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Striking a Crucial Balance: Students as Consumers, Appliers, and Creators

Convincing students to give their best effort, persist in the face of learning challenges, and learn from mistakes and setbacks is a constant struggle for educators. Yet, we know that these three factors are crucial to students becoming skilled, successful learners. High levels of learning require commitment, focus, and flexibility. Unless we can convince students to commit to the process of learning, they are likely to miss the opportunity to develop their full capacity as learners. Unfortunately, the school-based learning experience of too many students works against the goals of consistently doing their best work, persisting despite struggles, and valuing mistakes as information to help learning. The traditional design of instruction positions students primarily to be consumers of information provided by teachers and other authoritative sources. The information they are presented has been sifted, sorted, organized, and sequenced by others, based on assumptions about how students will receive and absorb what is presented. New skills are introduced as tasks to be accomplished, rather than as tools to help students achieve goals and perform tasks important to them. Further, a limited amount of time is allocated for students to absorb information and learn the skills expected of them. Consequently, opportunities for reflection, flexibility for learning pace, and support to examine and learn from errors also are limited. Of course, students do not always know what they do not know, nor do they always appreciate the full value and benefits of what they are asked to learn. Some portion of formal learning, by necessity, positions learners as consumers of what is already known and judged to be valuable. Yet, when learning is not attached to significant purpose, motivation can wane, engagement can diminish, and learning can be superficial. Helping students to see the purpose of what they are asked to learn can be an important step in building learning commitment and persistence. Often, a discussion with students about the purpose and value of what they are learning and examples of how it can be useful are enough to carry learning forward. Certainly, we can enhance the connection between purpose and learning by giving students opportunities to apply new skills and leverage new information to analyze and interpret events, predict outcomes, and understand interactions. While reinforcing the purpose of learning, application opportunities also build confidence and deepen understanding. When we design application activities that connect to the lives of students, these learning experiences can be even more powerful and engaging. However, if we truly want to tap the learning energies of students, build their persistence, and instill the value of learning from errors and setbacks, we need to give students opportunities to use their new learning to contribute and create. When students can use what they are learning to teach others, solve a legitimate problem, or create something of interest and importance to them, learning can be transformed. Students go from being consumers of what others have learned to producers and creators of new value. When students see themselves as adding value and creating, learning takes on important characteristics. Giving one’s best effort is a natural act. Persistence is an important component of solving a problem or accomplishing a goal. Errors are valued as learning guideposts and definers of what does not work. Ownership of learning becomes a natural part of the process. Quality is not an external expectation. It becomes an internal value. Obviously, all three learning conditions play a role in the learning journey of students. They often need to begin as consumers of purposeful knowledge and adopters of defined skills. They need opportunities to practice and apply what they learn. However, when we view students and students view themselves as contributors and creators as they learn and use what they learn, learning motivation and commitment moves to new levels and learning becomes an integral part of life.

August 30, 2021

Time to Rethink the Use of Timed Tests

We use assessments just about every day. Sometimes we want to understand what students know to calibrate instruction and design learning experiences. At other times we want to track learning progress and determine whether students have met learning goals and expectations. Assessments come in many forms. We use demonstrations, exhibitions, and performances to build and solidify learning while also providing comprehensive and nuanced pictures of what students have learned. Of course, not all assessment strategies are of equal value. Information gained from traditional quizzes featuring closed-ended questions and multiple-choice options can give us some insights into learning progress with little time investment, but they do little to reinforce and solidify a student’s learning. It is important that we be thoughtful about the assessment strategies we choose. If we are to commit time for students to engage in assessment and we want to be able to depend on the results generated by the assessment, we need to be sure that the activity conveys what students have learned and how they are progressing. Unfortunately, there is at least one common assessment strategy that too often falls short of providing the information we may be seeking and can work against learning for many students. That assessment strategy is timed tests. While intended to assess automaticity of learning, research has shown that timed tests, especially in math, can generate levels of anxiety in students significant enough to impede their learning and diminish their ability to show what they know. Consequently, they may be neither accurate nor helpful. Multiple research studies have demonstrated that high levels of anxiety can interfere with working memory, a key element in successful learning. Working memory is where we initially store information like math facts. Further, working memory is part of the sequence of processes that lead to long-term retention of information. When working memory is diminished, less information becomes available for transfer into long-term memory and learning suffers. Studies have also shown that the impact of pressure generated by timed testing appears to be greatest with young children, the age group to whom timed tests are most often administered. Unfortunately, math and other learning related anxieties once developed often stay with students and even grow throughout their learning careers and lives. We might think that the impact of anxiety is greatest for our struggling students. However, researchers have also documented that the highest levels of anxiety are often found among the highest achievers. We might assume that being able to perform quickly equates to learning deeply. However, research does not support this connection. Being able to perform a task quickly may reveal memorization and reflexivity, but it does not necessarily represent understanding and flexibility, two key learning contributors to success in life and work. Some people argue that timed tests are a good way to measure fluency. Yet, fluency implies more than how quickly a student can perform. High levels of fluency include being able to think deeply about a topic or skill and developing a command that supports application of learning. Memorization and speed are at best partial pictures of fluency. The time has come for us to rethink the role and use of timed testing, especially for our youngest learners. In pursuit of understanding what students know, timed tests risk interfering with what they are learning.

