7 practice for effective learning

8/14/2019 7 Practice for Effective Learning

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Seven Practices forEffectiveLeaming Teachers in all conteareas can use theseseven assessmentand grading practicto enhance learningand teaching.Jay McTigheand Ken O'Connor


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C lassroom assessment and grading practices havethe potential not only to measure and reportleaming but also to promote it. Indeed, recentresearch has doc ume nted the benefits of regularuse of diagnostic and formative assessments asfeedback for leaming (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, &Wiliam, 2004), Like successful athletic coaches, the bestteachers recognize the importance ofongoing assessments and continual adjust-ments on the part of both teaeher andstudent as the means to achieve maximumperformance. Unlike the extemal stan-dardized tests that feature so prominentlyon the school landscape these days, well-designed classroom assessment andgrading practices can provide the kind ofspecific, personalized, and timely informa-tion needed to guide both learning and teaching.

Classroom assessments fall into three categories, eachserving a different purpose, Summative assessments summa-rize what stud ents have learned at tbe conclusion of aninstmctional segment. These assessments tend to be evalua-tive, and teachers typically encapsulate and report assessmentresults as a score or a grade. Familiar examples of summative

Teachers shouldset up authen ticcontexts forassessment.

assessments include tests, perfomiance tasks, final exams,culminating projects, and work portfolios. Evaluative assess-ments command the attention of students and parentsbecause tbeir results typically "count" and appear on reportcards and transcripts. But by tbemselves, summ ative assess-ments are insufficient tools for maximizing leaming. Waitinguntil the end of a teacbing period to find out how wellstudents have learned is simply too late.

Two otber classroom assessment cate-goriesdiagnostic and formative-^provide fuel for tbe teacbing and leamingengine by offering descriptive feedbackalong the way. Diagnostic assessmentssometimes known as pre-assessmcntstypically precede instruction, Teacbers usetbem to cbeck students' prior knowledgeand skill levels, identify student miscon-

ceptions, profile leamers' mterests, and reveal learning-stylepreferences. Diagnostic assessments provide information toassist teacher planning and g uide differentiated instnjction.Examples of diagnostic assessments include prior knowledgeand skill cbeeks and interest or learning preference surveys.Because pre-assessments serve diagnostic purposes, teacbersnormally don't grade the results.


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Formative assessmentsoccur concurrently withinstruction. Tbese ongoingassessments provide specificfeedback to teachers andstudents for the purpose ofguiding teaching to improvelearning. Eonnative assess-ments include botb formaland informal metbods, sucbas ungraded quizzes, oraiquestioning, teacher observa-tions, draft work, think-alouds, student-constructedconcept maps, leaming logs,and portfolio reviews.Although teacbers may recordtbe results of formativeassessments, we shouldn'tfactor these results intosummative evaluation andgrading.

Keeping tbese tbree cate-gories of classroom assess-ment in mind, let us considerseven specific assessment and gradingpractices that can enbance teacbing andleaming.Practice 1: Use sum m ativeassessments to framemeaningful performance goals.On the first day of a three-week unit onnutrition, a middle school teacherdescribes to students the two summativeassessments that she will use. One assess-ment is a multiple-choice test examiningstudent knowledge oj vanous nutritionfacts and such basic skills as analyzingnutrition labels. The second assessment isan authentic performance task in whicheach student designs a menu plan for anupcoming two-day trip to an outdooreducation facility. The menu plan mustprovide well-balanced and nutritiousmeals and snacks.

