Embedded Files
April 2021
April 2021
They've Learned It (or Not): What Next?
They've Learned It (or Not): What Next?
by Dr. Jeremy Sullivan
A standard question for any teacher in a job interview goes something like this: “You have just given an assessment to your class, and your data shows that 50% of the students did not master the content. How do you respond?” This is the perfect time to bust out some education buzz words like differentiation, remediation, individualization, and lots of other “-tions”; however, what does all of that actually mean when put into action? We could rephrase that final question using the last two critical questions in the PLC model: what do we do if students haven’t learned, and what do we do if students already know it?
A quick Google search will return more differentiation strategy ideas than one could read in a lifetime, but as one internet celebrity famously said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Below are four simple strategies teachers can utilize when working with students who are struggling with mastery:
Clarify the task: As Brene Brown wrote in Dare to Lead, “Clear is kind - unclear is unkind” (2018). Engage the students in a conversation so that they can explain what is expected of them with a task. This gives you a chance to anticipate any struggles and provide any needed clarification.
Think Out Loud: When we encourage students to slow down and verbalize their thinking, they must critically consider exactly how their brain is sorting the information. This increases the likelihood of them hearing their own errors or gaps.
Break It Down: Just as educators naturally chunk information when designing learning for the class, we must go further in the chunking when designing interventions. The more targeted the intervention can be, the greater likelihood the gaps will be closed in a lasting way.
Make a Plan: By teaching students how they learn best, we can equip them with the tools to become more invested in their own mastery journey. The longer the journey, the more important it is for students to take part in drafting a plan that sets them up for success.
Just as interventions must be individualized to each student, enrichment should also be designed with each learner in mind. Powerful enrichment should be driven by student choice to foster intrinsic motivation and should help them make cross-curricular, real-world connections. Below are four simple strategies teachers can use with students who have demonstrated mastery and need to be challenged:
Keep It Open: Inquiry can be a powerful motivator. By keeping activities open-ended and self-directed, we can give students the reigns of where their learning can take them. This allows them to determine the depth and breadth of the knowledge they are seeking.
Make a Contract: Study contracts establish the parameters for how students who have already demonstrated mastery will continue to move through the required content and be given time to go deeper into their individual learning. Remember, clear is kind!
Know from the Start: By utilizing a pre-assessment, teachers can know from the start whether the students need instruction or whether mastery already exists. If the data shows mastery exists for some, those students need not engage with the content the same way as their peers who haven’t reached mastery.
Tiered Learning: By utilizing tiered assignments and rubrics, teachers can ensure each student is being pushed to reach his/her/their maximum potential. The one-size-fits-all assignment approach doesn’t work in a classroom with different levels of mastery.
Remember that looking at the data from an assessment is so much more than just counting the red squares and the green squares.The actions that are taken after the data is collected and analyzed are the steps that will truly lead to student growth.
Brown, B. (2018). Dare to Lead. Vermilion.
Pekel, K. (2016). The REACH Strategies Guidebook. Search Institute.
Taylor, W. (2019). Enrichment in the classroom. Learning Essentials. Retrieved from https://learning essentialsedu.com/enrichment-in-the-classroom/#:~:text=Enrichment%20encourages%20students %20to% 20take,facet%20of%20the%20real%20world.
March 2021
March 2021
Monitoring Matters
Monitoring Matters
by Dr. Angela Boyer and Sarah Logan
Proper maintenance of your vehicle is likely important to you. Finding yourself stranded on the side of the road or in your school parking lot on a Friday afternoon does not sound enjoyable, does it? Think of all the ways you proactively guard against car troubles--having a sticker on your windshield that reminds you when to get the oil changed, keeping an eye on the tire pressure, or noticing dashboard symbols which alert you to an issue. These measures help you reach the goal of having safe and reliable transportation.
In many ways, monitoring student progress is similar to routine car maintenance. Like changing the oil every so many miles, there are regular time periods for checking progress towards a long-term learning goal. Depending on the complexity of that goal, it can be helpful to have short-term checkpoints along the way. Similarly, just like you regularly fill up the gas tank to keep your car running, it’s essential that the ways you monitor student progress keep them moving forward too. Maintenance of student learning should be on our on-going radar!