August 30, 2021

Six Tips for Building Learning Momentum and Rhythm

This is a particularly confusing time for many students and educators. We had hoped to begin the new school year in a post-pandemic world. We knew that there would still be a need for some precautions and mitigations, but few would have predicted when we left for the summer that we would face rising COVID cases, increasing hospitalizations, and emergence of new and more contagious forms of the virus when we returned in the fall. Still, our mission is to nurture the learning of our students. We need to remain focused and diligent despite the background noise with which we may have to contend. We need to devote our energy and attention to building momentum and propelling learning forward, especially in the early weeks of school. Here are six tips to consider. Create time for students to socialize. This may seem like surprising advice for building learning momentum, but many students need opportunities to connect with classmates and experience the social aspects of learning, especially now. Socializing is an important part of relationship and community building. Further, if students feel the need to socialize, they will find a way to do it. We will be better off, and learning will be more successful, if we give them some time and permission to socialize for a few minutes before focusing on academic work. Honor and leverage non-academic skills students have learned during the pandemic. We hear a lot about what students have not learned over the past year. However, they also learned a lot that may not be included on a standardized test or appear in a formal gradebook. Whether it is how to better use technology to support their learning, develop independent work habits, or connect with classmates virtually for real time help, students learned a variety of important skills and techniques over the past year that can help them to succeed now. Meanwhile, don’t forget what you learned about classroom management and engaging students remotely. Those skills and practices can provide a wider array of options and be even more effective at engaging students in an in-person setting. Form a class-wide team. There is power in defining the pandemic and its impact on learning as a common enemy we and our students face. We can build a sense of “being in this fight together” as we focus on learning that was not finished last year and build learning momentum to overcome the shared challenge we face. Identifying a common challenge and working together to defeat it can represent a significant strategic advantage over leaving each student to work alone to “catch up.” Developing plans, defining progress markers, and celebrating successes can be shared energy generators and pride builders. Engage students in learning where they are. Obviously, we need to focus on what students need to learn. We can “slim down” the range of content and key skills we ask them to learn and focus on acceleration, but we need to remember that their learning starts where they are, not where we want them to be, or the curriculum imagines they should be. Choosing to begin this year like any other, assuming students come knowing what is typically taught in the previous grade can lead to frustration and failure for our students and for us. Finding where students’ learning is now needs to be our first step. Once we understand what students know we can plan what they need to learn next. Keep parents informed and engaged. Throughout the past year, parents were often more engaged with and better informed about their children’s learning than in previous years. Many parents may be open to continuing this new and higher level of engagement as the new year begins. We can share tips and tasks parents can use to support their children’s learning. Their ongoing involvement can add energy to and build momentum for ongoing learning activities at home and school. Of course, we also need to ensure that parents remain as informed about learning progress and related activities as they were when their students were learning at home. Maintain a focus on the future. While these may be difficult times, they will eventually pass. Our optimism, future focus, and confidence in our students can go a long way in helping them to see beyond the present and imagine their futures. The goals students set, the progress they make, and confidence they gain can build learning momentum that can carry them through the remaining pandemic and propel their success in the months and years ahead.