Tbe current empbasis on establisbedcontent standards bas focused teacbingon designated knowledge and skills. Toavoid tbe danger of \'iewing tbe stan-dards and bencbmarks as inert contentto "cover," educators sbould frame tbe

standards and bencbm arks in terms ofdesired performances and ensure thattbe performances are as autbentic aspossible, Teacbers sbould tben presentthe summative performance assessmenttasks to students at tbe beginning of anew unit or course,

Tbis practice has three \'irtues. First,tbe summative assessments clarify thetargeted standards and benchmarks forteachers and leamers. In standards-based education, the mbber meets tberoad witb assessments because tbeydefine tbe evidence tbat will determinewbether or not students bave leamedthe content standards and bencbm arks,Tbe nutrition vignette is illustrative: Byknowing what tbe culminating assess-men ts will be, studen ts are better ableto focus on w hat tbe teacbers expecttbem to leam (information abouthealtby eating) and on wbat tbey willbe expected to do witb tbat knowledge(develop a nutritious meal plan).

Second, tbe performance assessmenttasks yield evidence tbat reveals under-standing, Wben we call for autbentic

application, we do not mean recall ofbasic facts or mecbanical plug-ins of amem orized formula. Ratber, we v -amstudents to transfer knowledgeto usewhat tbey know in a new situation,Teacbers sbould set up realistic,autbentic contexts for assessment thatenable students to apply tbeir learningthougbtfully and flexibly, tberebydemonstrating tbeir understanding oftbe content standards,

Tbird, presenting tbe authenticperformance tasks at tbe beginning of anew unit or course provides a mean-ingful leaming goal for students.Consider a sp orts analogy. Coacbesroutinely conduct practice drills tbatbotb develop basic skills and purpose-fully point toward performance in thegame. Too often, classroom instructionand assessment overemphasize decon-textualized drills and provide too fewopportunities for students to actually"play the gam e." How many soccerplayers would practice comer kicks orrun exhausting wind sprints if tbeyweren't preparing for the upcoming


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FIGURE 1 . Analytic Rubric for Graphic Display of DataTitle Labels Accuracy NeatnessThe graph contains a titlethat dearly tells what thedata show , i

All parts of the graph (unitsof measurement, rows,

V] etc) are correctly labeled, rAll data are accuratelyrepresented on the graph.

The graph is very neatand easy to read.

The graph contains a titlethat suggests what thedata show , i

Some parts of the graphare inaccurately labeled.

Data representationcontains minor errors.

The graph is generallyneat and readable.

JZThe title does not reflectwhat the data show ORthe title is missing.

The graph is incorrectlylabeled OR labels aremissing.

The data are inaccuratelyrepresented, containmajor errors, OR aremissing.

The graph is sloppy anddifficult to read.

Comments:Goals/Actions;Source,-From Th e Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook [p . 1831. byJ. McTighe and G, Wiggins, 2004, Alexandria, VA: ASCD .

game? How many competitive swim-mers w ould log endless laps if therewere no future swim meets? Authenticperformance tasks provide a worthygoal and help leam ers see a reason fortheir leaming.Practice 2: Show criteriaand models in advance.A h igh school language arts teacherdistributes a summa?)' of the summ ativeperformance task that students willcomplete during the unit on research,including the rubric for jud^ng the perfor-mance's quality. In addition, she showsexamples of student work productscollected from previous ^'ears (with .studentnames removed) to illustrate criteria an dperformance levels. Throughout the unit,the teacher uses the student examples andthe criteria in the rubric to help studentsbetter understand the nature of high-quality work and to support her teachingof research skills and report writing.

A second assessment practice thatsupports leaming involves presentingevaluative criteria and models of workthat illustrate different levels of qualityUnlike selected-response or short-answer tests, authentic performance

The be st teachers recognize th e imp ortanceof ongoing assessm ents as the m eans toachieve maximum performance.assessments are typically open-e ndedand do not yield a single, correctanswer or solution process. Conse-quently, teachers cannot score stud entresponses using an answer key or aScantron machine. They need to eval-uate products and performances on thebasis of explicitly defined perform ancecriteria,

A rubric is a widely used evaluationtool consisting of criteria, a m easure-ment scale (a 4-point scale, forexample), and descriptions of the char-acteristics for each score point. Well-developed rubrics communicate theimportant dimensions, or elements ofquality, in a product or performanceand guide educators in evaluatingstudent work. When a department orgrade-level team or better yet, anentire school or districtuses commonmb rics, evaluation results are more

consistent because the perfomiancecriteria don't vary from teacher toteacher or from school to school.