Marzano (2010) suggests involving students in monitoring their growth towards learning goals and using a visual representation to do so. In one study, student achievement was 32% higher when students charted their growth when compared to a group of students who were taught the same content but did not track their growth. Some tips to consider when inviting students to partner in growth monitoring include:
Address a single goal in all the assessments: this provides clarity of how students are truly progressing over time.
Use rubrics instead of points: this provides specificity that supports students in identifying precise learning targets.
Use different types of assessments: asking students to represent their understanding in multiple ways paints a clear picture of their learning.
In a similar lane, teacher clarity, which has a 0.75 effect size according to Dr. John Hattie, and intentionality in goal setting can provide a needed mix of success and challenge for students. “When teachers explain the connections between learning goals, learning activities, and assessment tasks, then students can use learning goals to monitor and progress their thinking” (Hattie, 2009, as cited in Gassenheim, 2019). Furthermore, the teacher should provide realistic but challenging goals with opportunities for students to gauge their progress towards their goal. Almarode and Vandas (2018) suggest using GPS, which stands for Gauging the Progress of Students, in their recent book on clarity for learning. Using GPS includes 3 questions with students to move toward clarity:
What am I learning? (learning intentions/targets)
Why am I learning it? (clarity and motivation)
How will I know I have learned it? (success criteria)
A combination of the tips above, a focus on teacher clarity, and utilization of the GPS method might just be the ticket to impactful progress monitoring that leads to student growth.
Almarode, J., & Vandas, K. L. (2018). Clarity for learning: Five essential practices that empower students and teachers. Corwin.
Gassenheimer, C. (2019). Hattie Says Teacher Clarity is One of the Top Learning Interventions. Here’s How it Works. Alabama Best Practices Center. Retrieved from
Marzano, R. J. (2010). The art and science of teaching/When students track their progress. Education Leadership, 67(4). 86-87.
February 2021
February 2021
Seeking Student Impact for Teacher Growth
Seeking Student Impact for Teacher Growth
by Alicia Moore
How do you know that you’re a good teacher?
Student work samples, high-stakes test scores, and administrator feedback all serve as key measures of our success. What resonates most deeply with teachers, though, is probably the feedback we get from our students. If we can combine the more objective measures of our success--that is, student progress toward learning goals--with our students’ perspectives, we’re sure to accelerate our own growth.
John Hattie’s extensive research has led him to set forth 10 mindsets that can cause teachers to create deep learning (Hattie & Zierer, 2018). The first two mindsets underscore the importance of seeking student feedback:
I am an evaluator of my impact on student learning.
I see assessment as informing my impact and next steps.
With each formative or summative assessment, teachers have a chance to see not only how well their students have mastered the learning goal but also how well they, as teachers, have mastered the art of instruction. Looking at test results alone, though, tells only part of the story. What teachers really need to know is this: which instructional strategies, activities, and decisions caused student learning?
So, why not ask students? Teachers can invite student input in a variety of ways. Here are a few options:
Class discussions: Teachers can model a growth mindset by sharing overall class performance on a test and then asking for feedback. Simple questions such as, “What helped you to do well on this test/project?” or “If you struggled, what could I have done to help you more?” can empower students to open up about their learning needs.
Surveys: Asking students to complete a Google form or paper-and-pencil survey can provide great insight into what’s working for their learning. For some ideas, check out this survey and these questions. How might you modify them to match your needs?
Add-on questions: Rather than setting aside separate time to complete surveys or engage in discussions, some teachers include one or two reflective questions with end-of-unit tests or projects.
As you reflect on your own progress as an excellent teacher, remember that your students often hold the insights you need most.
Hattie, J., and Zierer, K. (2018). 10 mindframes for visible learning: teaching for success. Routledge.
January 2021
January 2021
Making Assessments Relevant
Making Assessments Relevant
by Dr. Jeremy Sullivan
Engaging. Relevant. Personal. I doubt these words are new to any reader considering they form the foundation of our district’s mission statement. When considering the role summative assessments play in honoring this mission, the word “relevant” really rises to the surface. As a district, we define relevant in relation to our mission as “Learning experiences that challenge all students to exhibit the ability to solve real-world problems for authentic audiences and connect learning to their own life or to the world around them.” Note that this definition is two-fold:
Students demonstrate the ability to solve real-world problems for authentic audiences.
