High-Impact Instructional Strategies To Use Right Now

Engagement versus effectiveness.

This is a conversation I have been having with educators and leaders all over the country for a while now. Just because we see students engaged in learning might not mean actual effective learning is taking place. When we throw technology into the mix it can appear that students are learning a great deal because they are creating a podcast or making a video or using some game to review for a quiz but are these instructional methods actually effective?

What are high-impact, effective instructional strategies?

More importantly, what does the research say?

In the book Visible Learning author and education researcher John Hattie explains the methodology behind his meta-meta studies of over 250 different types of factors that impact student achievement and learning. Everything from class size to poverty to summer vacation to various instructional methods are examined at a very large scale to determine how they impact how students learn and grow. These are then ranked according to their Effect Size.

Effect Size is a useful number to use when comparing different measurements from different studies. Hattie concludes that an effect size of 0.40 is the "hinge point" or where anything above can accelerate student achievement and be quite effective and anything below isn't as effective.

Using these effect sizes as a guide we can find the most high-impact instructional strategies that are research proven to work and help students grow. Below are the six I believe to be the most impactful and easiest to implement. Some you may already be doing (like Problem-Based Learning) or others you may not have ever thought about that could be substantial for student growth (like micro-teaching).

Collective Teacher Efficacy-Effect Size: 1.57-With the highest return on student growth, collective teacher efficacy is one of the easiest to implement. This is the collective believe, by all educators in a school, that students can achieve, despite any external factors and they will stop at nothing to make it happen. In an environment where Collective Teacher Efficacy is in place everyone from all teachers, to leadership create a culture where there is that strong belief all students, no matter their ability can grow and learn. Keep in mind, this does not mean every student will be proficient on some meaningless year-long summative assessment because for most students that will not be the best measure of what they know. It means that the entire staff will work tirelessly to ensure all students can and will do their best.

Micro-Teaching/Reflection-Effect Size: 0.88-This involves teachers teaching smaller lessons that are recorded and viewed later as part of a PLC or other team meeting. For many educators critiquing themselves on video will be challenge enough. That coupled with the reflection with peers will be even tougher. However, the benefits has been research shown time and time again. Educators who reflect on their teaching, both as an individual and with peers improve over the long-haul. And that is key. This simply isn't a one time event. It is a part of continuous practice. The technical aspects aren't as important as the collective reflection with other educators after. Viewing the recordings as an individual and as a group has shown drastic improvements in student learning.

Classroom Discussion-Effect Size 0.82-Classroom discussion isn't the teacher standing in the front of the room asking a bunch of questions and students giving one or two word answers. The teacher starts by giving a guiding question and student stake over from there. Ultimately, students are driving the discussion through their conversation, articulating what they know, how they know it and what questions still remain. It is an opportunity to learn with and from peers in a safe and inviting environment. Research shows that the more often classroom discussion is used in on-going learning, the more students retain and grow.

Formative Assessment-Effect Size: 0.72-Understanding where students are in their learning is crucial for educators to understand the effectiveness of their teaching and for students to be able to articulate what they know, but more importantly, how they know what they know. The use of formative assessment has 2 components. First, it tells the student where they are in their understanding. It's short and quick questions that are asked during a lesson that give students an opportunity to gage their own understanding. Second, and perhaps more importantly, for the teacher formative assessment gives valuable feedback during the course of a lesson or learning. Changes can be made to adapt to where students are in their learning. Why wait until the chapter or unit test when you can make changes in the moment? Formative assessments aren't graded and they are done consistently, during every class and lesson.

Feedback-Effect Size: 0.70-Closely related to formative assessment, feedback is the process of the teacher and the student talking about their learning and understanding. The most powerful feedback is given from the student to the teacher. Feedback can come in many forms and research shows us the most powerful is direct, 1-on-1 conversation. The teacher and the student sit down to talk about a part of their learning, and overall assessment of their understanding but more importantly the student gives feedback to the teacher on their own progress and the techniques used by the teacher. It may seem like a challenge to meet with every student for a meaningful conversation, especially when classes and teaching loads are getting larger. However, a consistent 5-7 min conversation once a week can help students and the teacher tremendously.