Rubrics also benefit s tudents . W henstudents know the criteria in advanceof their performance, they have cleargoab for their work. Becaxise well-defined criteria provide a clear descrip-tion of quality performance, studentsdon't need to guess what is mostimportant or how teachers will judgetheir work.

Providing a rubric to students inadvance of the assessment is a neces-sary, but often insufficient, condition tosupport their leaming. Although expe-rienced teachers have a clear concep -tion of what they mean by "qualitywork," stu dents don't necessarily havethe same understanding, Leamers aremore likely to understand feedback andevaluations when teachers show several


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examples that display both excellentand weak w ork. These modeis helptranslate the rubric's abstract languageinto more specific, concrete, andunderstandable terms.Some teachers express concern thatstudents will simply copy or imitate theexamp le. A related worry is thatshowing an excellent model (sometimeskno wn as an exem plar) will stultifystudent creativity. We have found thatproviding multiple models helps avoidthese potential problems. Whenstudents see several exemplars showinghow different students achieved high-level performance in unique ways, theyare less likely to follow a cookie-cutterapproach. In addition, when studentsstudy and com pare examples rangingin qualityfrom very strong to veryweakthey are better able to inter-nalize the differences. The modelsenable students to more accurately self-assess and improve their work beforeturning it in to the teacher

"With performanceassessments, thejuice mu st be wo rththe squeeze."evidence of their learning. I

Diagnostic assessment is as imp or-tant to teaching as a physical exam is toprescribing an appropriate medicalregimen. At the outset of any unit ofstudy, certain students are likely to havealready m astered som e of the skills thatthe teacher is about to introduce, andothers may already understand keyconcepts. Some studen ts are likely tobe deficient in prerequisite skills orharbor m isconceptions. Armed withthis diagnostic information, a teachergains greater msight into what to teach,by knowing what skill gaps to address

Practice 3: Assessbefore teaching.Before be^nning instruction onthe five senses, a kindergartenteacher asks each student todraw a picture ofthe body partsrelated to the various senses an dshow what each part do es. Shemodels the process hy drawingan eye on the chalkboard. "Theeye helps us see things aroundus," she points out. As studentsdraw, the teacher circulatesaround the room, stopping toask clarifying questions ("I seeyou've drawn a nose. What doesthe nose help us do?"). On thebasis of what she learns abouther students from this diagnosticpre-test, she divides the classinto two groups for differenti-ated instruction. At the conclu-sion of the unit, the teacher asksstudents to do another drawing,which she collects and compareswith their ori^nal pre-test as

FIGURE 2. Studen t Learning Curves

c

or by skipping material previouslymastered; into how to teach, by usinggrouping options and initiating activi-ties based on preferred leaming stylesand interests; and into how to connectthe content to students' interests andtalents.

Teachers can use a variety of practicapre-assessment strategies, includingpre-tests of content knowledge, skillschecks, concept m aps, drawings, andK-W-L (Know-Want to leam-Learn)charts. Powerful pre-assessment has thpotential to address a worrisomephenomenon reported in a growingbody of literature (Bransford, Brown, &Cocking, 1999; Gardner, 1991): A sizeable num ber of students come intoschool with misconceptions aboutsubject matter (thinking that a heavierobject will drop faster than a lighterone, for example) and about themselveas learners (assuming that they can'tand never will be able to draw, for

example). If teachers don'tidentify and confront thesemisconceptions, they willpersist even in the face ofgood teaching. To uncoverexisting misconceptions,teachers can use a short,nongraded true-false diag-nostic quiz that includesseveral potential misconcep-tions related to the targetedleaming. Student responseswill signal any prevailingmisconceptions, which theteacher can then addressthrough instruction. In thefuture, the grow ing avail-ability of portable, electronicstudent-response systemswill enable educators toobtain this informationinstantaneously

Durat ionRepresents several (2 or 3) pieces of evidence.