Students connect their learning to their own life or to society at large.
Whether asking students to use WeVideo to create public service announcements or news broadcasts, FlipGrid to facilitate an asynchronous video debate, or the design cycle to create a solution to a local issue, teachers have a multitude of options for building summative assessments that move beyond the multiple choice test and innovatively make the demonstration of learning relevant to the world beyond the classroom walls. When considering how you might create authentic performance tasks for students, you might find the GRASPS method, outlined to the left, by Wiggins and McTighe (2005) beneficial.
So, how might you harness the power of authentic assessments as a means for students to demonstrate standard mastery? As you ponder the question above, feel free to explore the resources below:
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Print.
December 2020
December 2020
Making Assessments Common and Formative
Making Assessments Common and Formative
by Dr. Josh Holt and Myki Williamson
Our goal as educators is to ensure that all students learn at high levels.This requires us to consistently reflect on these essential questions of PLCs:
What is it we want our students to know?
How will we know if our students are learning?
How will we respond when students do not learn?
How will we enrich and extend the learning for students who are proficient?
As we consider these essential questions, it is vital we don’t stop after establishing learning goals. The next step asks us to come to consensus on how to best measure students' learning through common formative assessment. Common formative assessments are developed within and by the PLC team to meet the unique needs of their own students. Take a look below as we break down what Common Formative Assessments are and are not:
Common= Given by all teachers at a grade level or in a content area
Formative= Provides data to inform planning and instruction
Assessment= Provides analytical rather than evaluative information (Cook & Negron, 2009).
So, what can common formative assessments look like? Here are a few options:
Exit Ticket: write 1-2 questions and have students in all classes respond as closure for a lesson
Canvas Quiz: Build and share a brief Canvas quiz. (Bonus: If it’s multiple choice, it will self-grade!)
Video Footage: Ask students to film themselves demonstrating a skill and use a shared rubric to evaluate their performance.
Students benefit not only from the just-in-time check for understanding, but also from the impact common formative assessments have on future instruction. DuFour and DuFour (2012) explain that another big idea of a PLC is that “Team members explore questions such as, ‘Who among us is getting excellent results teaching this skill? How can we learn from one another? What is the area in which our students are having the most difficulty?’”
These questions require teams to use evidence of student work and have an agreed upon level of success before examining the student work. In other words, teams can accurately answer the questions above only when they start with a common formative assessment.
What next steps might your PLC need to take to develop common formative assessments?
Cook, J. & Negron, M. (2009). Overview of Common Formative Assessments [PowerPoint slides]. SlideShare. https://slideplayer.com/slide/9482703/
Defour, R. & Defour, R. (2012). The School Leader’s Guide to Professional Learning Communities at Work. Solution Tree Press.
November 2020
November 2020
Putting the Standards into Practice
Putting the Standards into Practice
by Dr. Angela Boyer
In classrooms across the nation, standards have a history of playing a role in setting measurable goals, informing instruction, and measuring achievement. But it is no secret that changes in the standards have created continuous learning for educators over the years. Educators continue to engage in understanding and utilizing the latest version of the standards to increase knowledge around the learning outcomes for their grade level or course. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE, 2020) states, “Learning outcomes improve when students, parents and teachers work together toward shared goals.”
So what does this mean for educators trying to focus on understanding and utilizing the standards in instructional decisions? Here are a few action steps for educators as they dive further into the standards:
Engage in instructional conversations about the standards with colleagues
Unpack the standard and consider modes for engaging students in the learning
Post the standard of focus in the classroom environment
Doug Reeves suggests educators and leaders might consider standards from the lens of priority or power standards with these criteria:
Endurance- does the standard provide students with knowledge and skills that will be of value beyond a single test?
Leverage- will the standard provide knowledge and skills that are applicable across a wide spectrum of other disciplines?
