased teacher salaries Obstacles to Pareto improvements  The political economy of reform  In professional settings, it is incredibly hard to stop people doing valuable things in order to give them time to do even more valuable things  e.g., “Are you saying what I am doing is no good?”  e.g., “I care about my kids”.

17. How to make teachers better… Replace existing teachers with better ones  Important, but very slow, and of limited impact  Raising the bar for entry to teaching (5 percentage points in 30 years)  Teach First (at most 1% of teaching force) Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers  Not because they are not good enough, but because they can be better  (so ‘good enough’ is not good enough)  The “love the one you’re with” strategy  It can be done  Provided we focus rigorously on the things that matter to students  Even when they’re hard to do

18. The research evidence Several major reviews of the research  Natriello (1987)  Crooks (1988)  Kluger & DeNisi (1996)  Black & Wiliam (1998)  Nyquist (2003) All find consistent, substantial effects

19. The formative assessment hi-jack… Long-cycle  Span: across units, terms  Length: four weeks to one year  Impact: Student monitoring; curriculum alignment Medium-cycle  Span: within and between teaching units  Length: one to four weeks  Impact: Improved, student-involved, assessment; teacher cognition about learning Short-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

20. Unpacking formative assessment Key processes  Establishing where the learners are in their learning  Establishing where they are going  Working out how to get there Participants  Teachers  Peers  Learners

21. Aspects of formative assessment Where the learner is going Where the learner isHow to get there Teacher Clarify and share learning intentions Engineering effective discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Peer Understand and share learning intentions Activating students as learning resources for one another Learner Understand learning intentions Activating students as owners of their own learning

22. Five “key strategies”… Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions  curriculum philosophy Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning  classroom 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 learning  metacognition, motivation, interest, attribution, self-assessment (Wiliam & Thompson, 2007)

23. …and one big idea Use evidence about learning to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs

24. Keeping learning on track A good teacher  Establishes where the students are in their learning  Identifies the learning destination  Carefully plans a route  Begins the learning journey  Makes regular checks on progress on the way  Makes adjustments to the course as conditions dictate

25. Examples in evidence

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

27. Kinds of questions: Israel Which fraction is the smallest? Success rate 88% Which fraction is the largest? Success rate 46%; 39% chose (b) [Vinner, PME conference, Lahti, Finland, 1997]

28. Draw an upside-down triangle…

29. Misconceptions 3a = 24 a + b = 16

30. Molecular structure of water?

31. Providing feedback that moves learners forward

32. 264 low and high ability grade 6 students in 12 classes in 4 schools; analysis of 132 students at top and bottom of each class Same teaching, same aims, same teachers, same classwork Three kinds of feedback: scores, comments, scores+comments [Butler(1988) Br. J. Educ. Psychol., 58 1-14] Kinds of feedback: Israel AchievementAttitude Scores no gainHigh scorers: positive Low scorers: negative Comments30% gainHigh scorers : positive Low scorers : positive

33. [Butler(1988) Br. J. Educ. Psychol., 58 1-14] Responses What do you think happened for the students given both scores and comments? A.Gain: 30%; Attitude: all positive B.Gain: 30%; Attitude: high scorers positive, low scorers negative C.Gain: 0%; Attitude: all positive D.Gain: 0%; Attitude: high scorers positive, low scorers negative E.Something else AchievementAttitude Scores no gainHigh scorers : positive Low scorers: negative Comments30% gainHigh scorers : positive Low scorers : positive

34. [Butler (1987) J. Educ. Psychol. 79 474-482] Kinds of feedback: Israel (2) 200 grade 5 and 6 Israeli students Divergent thinking tasks 4 matched groups  experimental group 1 (EG1); comments  experimental group 2 (EG2); grades  experimental group 3 (EG3); praise  control group (CG); no feedback Achievement  EG1>(EG2≈EG3≈CG) Ego-involvement  (EG2≈EG3)>(EG1≈CG)

35. Effects of feedback Kluger & DeNisi (1996) review of 3000 research reports Excluding those:  without adequate controls  with poor design  with fewer than 10 participants  where performance was not measured  without details of effect sizes left 131 reports, 607 effect sizes, involving 12652 individuals On average, feedback increases achievement  Effect sizes highly variable  38% (50 out of 131) of effect sizes were negative

36. Feedback Formative assessment requires  data on the actual level of some measurable attribute;  data on the reference level of that attribute;  a mechanism for comparing the two levels and generating information about the ‘gap’ between the two levels;  a mechanism by which the information can be used to alter the gap. Feedback is therefore formative only if the information fed back is actually used in closing the gap.