Problem-Based Learning-Effect Size: 0.68-Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is the instructional process by which students are given a real-world, authentic based problem with no clear answer. Students work individually or in groups to research and propose solutions that are shared locally and globally. In order for this type of instruction to be effective, students must be working towards solutions to authentic problems. Students have to be a part of the "problem shaping" conversation. And there has to be an understanding that there may not be one type of solution. Rather there are many different types of approaches and solutions to the same problem. We want students to embrace the struggle. Solutions should be shared with a global audience either through a blog, video or presenting their results to their community.

There are many more instructional strategies that Hattie has identified that can have a large impact on not only our ability to be more effective educators but also on our ability for students to learn and grow more. Learn more about Effect Size and the impact this research can have on your classroom and school.

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Research Isn't Sexy...But You Need It Anyway

For some time now Shaelynn Farnsworth and I have been reflecting on our own learning and professional development practices, looking for gaps in instruction and aiming to improve our craft. One of our longest conversations has been around research. In the work we do, we are constantly reading and attempting to understand the research behind the popular instructional movements of today. What we find is that much of the educational research available today isn’t used, isn’t cited, and really isn’t sexy.

Take literacy instruction.

While trying to capture the success in student achievement scores in literacy from the research and studies done in the 1980s to the early 2000s the RTI (Response To Intervention) process and framework were created (Vellutino et al.). RTI was developed to help schools replicate the gains witnessed in this research. Today, RTI has morphed into MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support) but very few districts have seen the increased in student-achievement that was initially experienced.

What happened?

While the RTI framework was adopted and utilized throughout the nation, the actual reading strategies and interventions used to achieve this growth were left behind. Implementing only half of the research (RTI Framework) while substituting different interventions and reading strategies have produced only limited results, leaving many administrators, teachers, and students frustrated. We know what works in literacy, and there is research behind it (most reading research is in the Psychology field) but still fail to dig into it, much less use it. (Kilpatrick)

Education research is vast. It spans across disciplines, instruction, leadership, and many other components that contribute to a school. The problem has become that research has been co-opted by publishers, organizations and individuals to sell one-size-fits-all quick fixes, programs and books. Many will ignore the fundamental findings of the research and insert their own ideas and practices that help these packages fly off the shelf.

With the abundance of research available, why do very few practitioners use it? What barriers exist that slow the transfer into the classroom? And what can be done to support administrators and practitioners in their quest of research-based methods?

We believe that there are 5 main barriers that exist which impacts how or if educators use research. While there could certainly be more added to this list, we feel these were the top 5 problem areas.

• Access and Abundance: Digging deep into research is typically done during college. Free access to databases, extensive libraries, experts for days. But upon graduation access is limited and met with the dreaded paywalls when locating many peer-reviewed articles, journals, and research. On top of limited access, the abundance of research out there is overwhelming. A simple search on Google Scholar with the keywords “Struggling Readers” lists 500,000 results. It is no wonder educators do not know where to begin when sifting through the research.
• Lack of Research in PD: There is no doubt the access to professional development is more abundant now than ever before. But that comes at a risk for individual educators and district leadership. We want to provide and participate in high-quality learning, however, much isn’t grounded in any realistic or research-based practices but instead they are the ideas that someone read about or heard about or tweeted about. Anyone today can learn about innovation, makerspaces, augmented reality, really any instructional practice, create a slide deck and share it with the world. Instructional practices that impact student learning are based in more than tweets and blog posts. As learners and leaders we have to model and understand where these ideas are coming from and that are they based in sound research. 
• Time, Or The Lack Of: Time is a commonly mentioned barrier for educators. From new initiatives, faculty meetings, lesson planning, and connecting with students; time to do everything well is a deterrent for many educators when it comes to research. 
• Research is Written For Researchers: Most research is written for other researchers, not necessarily the practitioners in the field. With this in mind, it is no wonder that many educators find it inaccessible because of the jargon used by a specific group of professionals. This jargon is filled with technical terminology that is understood at both a literal and figurative level by the group but leave the rest of us guessing. (Education Jargon Generator) 
• Distrust and Disconnect Between Theory and Practice: First, disconnect. There often times is a gap between theory and reality when reading research done by professionals in the same discipline but with little to no educational background. Ideas, studies, and strategies are examined with a skeptical lens and doubt is raised when research seems isolated or without consideration of the whole child or educator demands. What many educators do not realize is the disconnect within education research itself. With no agreed upon definition of research-based, no common training methods for preservice educators, and both qualitative and quantitative inquiries producing complementary but still fragmented results, the disconnect, cognitive bias, and skepticism of authority is not only confusing, but creates a sense of distrust among the education community. Educators are more apt to believe other teachers implementing a program or using a specific framework over the years of research with statistics and data.  (D.W. Miller) 