Copyright Ken O'Connor. Reprinted with permission.Four students m aster a given learning goal by the end of aninstructional segment but have vastly different learning curves.

Practice 4: O fferappropriate choices.As part of a culminating assessment for a major unit on theirstate's history and geography, a


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class of 4th graders m ust contribute to aclassroom museum display. The displaysare designed to provide answers to theunit's essential question: Ho w d o geog-raphy, climate, and natural resourcesinjiuence lifestyle, economy, and culture?Parents and students from other class-rooms will view the display Students havesome choice about the specific productsthey will develop, which enables them towork to their strengths. Regardless ofstud ents' cKosen products, the teacher usesa common rubric to evaluate eveiy project.Th e resulting class museum contains awide variety of unique and informativeproducts that demonstrate leaming.

Responsiveness in assessment is asimpo rtant as it is in teaching. S tudentsdiffer not only in how they prefer totake in and process infonnation butalso in how they best demonstrate theirleaming. Some students need to "do";others thrive on oral explanations.Some stu den ts excel at creating visualrepresentations; others are adept atwTiting. To make valid inferences aboutleaming, teachers need to allowstudents to work to their strengths. Astandardized approach to classroomassessment may be efficient, but it is

not fair because any chosen format willfavor some students and penalizeothers.

Assessment becomes responsivewhen students are given appropriateoptions for dem onstrating k nowledge,skills, and understanding. Allow

Teachers need to allowstuden ts to work totheir s trength s.choicesbut always with the intentof collecting needed and appropriatee\'idence based on goals. In theexample of the 4th grade museumdisplay project, the teacher wantsstudents to demonstrate their und er-standing ofthe relationship betweengeography and economy This could beaccomplished through a newspaperarticle, a concept web, a Pow erPointpresentation, a comparison chart, or asimulated radio interview with anexpert. Leamers often put forth greatereffort and produce higher-quality work

when given such a variety of choices.The teacher will judge these productsusing a three-trait rubric that focuseson accuracy of conten t, clarity andthoroughness of explanation, andoverall product quality

We offer three cautions. First,teachers need to collect appropriateevidence of leaming on the basis ofgoals rather than simply offer a "cool"men u of assessment choices. If acontent standard calls for proficiency inwritten or oral presentations, it wouldbe inappropriate to provide perfor-mance options other than thoseinvolving writing or speaking, except inthe case of students for whom suchgoals are clearly inappropriate (a newlyarrived English language learner, forexample). Second, the options m ust beworth the time and energy required. Itwould be inefficient to have studentsdevelop an elaborate three-dimensionaldisplay or an animated PowerPointpresentation for content that amultiple-choice quiz could easilyassess. In the folksy words of a teacherfriend, "With performance assessments,the juice must be worth the squeeze."Third, teachers have only so much timeand energ)', so they must be jud iciousin determining when it is important tooffer product and performance options.They need to strike a healthy balancebetween a single assessment path and aplethora of choices.Practice 5: Providefeedback early and often.Middle school students are leaming water-color painting techniques. The art teachermodels proper technique for mixing andapplying the colors, and the students beginworking. As they paint, the teacherprovides feedback both to individualstudents and to the class as a whole. Shetargets common mistakes, such as usingtoo much paint and not enough water, apractice that reduces the desired trans-parency effect. Benefiting from continualfeedback from the teacher, students experiment with the medium on small sheets of


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paper. The next class provides additionalopportunities to apply various watercolortechnitjues to achieve such effects as colorblending and soft edges. The class culmi-nates in an informal peer feedback session.Skill development and refinement result

from the combined effects of direct instruc-tion, modeling, and opportunities to prac-tice guided by ongoingfeedhack.

It is often said that feedback is thebreakfast of champions. All kinds ofleamin g, whether on the practice fieldor In the classroom, require feedbackbased on formative assessments. Ironi-cally the quality feedback necessary toenhance leaming is limited or nonexis-tent in many classrooms.