August 23, 2021

Our Respect for Student Names Can Build or Break Relationships

The first weeks of a new year are filled with organizing procedures, creating routines, and communicating expectations. There is much to do to launch a new year. However, there is one task that we can ill afford to ignore: learning student names. We may not give it much thought, but names matter. The relatively simple task of respecting, learning, and pronouncing names correctly can be a big deal. Names are also an important aspect of our identities. Consider the message of the popular Johnny Cash song from a few decades ago: A Boy Named Sue. When we fail to learn student names early in the year or ever, we risk sending a message that we do not care enough to make the effort or that our students do not count enough to be recognized as individuals. It is not surprising in these circumstances that many students will choose not to invest in their learning or respond to our instruction. Why should they care about what we offer and expect if they believe that we do not care enough to know their names? If we fail to pronounce students’ names correctly, we risk sending a similar message. When these students come from different cultures and have names unfamiliar in the English language, we risk communicating that we also do not respect their culture and identity. If these students are also still learning English, we can create even greater feelings of separation and further complicate our relationship. As a result, we can make reaching them even more difficult. Yet another element deserving our attention is assigning nicknames to students based on some aspect of their name, especially when the nickname may be perceived as less than positive and respectful. We may intend the practice to be playful, and even endearing, but we are assigning an identity to students based on our perceptions and preferences, not their choosing, and potentially without their permission. Like many other aspects of humor, we must be careful to avoid having what is intended to be funny result in emotional pain. Even worse is the practice of intentionally mispronouncing student names or assigning negative nicknames to intimidate or denigrate students who are different, misbehave, or demonstrate a negative attitude. This behavior is especially egregious as it often masquerades as humor that is well-intended, but misinterpreted. Unlike many conditions that can interfere with student learning, there are specific and relatively simple steps we can take to avoid having our treatment of student names become a barrier to relationships and compromise our influence on student success. First, we can make learning student names a priority during the first weeks of the year and when new students enter our class or learning environment. By focusing on names, using them frequently, and reviewing them often, we can accomplish this task. Second, if pronouncing some students’ names is challenging, we can ask them to pronounce their names for us and make phonetic notations to help pronounce them correctly. Collecting this information in private is usually best. Of course, practicing saying names can solidify and help to store them in our memory. If necessary, we can utilize online language resources or consult language experts to assist our efforts. Third, we need to be careful to avoid assigning or using nicknames unless we have specific permission or students request that we use their nicknames. As noted earlier, the close connection between names and identity makes modifying or substituting student names an unnecessary risk to our relationships and ability to reach and teach students. Learning and respecting names might seem like a small thing. Yet, our attention to and treatment of this aspect of student identities conveys a message about who we are and our commitment to supporting them as they learn.

August 16, 2021

Lessons From Remote Learning for Handling Behavior

One of the key lessons presented by remote learning was that many of the behavior management tools available with in-person learning were not accessible when our students were not physically present. Moving a non-compliant student to a remote part of the room was not an option. Imposing progressive disciplinary sanctions was often impractical. And we could not send a student out of the room to see the principal. The shift to remote learning drove us to develop new strategies and approaches to gain student attention, cooperation, and engagement. It took time, repeated attempts, and more than a few missteps before many of us became adept at using commitment-based approaches and intrinsic motivational strategies. Our return to in-person learning offers the opportunity to rethink compliance-driven behavior management and progressive discipline practices before we again become reliant on these approaches. We need to examine the extent to which compliance-driven approaches undermine and interfere with our goal of developing independent, mature, self-regulating young people. Here’s why:

We risk communicating to students that their behavior should be controlled by external sources and forces rather than through their own choices, self-discipline, and sense of direction.
The causes of individual choices and drivers of behavior are complex and varied. For example, the lack of completed homework or a negative attitude early in the day may be the result of factors and forces at home or outside of school that have little to do with a student’s valuing of class rules or academic expectations.
Incentives only work if students place a reasonably high value on them. Once we reduce student behavior and academic engagement to rewards and punishment, we risk losing student compliance if they do not see the reward as compelling, or do not consider the punishment to be severe enough to drive the choice to comply.

What are some ways to leverage commitment and intrinsic motivation?

We can start by engaging students in the process of developing class rules and expectations so they feel ownership and understand the reasons for rules and expectations. We can coach and model positive, productive behaviors. Further, we can brainstorm with students strategies to use when they face situations that might lead to behaviors that are not acceptable or do not contribute to their success.
We can also pay attention to circumstances that may lead to unacceptable and non-productive behaviors. Often charting of patterns of misbehavior can offer clues to where and how we can make changes in routines, practices, and expectations to prevent poor choices and inclinations toward unacceptable behaviors. For example, we may discover that at a certain time of the day students struggle to pay attention because they are hungry, so we might schedule a snack time.
We can focus on the purpose, or the “why” of what we ask of students. Exploring why certain behaviors and limits are important to the effective and efficient operation of the class can help students see how their behavior can have an impact on their and other’s success.
We can commit to developing strong, positive relationships with our students. When students know we care about them and their success, we can have a powerful influence on how they think and feel about behaving and learning in our class.