Items To Consider

• Comparing Sources: One source isn’t gospel. Do your homework. Be open to opposing ideas. Don’t be married to an idea because you agree. If the research isn’t there, it’s not there. Be a critical discerner of information and ask lots of questions when you participate in professional development or are in a presentation. Ask where the research is and investigate yourself. Can you draw the same conclusions? Compile a list, according to your discipline, of leading theorists in the field to cross-check what you hear and read.
• Research-Based Is A Convoluted Term: When designing activities that include techniques or strategies that have been research-proven, you can then call it “researched-based”. Since there are varying degrees of improvement (statistically significant yes, but how much) and are there approaches that work better and have a higher effect size, it is important have a basic understanding of the research. If there isn’t any then that doesn’t mean you can’t use it. It just means you have to be more skeptical of the results, long term. 
• Be A Researcher: No, this doesn’t mean you need to know about standard deviations or methodologies. What it means is be a student of your students. Gather data and examine what’s happening with student learning. What does the data show? Are the practices you are using improving student understanding? Are the results what you expected? What went wrong (or right!)? Be a reflective educator. 
• Always Remember To Keep Students First: Even research can get it wrong. You know your students. Always do what is best for them, even when that means going against what others say. 

Resource/Reading List:
The Black Hole of Education Research-D.W. Miller
Why Don’t Teachers Use Education Research In Teaching?
Research Proves...Very Little
Using Research and Reason In Education
Free Education Research Databases-CSULB
Unpaywall 
Digital Promise Research Map

Oh Those Pretty Pictures....

In today's age of instant access to content students can get their hands on vitually any image they want or need. Of course, as responsible users of the web, we teach our students that they need to properly obtain images for projects or reports. And sometimes finding images that students can use copyright free can be an ordeal. There has to be resources out there. Guess what? There is. Laura Milligan at VirtualHosting has created a list of the 100 best stock image sites for use in the classroom. Stock images are those that anyone can use, copyright free, which means you can use it in, pretty much anyway you want. (Although it is still a good idea to stick to educational use and cite the source.) Below are a few of my favorites.

FreeFoto-FreeFoto claims to be “the largest collection of free photographs on the Internet.” They’re available for offline projects as well, as long as you’re not using them to make a profit.

Cepolina-On Cepolina, you can choose to save photos in up to five different formats.

Studio 25- This attractive site lets you upload and search images.

The NOAA Library- Breathtaking science and nature shots are available at this site. Don’t forget to check out the “Meet the Photographers” page which includes short bios and descriptions of the featured photogs.

Liam's Pictures From Old Books- Discover hard-to-find illustrations from old books, “most with multiple high-resolution versions.”

Insect Images- Find all kinds of photos of creepy crawlers here.

Microshots- This site specializes in microscopic images.

Remember, this short list is just that, a short list. There are 93 more sites to explore. So head over there, find some images and create something awesome!

100 Sources For Free Stock Images

Beyond The Bubble: Technology And The Future Of Student Assessment

As educators we understand how important life long learning is. For that reason, today I step away from websites and talk a little about research. There is a lot of great research out there on how technology is used in the classroom and how it has the possibility of boosting student achievement and eliminating student behavior issues. Now there is a really good report out about how the way students are assessed needs to change to keep pace with our changing classrooms.

Education Sector is an independent, nonpartisan thinktank that aims to challenge the conventional thinking of education. From their website;

"We are committed to achieving measurable impact in education policy, both by improving existing reform initiatives and by developing new, innovative solutions to our nation's most pressing education problems. The ultimate beneficiaries of our work are students. Our mission is to promote changes in policy and practice that lead to improved student opportunities and outcomes."

In February the COO, Bill Tucker, published a report entitled Beyond The Bubble: Technology and The Future of Student Assessment where he outlines where testing is currently and where it needs to go and how technology can be used to better understand what our students are learning, and, more importantly, how our students are learning. It is a facinating report and a very easy read.

While you are checking out the report, take a look at some of the other research they have on their site. There are several topics from all aspects of the education arena.

Beyond The Bubble Report

Education Sector Thinktank