37. Formative assessment Frequent feedback is not necessarily formative Feedback that causes improvement is not necessarily formative Assessment is formative only if the information fed back to the learner is used by the learner in making improvements To be formative, assessment must include a recipe for future action

38. How do students make sense of this? Attribution (Dweck, 2000)  Personalization (internal v external)  Permanence (stable v unstable)  Essential that students attribute both failures and success to internal, unstable causes. (It’s down to you, and you can do something about it.) Views of ‘ability’  Fixed (IQ)  Incremental (untapped potential)  Essential that teachers inculcate in their students a view that ‘ability’ is incremental rather than fixed (by working, you’re getting smarter)

39. Sharing learning intentions

40. [White & Frederiksen, Cognition & Instruction, 16(1), 1998]. Sharing criteria with learners 3 teachers each teaching 4 year 8 science classes in two US schools 14 week experiment 7 two-week projects, each scored 2-10 All teaching the same, except: For a part of each week  Two of each teacher’s classes discusses their likes and dislikes about the teaching (control)  The other two classes discusses how their work will be assessed

41. Sharing criteria with learners 7.47.26.7 6.65.94.6 Reflective assessment Likes and dislikes High Middle Low Group Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills

42. Activating students as learning resources for one another and as owners of their own learning

43. [Fontana & Fernandez, Br. J. Educ. Psychol. 64: 407-417] Self-assessment: Portugal Teachers studying for MA in Education  Group 1 do regular programme  Group 2 work on self-assessment for 2 terms (20 weeks)  Teachers matched in age, qualifications and experience using the same curriculum scheme for the same amount of time Pupils tested at beginning of year, and again after two terms  Group 1 pupils improve by 7.8 marks  Group 2 pupils improve by 15

44. Comments? Questions?

45. Practical techniques

46. 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)  class polls to review current attitudes towards an issue  ‘Hot Seat’ questioning All-student response systems  ABCD cards, Mini white-boards, Exit passes

47. Questioning in maths: discussion Look 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

48. Questioning in maths: diagnosis In which of these right-angled triangles is a 2 + b 2 = c 2 ? A a c b C b c a E c b a B a b c D b a c F c a b

49. Questioning in science: discussion Ice-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

50. 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 down D. gravity is holding it onto the table. E. there is a force inside the ball keeping it from rolling off the table

51. Save the ozone layer What 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

52. Questioning in English: discussion Macbeth: mad or bad?

53. Questioning in English: diagnosis Where is the verb in this sentence? The dog ran across the road ABCD

54. Questioning in English: diagnosis Which of these is the best thesis statement? A.The typical TV show has 9 violent incidents B.The essay I am going to write is about violence on TV C.There is a lot of violence on TV D.The amount of violence on TV should be reduced E.Some programs are more violent than others F.Violence is included in programs to boost ratings G.Violence on TV is interesting H.I don’t like the violence on TV

55. Questioning in history: discussion In which year did World War II begin? A.1919 B.1938 C.1939 D.1940 E.1941

56. Questioning in history: diagnosis Why are historians concerned with bias when analyzing sources? A.People can never be trusted to tell the truth B.People deliberately leave out important details C.People are only able to provide meaningful information if they experienced an event firsthand D.People interpret the same event in different ways, according to their experience E.People are unaware of the motivations for their actions F.People get confused about sequences of events

57. Questioning in MFL: discussion Is the verb “être” regular in French?

58. Questioning in MFL: diagnosis Which 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.

59. Hinge Questions A 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

60. Quick test: Figurative language A.Alliteration B.Hyperbole C.Irony D.Metaphor E.Onomatopoeia F.Personification G.Simile H.None of the above 1.He was like a bull in a china shop. 2.This backpack weighs a ton. 3.The sweetly smiling sunshine… 4.He honked his horn at the cyclist. 5.“They in the sea being burnt, they in the burnt ship drown’d.” 6.He was as tall as a house.