The experience of the pandemic and remote learning, undoubtedly, has led to even more lessons about commitment-based and intrinsic-driven behavior approaches. Now is a good time to share with colleagues what you have learned and listen to their insights and strategies.

August 02, 2021

Three Times Mistakes Help Learning and Three Times They Don’t

In life we accept, even expect, mistakes as part of learning new skills and attempting new tasks. We know that experiencing what does not work can be as important as understanding what does. Success rarely comes on the first, second, or other early attempts to master complex and challenging new behaviors. Academic learning is much the same. We should expect missteps and setbacks as a natural part of the learning process. Yet there are often expectations and pressures present during academic learning that can skew the learning process, especially when it comes to making mistakes. Mistakes in school are often seen as evidence of failure rather than symptoms of learning efforts and progress. Mistakes are to be avoided and making mistakes come with consequences rather than celebration. Mistakes are often considered to be faults to be penalized. Mistakes lead to lower grades and diminished social status. In truth, mistakes in learning at school can lead to enhanced learning or, depending on the conditions present, can interfere with learning progress. Let’s explore three times and conditions when mistakes can build learning and three contexts when making mistakes may not contribute to learning. Learning can accelerate when:

Students are aware of a mistake, why it is not correct, and how to fix it. When students understand the source and nature of an error, they can make adjustments, use the experience to build understanding, and increase their focus on getting their learning correct. Analysis and understanding of what happened improves learning far more than being provided the correct answer.
Mistakes are seen as a natural part of the learning process and are honored as ways to get better. In this context, students are more likely to see struggle and setback as part of learning, not evidence of a lack of potential. When learners see learning as creating and growing rather than compliance and following directions, they are more likely to accept errors and setbacks as building blocks for success.
The focus is on learning, not grades. When grades are seen as the reason for learning, mistakes work against the ultimate goal. Mistakes lower grades. On the other hand, when the focus is on learning and grades are seen as nothing more than a reflection of progress, mistakes can be part of the process that leads to improvement and ultimate success.

Learning can be stifled when:

Mistakes are the result of underlying misconceptions that go unaddressed. Finding or being provided a correct answer is of little help when confusion and misunderstanding about structures, relationships, and processes are present. In fact, unless the underlying misconception is addressed, the problem that led to a mistake can become even worse.
Mistakes are seen as evidence of a lack of intelligence and capacity to learn. Students are less likely to take learning risks when “smart” is seen as having the right answer. Under these conditions, mistakes are seen as reasons for embarrassment and shame and are to be avoided.
Mistakes are not accompanied by feedback or examination. When instruction moves forward and students are expected to keep up, mistakes can go unnoticed and unexamined. Further, feedback on how to correct and learn from the experience can be neglected. Consequently, the opportunity to learn from mistakes is lost.

Unfortunately, students often come to us with experiences and perceptions about learning that can work against their willingness to make and learn from mistakes in school. Our challenge is to create in our classrooms the conditions that enhance and accelerate learning. We will also need to help our students examine their attitudes toward academic mistakes and learn to leverage mistakes to make their learning more successful.

July 26, 2021

Share Your Tips & Stories

Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.

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Struggling to Get Students to Ask Questions? Try These Strategies