To serve leaming, feedback mustmeet four criteria: It must be timely,specific, understandable to the receiver,and formed to allow for self-adjustmenton the student's part (Wiggins, 1998).First, feedback on strengths and weak-nesses needs to be prompt for theleamer to improve. Waiting threeweeks to find out how you did on a testwill not help your leaming.

In add ition, specificity is key tohelping students understand both theirstrengths and the areas in which theycan improve. Too many educatorsconsider grades and scores as feedbackwhen, in fact, they fail the specificitytest. Pinning a letter (B-) or a num ber(82%) on a student's work is no m orehelpful than such comments as "Nicej o b " or "You can do b etter." Althoughgood grades and positive remarks mayfeel good, they do not advance learning.

Specific feedback sounds different, asin this example:

Your research paper is generally wellorganized and contains a great deal ofinfonnation on your topic. You usedmultiple sources and documented themcorrectly. However, your paper lacks aclear conclusion, and you never reailyanswered your basic research question.Sometimes the language in a rubric

is lost on a student. Exactly what does"well organized" or "sophisticatedreasoning" mean? "Kid language"

rubrics can make feedback clearer andmore comprehensible. For instance,instead of saying, "Document yourreasoning process," a teacher m ightsay, "Show your work in a step-by-step manner so the reader can seewhat you were thinking."

Here's a simple, straightforward testfor a feedback system: Can learnerstell specifically from the given feed-back what they have done well andwhat they could do next time toimprove? If not, then the feedback isnot specific or understandable enoughfor the learner.

Finally, the learner needs opportuni-ties to act on the feedback to refine,revise, practice, and retry Writersrarely compose a perfect manuscripton the first try, which is why thewriting process stresses cycles ofdrafting, feedback, and revision as theroute to excellence- Not surprisinglythe best feedback often surfaces in theperformance-based subjectssuch asart, music, and physical e ducationand in extracurricular activities, suchas band and athletics. Indeed, theessence of coaching involves ongoingassessment and feedback.

Practice 6: Encourage self-assessment and goal setting.Before turning in their science lab reports,students review their work against a list oexplicit criteria. On the basis of their self-assessments, a number of students makerevisions to improve their reports beforehanding them in. Their teacher observesthat the overall quality of the lab reportshas improved.

The most effective leamers setpersonal leaming goals, employ provenstrategies, and self-assess their work.Teachers help cultivate such habits ofmind by modeling self-assessment andgoal setting and by expecting studentsto apply these habits regularly

Rubrics can help students becomemore effective at honest self-appraisaland productive self-improvement. Inthe rubric in Figure 1 (p. 13), studentsverify that they have met a specificcriterionfor a title, for ex ample byplacing a check in the lower left-handsquare of the applicable box. Theteacher then uses the square on theright side for his or her evaluation.Ideally, the two judg m ents shouldmatch. If not, the discrepancy raises anopportunity to discuss the criteria,expectations, and performance stan-dards. Over time, teacher and studentjudgments tend to align. In fact, it isnot unusual for students to be harderon themselves than the teacher is.

The mbric also includes space forfeedback comments and student goalsand action steps. Consequently therubric moves from being simply anevaluation tool for "pinning a number"on students to a practical and robustvehicle for feedback, self-assessment,and goal setting.

Initially, the teacher models how toself-assess, set goals, and plan improve-ments by asking such prom pting ques-tions as,

What aspect of your work wasmost effective?

What aspect of your w ork was leaseffective? What specific action or actions will


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improve your performance? What will you do differently next

time?Questions like these help focus

student reflection and planning. Overtime, students assume greater responsi-bility for enacting these processes inde-pendently.