Readiness- will the standard provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful at the next level of learning? (Lezotte & Snyder, 2011).
As standards continue to be revised, prioritized, or expanded to include additional resources, it is critical for educators to engage in on-going learning around the standards. Further understanding of how the standards align with district curriculum and their role in the work of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) will continue to be a critical component for ensuring effective instruction.
Lezotte, L. and Snyder, K. M. (2011) What effective schools do. Solution Tree Press.
Missouri Learning Standards (2020, November 16) Missouri department of elementary and secondary education https://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/curriculum/missouri-learning-standard
October 2020
October 2020
Breaking Down Barriers to Classroom Collaboration
Breaking Down Barriers to Classroom Collaboration
by Alicia Moore
Adults aren’t the only ones who are #bettertogether--students are, too! In addition to the engagement and energy that is apparent in any collaborative classroom, we can also point to thousands of research studies that confirm the link between student achievement and collaboration. John Hattie’s 2018 list of factors that impact student learning includes several collaborative strategies that are proven to get more than a year’s worth of learning in a single school year. Strategies such as the Jigsaw method, classroom discussion, cooperative learning, and reciprocal teaching build students’ academic skills and also equip them with social skills that will serve them well throughout life.
Like everything else, though, student collaboration feels a little more challenging in 2020. Armed with a little adaptability and creativity, though, it’s no challenge that educators can’t overcome. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:
The Barrier: Keeping Students Physically Distanced
The Solutions:
Since students may not be able to sit in quads at tables or desks for now, you might consider assigning partners instead. Whether they’re seated across an aisle or at the ends of a table, students will benefit from processing their learning through structures such as Timed Pair Share and Rally Robin (Kagan, 2017).
Have students pair up with other classmates by standing on matching garage sale dots that you’ve strategically placed around your room. This gets students the movement and socialization they need while keeping them safely spaced around your room.
The Barrier: Virtual Learning
The Solutions:
Zoom breakout rooms can keep your Wednesdays interactive and engaging. While it’s not advisable to place kids unattended in breakout rooms for long stretches of time, giving them a prompt and just 1-2 minutes to share with a partner can break up the monotony of being a passive listener and observer.
Canvas discussion boards give students a chance to process their learning in the moment, and asking students to come back later to respond to classmates’ posts can keep them connected to new ideas (and each other).
As you look for ways to make your class more collaborative and engaging, remember that your learning specialist would happily serve as a thought partner. The instructional choices we make can reduce isolation, promote learning, and motivate kids to engage--and that’s because we’re all better together.
Kagan, S. & Kagan, M. (2017) Kagan Cooperative Learning. Kagan Publishing.
September 2020
September 2020
The 3 Cs of Virtual Directions
The 3 Cs of Virtual Directions
by Dr. Jeremy Sullivan
The human brain is wired to seek shortcuts to information processing because each second, 11 million bits of information are being condensed down to 50 bits by the conscious mind (Markowsky, 2017). This phenomena could explain why a study by Weinreich, Obendorf, Herder, and Mayer (2008) determined people only actually read 20-28% of text on webpages. Considering much of your learning environment is currently virtual, this data should inform how we present instructions to students. In an effort to ensure as much of the brain is freed up to deal with content, we must present our directions in the most brain-friendly way possible. I’m calling these the 3 Cs of virtual instructions:
Concise- When it comes to virtual written directions, less is more. Keep it short so skimming isn’t even an option.
Clear- The more obvious you can make the steps needed to complete a task the better. Numbered lists work much better than paragraphs with steps hidden within body.
Consistent- Just like you develop routines within the classroom to help things flow, you want students to find the virtual routines for your class. You can achieve this by being consistent in how, where, and when directions are given.
With school looking so differently this year, we have to make adjustments to ensure we are getting the biggest bang for our buck. By simplifying our virtual directions, we can free up students’ brain space for the meaningful learning you are designing each and every day.
Markowsky, G. (2017, June 16). Information theory. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/information-theory
Weinreich, H., Obendorf, H., Herder, E., and Mayer, M. (2008, February). Not quite the average:An empirical study of Web use. ACM Trans. Retrieved from https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1326561.1326566
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