There are many reasons why we want and need students to ask questions. The questions students ask can tell us whether they understand what they are learning and are ready to move forward, or they can communicate uncertainty, confusion, and misconceptions. Students’ questions can signal interest in going deeper and exploring further. Questions can reveal worry and stress or excitement and confidence. The questions students ask can also be evidence of disengagement and resistance when they are off topic or laced with anger and cynicism. However, access to the full range of student questions requires us to create conditions under which students are willing and able to tell us what we need to know. Students need to be confident that we are ready listen. They need to feel respect for their thoughts, opinions, and concerns. Students need to experience our patience when their questions reveal the need for more guidance and support. Of course, they also need to feel safe and free from emotional attack. Still, establishing these conditions only “opens the door” to questions. It does not guarantee that students will freely respond when we need to know if they understand. Students may still be reluctant to admit confusion or lack of understanding, and they may be hesitant to share worries and stress without support and prompting. Unless we invite students to share their interests and go deeper with their learning, they may be hesitant to ask a question that reveals a perspective that is not shared by others in the class or group. Success typically requires us to provide the stimulus and process for questions to surface and be voiced. Let’s explore some ways in which we can gain access to students’ questions while “sidestepping” many potential barriers. One way to “prime the pump” for questions is to ask students to write a question they have. As examples, we might ask students to frame a question that demonstrates what they have learned today. We might ask them to write a question about something they are finding difficult about what they are learning. Or, we might ask them to write a question about what else they would like to learn on a current topic. Another option is to provide students with sentence stems and starters that are formed as questions. Examples might be “I wonder why…?” “How can I concentrate when…?” And, “Who can help me understand…?” Sentence stems can help students to think of questions and reduce their hesitation since they are only completing the questions, not starting them. Still another strategy is to establish a routine for questions after information is presented, a demonstration is concluded, group discussions are finished, assignments are given, and other class activities are complete. For example, we might set an expectation for questions by saying, “I need three questions before moving on to our next activity.” Here, we make questions part of the transition process. At first, students are likely to be reluctant but as the expectation becomes routine, questions are likely to come easier and be more substantial. Of course, we need to be patient and allow time for significant questions to be framed and presented. Research shows and experience verifies that we typically do not allow adequate time for students to contemplate and form questions before we move on. We might also have students turn to a classmate or form a small group to present and discuss questions. This strategy presents questions as an expectation without making the conversation as public as asking questions with the entire class listening. Of course, we can wander among our students listening for questions that follow a common theme or represent the need for further explanation or clarification. If students have access to technology, we can utilize applications such as Padlet for students to post questions without having to worry about presenting them orally. As students post their questions, we can cluster similar questions, sort for urgency and importance, and provide responses as appropriate. Meanwhile, we will be assuring students that they are not the only members of the class who have questions or may struggle with a specific concept or learning task. Admittedly, stimulating students to ask their questions can be a challenge. However, the information we can glean from student questions is often essential to the framing and timing of our instruction. The questions can also give us important and timely clues about the needs and experiences of students that may be compromising their ability to learn and succeed in school and life.

July 15, 2021

Teach Students to Become Resilient Learners

Many of the students with whom we work are not confident learners. When they misstep and make mistakes, they often blame themselves. Successive failures can leave them despairing and looking for ways to avoid being revealed as poor learners. They may misbehave, become the class entertainer, or evolve into a skilled distractor and excuse-maker to avoid discovery. Yet, the reasons behind a pattern of less than successful learning are typically not lack of adequate aptitude and capacity to learn. Students may have poor learning skills and habits. They may lack confidence to take learning risks. Or they may simply doubt their own learning abilities. Interestingly, many of these students will go on to be successful in life once they leave school and discover that they have the potential to succeed in ways they never imagined. Our challenge is to help students move from positions of doubt, questioning, and self-protection to become resilient learners who can tolerate temporary failure and setbacks without giving up and retreating to avoidance. The key to building resilience is to see failure as a momentary experience not a judgement about who they are or what they are capable of. Resilience is not avoiding failure but learning and growing from it. We can begin the process of building resilience and “stick-to-it-iveness” by sharing with students that many, if not most, successful people experienced failure in their lives and often in their learning. Famous people such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln, and J. K. Rowling all experienced serious setbacks before they became successful. Of course, you will want to find examples that are familiar to your students and with whom they might relate. What’s important is to help students to realize that failure is a temporary condition, and we can change it into success if we follow six key principles. We can frame these principles in “I” statements for students to repeat and apply when they experience setbacks and missteps:

Regardless of what happens, I always have a choice. When bad things happen, we can decide to give up or choose to persist. When students experience negative events, we can remind them that they have a choice. The choice they make will matter far more than what happened to them. Choice means students have control. They do not have to be victims.
I look for what I can learn, not what or who made me fail. Every experience contains a potential lesson that can teach us what we need to know to succeed. However, if students focus on what led to failure, they risk not learning what will make them successful. What is learned from failure is often more valuable than what can be learned from success. Success often disguises mistakes and leads to overlooking what needs to be learned.
I know that effort and good strategy are more powerful success tools than intelligence. Of course, natural aptitudes for some skills and tasks can offer a potential advantage, but unless talents are applied, they are worthless. Research studies consistently find that people who persist with good strategy and consistent effort are more successful in life than talented people who fail to make the necessary effort and fail to learn and apply good strategies.
I think “Not yet” when I don’t initially succeed. Learning and growing are processes. We improve as we continue to practice and use what we experience and learn. “Not yet” recognizes that just because students are not successful now does not mean that they cannot or will not be successful. “Not yet” positions students to keep trying so that in the future they can say, “Got it.”
I know that motivation comes from within me. When we set goals, develop plans, and work hard, we can motivate ourselves. Students do not have to depend on adults or friends to stimulate their interest or give them a purpose for learning. They can generate enthusiasm and choose to be interested. Motivation can make students ready to learn. It is within their control.
I know that when I feel stuck, I am on the doorstep of learning. Feeling stuck can be frustrating, but it often comes just before a breakthrough idea, new understanding, or discovery of a new strategy. Pushing forward in the face of difficulty not only increases the likelihood of success, but it can also build confidence to carry forward to the next challenge.

Teaching students to become resilient learners can be among the greatest gifts we can give them. Resilience is especially important now as many students face pressure to accelerate their learning and “catch up” with where they are expected to be as they begin the next school year. Yet, when we nurture resilient learners, we also offer them a tool for lifetime success.

July 12, 2021

A Student’s View: Expectations That Matter

Each of us has experienced expectations from people around us that influenced our behavior. Their belief in us and our potential influenced how we approached tasks and challenges we faced and may have even carried us to success. It is also true that each of us has experienced expectations to which we have given little attention or may even have rejected. Despite the expectancies and even demands presented, we failed to be influenced or change our behavior. Of course, there are multiple reasons why we pay attention to and are influenced by some expectations and not others. For example, some expectations carry threats or consequences that make lack of attention or resistance a difficult choice. In response to these expectations, we may have complied in the moment or shifted our behavior until the threat passed or the person holding the expectation was no longer able to exact the consequence. At other times, we may have felt little connection to or reason to be influenced by someone who may not have our best interests in mind. In still other situations, we are compelled to give our best effort and continue to respond to expectations even when the person holding the expectations of us are no longer physically present or in a position to monitor our follow through. Expectations can be a powerful force when employed thoughtfully and appropriately. Our ability to tap the power of expectations is important if we hope to have a significant and lasting influence on the success of our students. The secret to expectations that have a powerful and lasting influence resides in five key elements. Let’s consider how each of these five elements can have an impact from the perspective of students, especially for students who may lack the confidence to take on difficult challenges and are likely to struggle on their own. The first element of influence is the relationship we have with our students. It is the foundation on which the other four elements rest. Without a relationship, students may perceive expectations as self-serving and manipulative. From the perspective of students, relationships that influence may feel and sound like: “I am noticed.” “I feel like I belong in this class.” “My teacher is interested in me.” “I don’t care how much you know until I know how much you care.” The second source of influence can be found in our commitment to having our students succeed. Expectations that influence go beyond having students feel noticed. Students need to feel our commitment to their success. From the perspective of students, commitment may feel and sound like: “My teacher acts as though she cannot succeed unless I succeed.” “I feel like my teacher is invested in my learning.” “She always seems to know how well I am doing.” A third element of expectations that influence is confidence that our students are capable and will succeed. What we believe about our students and their potential matters. We communicate our beliefs in thousands of obvious and not so obvious ways, including many of which we may not even be aware. The four most powerful words we can communicate to students are: I believe in you. From the perspective of students, our confidence may feel and sound like: “I know you really believe I can succeed.” “I have doubts about whether success is possible, but your confidence in my potential gives me the courage to try and the hope that success is within my reach.” A fourth element is the guidance we offer when students struggle, have questions, and face difficult choices. Students need to know that we are ready to coach, support, and offer wisdom when they are not sure what to do. This element offers students evidence that they can count on us. From the perspective of students, our guidance may feel and sound like: “She always seems to have ideas and strategies I can try.” “Sometimes she asks me questions that help me find the answers I need.” “Even though she is no longer here, I can still hear her voice and imagine her advice.” The fifth element is our readiness to offer encouragement. Students need to know that we are “in their corner,” paying attention, and that their progress matters to us. Our encouragement to keep going and celebrate success ties all the elements together and reassures students that they matter to us. From the perspective of students, our encouragement may feel and sound like: “I love hearing that she notices my progress.” “It is reassuring to know that she will be there to support and cheer me on.” “Even though it has been years, I still can feel her presence and hear her urging me to keep trying.” Expectations can be a powerful force. They can move students to try, risk, and persist when they might otherwise give up. Remarkably, expectations that influence can last long after our students leave us. When former students tell us that they can still hear our voice in their ears, they are telling us that our expectations had a powerful influence.