61. Class test: Lines of symmetry A B C D E F

62. Class test: SI units A.Joule B.Kilogram C.Newton D.Pascal E.Watt 1.Energy 2.Force 3.Mass 4.Pressure 5.Weight 6.Work

63. Practical techniques: feedback Key idea: feedback should  cause thinking  provide guidance on how to improve Comment-only grading Focused grading Explicit reference to rubrics Suggestions on how to improve  Not giving complete solutions Re-timing assessment  (eg three-quarters-of-the-way-through-a-unit test)

64. Practical techniques: sharing learning intentions Explaining 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

65. Students owning their learning and as learning resources Students assessing their own/peers’ work  with rubrics  with exemplars  “two stars and a wish” Training students to pose questions/identifying group weaknesses Self-assessment of understanding  Traffic lights  Red/green discs End-of-lesson students’ review

66. Putting it into practice

67. Looking at the wrong knowledge… The most powerful teacher knowledge is not explicit  That’s why telling teachers what to do doesn’t work  What we know is more than we can say  And that is why most professional development has been relatively ineffective Improving practice involves changing habits, not adding knowledge  That’s why it’s hard  And the hardest bit is not getting new ideas into people’s heads  It’s getting the old one’s out  That’s why it takes time But it doesn’t happen naturally  If it did, the most experienced teachers would be the best, and we know that’s not so (Hanushek, 2005)

68. A model for teacher learning Content, then process Content (what we want teachers to change)  Evidence  Ideas (strategies and techniques) Process (how to go about change)  Choice  Flexibility  Small steps  Accountability  Support

69. Sustaining formative assessment with teacher learning communities

70. Teacher learning communities Plan that the TLC will run for two years Identify 10 to 12 interested colleagues  Composition  Similar assignments (e.g. early years, math/sci)  Mixed-subject/mixed-phase  Hybrid (at least two teachers for each specialism) 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

71. Signature pedagogies

72. In Law

73. In Medicine

74. A “signature pedagogy” for teacher learning? Every monthly TLC meeting should follows the same structure and sequence of activities Activity 1: Introduction & Housekeeping (5 minutes) Activity 2: Starter (5 minutes) Activity 3: How’s It Going (25-45 minutes) Activity 4: New Learning about formative assessment (20-45 minutes) Activity 5: Personal Action Planning (15 minutes) Activity 6: Summary of Learning (5 minutes)

75. A ‘signature pedagogy’ for teacher learning Every monthly TLC meeting should follows the same structure and sequence of activities Activity 1: Introduction (5 minutes) Activity 2: Starter activity (5 minutes) Activity 3: Feedback (25-50 minutes) Activity 4: New learning about formative assessment (20-40 minutes) Activity 5: Personal action planning (15 minutes) Activity 6: Review of learning (5 minutes)

76. Every TLC needs a leader The job of the TLC leader(s)  To remind participants about the next meeting  To book a room for the meeting  To ensure that all necessary resources (including refreshments!) are available at meetings  To ensure that the agenda is followed  To maintain a collegial and supportive environment But most important of all…  not to be the formative assessment “expert”

77. Peer observation Run to the agenda of the observed, not the observer  Observed teacher specifies focus of observation  e.g., teacher wants to increase wait-time  Observed teacher specifies what counts as evidence  provides observer with a stop-watch to log wait-times  Observed teacher owns any notes made during the observation

78. So what do we need? What is needed from teachers  A commitment to:  the continuous improvement of practice  focus on those things that make a difference to student outcomes What is needed from leaders  A commitment to:  creating expectations for the continuous improvement of practice  ensuring that the the focus stays on those things that make a difference to student outcomes  providing the time, space, dispensation and support for innovation  supporting risk-taking

79. The synergy Content: formative assessment Process: teacher learning communities Components of a model  Initial workshops  Monthly TLC meetings  Peer observations  ‘Drip-feed’ resources  Writings  New ideas

80. Summary Raising achievement is important Raising achievement requires improving teacher quality Improving teacher quality requires teacher professional development To be effective, teacher professional development must address  What teachers do in the classroom  How teachers change what they do in the classroom Formative assessment + Teacher learning communities  A point of (uniquely?) high leverage  A “Trojan Horse” into wider issues of pedagogy, psychology, and curriculum

81. Comments? Questions?

82. Force-field analysis (Lewin, 1954) What are the forces that will support or drive the adoption of formative assessment practices in your school? What are the forces that will constrain or prevent the adoption of formative assessment practices in your school? + —