Educators who provide regularopportunities for leamers to self-assessand set goals often report a change inthe classroom culture. As one teacherput it,

My students have shifted from asking,"What did I get?" or "What are yougoing to give me?" to becoming increas-ingly capable of knowing how they aredoing and what they need to do toimprove.

this particular goal. Gwen arrives w ithsubstantial knowledge and skill but hasroom to improve. Roger and Pam aretme novices who demonstrate a highlevel of achievement by the end of theinstructional segment as a result ofeffective teaching and diligent leaming.If their school's grading system trulydocumented learning, all these studentswould receive the same grade becausethey all achieved the desired resultsover time. Roger and Pam wouldreceive lower g rades than Bob andGwen, however, if the teacher factoredtheir earlier performances into the finalevaluation. This practice, w hich istypical of the grading appro ach used inmany classrooms, would misrepresentRoger and Pam's ultimate success

Authentic performance tasks help learnerssee a reason for the ir learn ing.Practice 7: AMow newevidence of achievementto replace old evidence.A driver education student fails his drivingtest the first time, but he immediatelybooks an appointment to retake the testone w eek later. He passes on his secondattempt because he successfully demon -strates the requisite knowledge and skills.The driving examiner does not average the

first performance with the second, nor doesthe new license indicate that the driver"passed on the second attempt."

This vignette reveals an im portantprinciple in classroom assessment,grading, and reporting: New evidenceof achievement s hould replace oldevidence. Classroom assessments andgrading should focus on how wellnoton whenthe student mastered thedesignated knowledge and skill.

Consider the leaming curves of fourstuden ts in terms of a specified leaminggoal (see fig. 2, p . 14). Bob alreadypossesses the targeted knowledge andskill and doesn't need instruction for

because it does not give ap propriaterecognition to the realor mostcurrentlevel of achievement.

Two concems may arise whenteachers provide students v^th multipleopportunities to demonstrate theirleaming. Students may not take thefirst attempt seriously once they realizethey'll have a second chance. In a ddi-tion, teachers often become over-whelm ed b y the logistical challenges ofproviding multiple opportunities. Tomake this approach effective, teachersneed to require their students toprovide some evidence of the correctiveaction they will take such as engagingin peer coaching, revising their report,or practicing the need ed skill in a givenwaybefore embarking on their"second chance."

As students work to achieve clearlydefined leaming goals and produceevidence of their achievem ent, theyneed to know that teachers v^ill notpenalize them for either their lack ofknowledge at the beginning of a course

of study or their initial attempts at skillmastery. Allowing new evidence toreplace old conveys an importantmessage to studentsthat teachers careabout their successful leam ing. notmerely their grades.Motivated to LearnThe assessment strategies that we havedescribed address three factors thatinfluence student motivation to leam(Marzano, 1992). Students are morelikely to put forth the required effortwhen there is

Task clarity when they clearlyunderstand the learning goal and knowhow teachers will evaluate theirleamin g (Practices 1 and 2).

Relevancewhen they think theleamin g goals and assessments aremeaningful and worth leaming (Prac-tice 1).

m Potential for successwhen theybel ieve they can successful ly leam andmeet the evaluat ive expectat ions (Prac-t ices 3-7) .

By us ing these seven assessment andgrading practices, all teachers canenhance leaming in thei r c lassrooms. SiR e f e r e n c e sBlack, P., Ha ms on , C , Lee, C , M arshall, B.,& Wiliam, D. (2004). Working inside theblack box: Assessment for leaming in theclassroom. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(1), 8-2Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking,R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn:

Brain, mind, experience, an d school. Waington, DC: National Research CouncilGardner, H. (1991), The unschooled mind.New York: BasicBooks.Marzano, R. (1992). A different kind of clasroom: Teaching with dimensions of leamiAlexandria, VA: ASCD.

Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative assessment.-Designing assessments to inform andimprove student performance. San Fran-cisco: Jossey-Bass.

Jay McTighe ([email protected]) iscoauthor of The Un derstanding byDesign seues (ASCD, 1998, 1999, 2000,2004, 2005). Ken O'Connor is author ofHow to G rade for Learning: UnkingGrades to Standards (Corv^in, 2002).


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7 practice for effective learning

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