July 02, 2021

Class Size Reduction: The Answer for Learning Catch-Up?

The influx of federal funds to counter the impact of the pandemic presents a rare opportunity to address some of the most crucial learning needs present in schools today. However, since the funds have a life cycle and will not last forever, deciding where to spend the money deserves careful consideration. Equally important is maximizing the impact so that learning gains are significant and sustained. Class size reduction appears to be among the popular options under consideration. On the surface, this option may seem to make sense. Teachers see smaller class sizes as reducing their workloads. The fact is that more students mean more work. Parents typically favor smaller class sizes assuming that with fewer students in the class, their child will receive more attention. Increased attention is a worthy desire. Administrators may see efforts to reduce class sizes as a simple way of responding to constituent interests without having to invest in training and manage significant disruption. Yet, despite its popularity, class size reduction alone has not been shown to make much difference in the learning growth of students. In fact, it is among the most expensive options for improving learning outcomes, while also being among the least effective at moving learning forward. Let’s explore some of the reasons why. First, if instruction of 15 students is delivered in the same manner as it is delivered to 30 students, learning outcomes in the smaller class will be substantially the same as in the larger class. Multiple research studies have shown that the instructional approach and the learning experience of students has a greater influence on learning outcomes than the number of students in the class, within reasonable limits. Of course, if class size reductions are paired with instructional strategies and learning experiences that take advantage of the opportunities smaller class sizes can offer, learning outcomes will likely be significantly larger. Increased opportunities for dialogue related to what students are learning, real time interventions during the learning process, responsiveness to learning readiness, and other strategies can make a big difference. Of course, many of these strategies can also be implemented in larger, but still reasonably sized classes. Second, even if small improvements in learning outcomes are realized, they tend not to be sustainable, especially beyond the first few grades. In the few studies that have demonstrated marginal growth solely by reducing class sizes, the growth typically has not been sustained in subsequent years. One study conducted several years ago in Tennessee demonstrated learning increases associated with smaller class sizes that were sustained, but replications of the study have had difficulty generating the same results. Since the COVID-related federal funds will not continue in perpetuity, choosing an option that will not have a long-term impact seems suspect. Third, with a reduction in class sizes comes the need for additional teachers to support the increased number of classes created. During times when a large supply of high quality, experienced teachers is available, this challenge may be overcome. However, most areas of the country are experiencing a shortage of teachers and significant reductions in enrollment in teacher education programs. It is not realistic to place under-qualified and inexperienced teachers in classrooms, even with fewer students, and expect that learning outcomes will improve. Of course, it might be possible to redesign the way in which teaching staff is assigned to provide ongoing support and mentoring to inexperienced staff, but any significant payoff is not likely to be seen until after the federal funds have expired. Additionally, if new funds are not available to replace the expiring federal funds, many of the newly hired teachers will likely have to be let go and class sizes will return to pre-COVID funding levels. So, what are some options to consider as investments for the federal funds that might be combined with or used to supplement smaller class sizes to create a greater impact? Here are a few examples:

Offer targeted tutoring to accelerate student skill development.
Provide teachers with flexibility to focus on learning needs over pre-set instructional pacing requirements.
Offer opportunities for teachers to learn and develop strategies to increase student engagement despite larger class sizes.
Provide teachers with training, time, and other supports for greater instructional collaboration and strategy sharing.
Provide teachers with more flexibility in scheduling and assignments to support increases in planning and reflection.
Offer “grade bands” over narrow, age-based grade levels and curriculum that fail to meet the needs and readiness of many students.
Offer teachers options to increase their compensation in exchange for skill acquisition and leadership roles.

The bottom line: Unless the experience of learning changes for students, we should not expect changes in outcomes. Being in a smaller class may offer opportunities for improved learning but learning only improves if instructional approaches are more impactful and learning experiences are enriched.

June 21, 2021

We’re In Your Corner!

We might think that working long hours is the best way to be productive, but cognitive science paints a different picture.

The Master Teacher Blog