Building sustainable learning communities Dylan Wiliam Institute of
Building sustainable learning communities Dylan Wiliam Institute of Education 30 November 2006 1 1
Overview of presentation • • Why raising achievement is important Why investing in teachers is the answer Why assessment for learning should be the focus How we can put this into practice 2 2
Raising achievement matters • For individuals – Increased lifetime salary – Improved health • For society – Lower criminal justice costs – Lower health-care costs – Increased economic growth 3 3
Where’s the solution? • Structure – Small schools – Big schools • Alignment – Curriculum reform – Textbook replacement • Governance – Specialist schools – Vouchers • Technology 4 4
It’s the classroom • Variability at the classroom level is up to 4 times greater than at school level • It’s not class size • It’s not the between-class grouping strategy • It’s not the within-class grouping strategy • It’s the teacher 5 5
Teacher quality: • A labour force issue with 2 solutions • Replace existing teachers with better ones? – No evidence that more pay brings in better teachers – No evidence that there are better teachers out there deterred by certification requirements • Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers – The “love the one you’re with” strategy – It can be done – We know how to do it, but at scale? Quickly? Sustainably? 6 6
Cost/effect comparisons Intervention Effect (sd) Cost/yr/ classroom Class-size reduction (by 30%) 0. 1 £ 20 k Increase teacher content knowledge by 1 sd 0. 1 ? 0. 2~0. 3 £ 2 k Formative assessment/ Assessment for learning 7 7
Five key strategies… • Clarifying and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success • Engineering effective classroom discussions that elicit evidence of learning • Providing feedback that moves learners forward • Activating students as learning resources for each other • Activating students as the owners of their own learning 8 8
…and one big idea • Use evidence about learning to adapt teaching to meet student needs 9 9
Putting it into practice 10 10
Why research hasn’t changed teaching • The nature of expertise in teaching • Aristotle’s main intellectual virtues – Episteme: knowledge of universal truths – Techne: ability to make things – Phronesis: practical wisdom • What works is not the right question – Everything works somewhere – Nothing works everywhere – What’s interesting is “under what conditions” does this work? • Teaching is mainly a matter of phronesis, not episteme 11 11
Teacher knowledge 12 After Nonaka & Tageuchi, 1995
How do you grow expertise? • NOT by telling people what to do. • Expertise grows over time, with experience and lots of opportunities to think about those experiences • But experience alone is not enough—if it were, then the most experienced teachers would be the best teachers—we know that’s not true (Hanushek, 2005; Day et al. , 2006) • People need to reflect on their experiences in systematic ways that build their accessible knowledge base, learn from mistakes, etc. (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999) 13 13
That’s what TLCs are for: • They grow expertise by providing a regular space, time, and structure for that kind of systematic reflecting on practice • They facilitate sharing of untapped expertise residing in individual teachers • They build the collective knowledge base in a school • TLCs contradict teacher isolation, a major cause of teacher turnover • TLCs reprofessionalize teaching by valuing teacher expertise • TLCs deprivatize teaching so that teachers’ strengths and struggles become known • TLCs offer a steady source of support for struggling teachers 14 14
Teacher learning takes time • To put new knowledge to work, to make it meaningful and accessible when you need it, requires practice. • A teacher doesn’t come at this as a blank slate. – Not only do teachers have their current habits and ways of teaching —they’ve lived inside the old culture of classrooms all their lives: every teacher started out as a student! – New knowledge doesn’t just have to get learned and practiced, it has to go up against long-established, familiar, comfortable ways of doing things that may not be as effective, but fit within everyone’s expectations of how a classroom should work. • It takes time and practice to undo old habits and become graceful at new ones. Thus… – TLCs must be sustained over time 15 15
How to set up a TLC • Plan for two years • Identify 8 to 10 interested colleagues – Should have similar assignments (e. g. early years, math/sci) • Secure institutional support for: – Monthly meetings (2 hrs each, inside or outside school time) – Time between meetings (2 hrs per month in school time) • Collaborative planning • Peer observation – Any necessary waivers from school policies 16 16
A structure for TLC meetings Every monthly TLC meeting should follows the same structure and sequence of activities Activity 1: Introduction & Housekeeping (5 mins) Activity 2: How’s It Going (50 minutes) Activity 3: New Learning about Af. L (50 minutes) Activity 4: Personal Action Planning (10 minutes) Activity 5: Summary of Learning (5 minutes) 17 17
Activities 1 -2 & 4 -5 (‘Bookends’) • The process for these activities is the same at each TLC meeting. • The content of these activities changes as assessment for learning is established and integrated into teachers’ daily routines. • These activities are critical to teachers actually changing their practice to embrace assessment for learning. 18 18
Introduction & housekeeping • Time for participants to get their minds to the meeting • The TLC leader presents the learning intentions for the meeting 19 19
How’s It Going? Every teacher gives a brief, informal report on his or her latest Af. L efforts, while colleagues listen and respond appropriately, following a structured protocol. 20 20
What does this mean for TLCs? • Routines need to be established, expectations shared, and structure maintained. • Similar expectations regarding preparation and engagement. – Come to the meeting knowing you will be sharing your own Af. L experiences. – Be prepared to offer constructive, thoughtfully conceived feedback to colleagues. – Be prepared to challenge ideas that may be good classroom practice but are not necessarily tightly related to formative assessment. 21 21
Supporting Each Other Questions to guide the routine: Thinking about what you’ve tried • If you tried a technique from your action plan: – How did it go? – Was it successful or unsuccessful? Why? • If there is a technique that you planned to try, but have not: – Why haven’t you tried it yet? – What modifications to the technique might make it more appealing for you to try out? – What support would you need in order to try out this technique? 22 22
Supporting Each Other Questions to guide the routine: Thinking about what’s working • If you tried a technique from your action plan: – How did it go? – Was it successful or unsuccessful? Why? • If there is a technique that you planned to try, but have not: – Why haven’t you tried it yet? – What modifications to the technique might make it more appealing for you to try out? – What support would you need in order to try out this technique? 23 23
Supporting Each Other Questions to guide the routine: Thinking about difficulties • If you or a colleague tried a technique, and it didn’t seem to work, OR • If you or a colleague have been reluctant to try a particular technique: – What do you think is getting in the way? – What help do you need to make this work? – How could this technique be modified to work for you? 24 24
How does “How’s It Going? ” improve teaching and learning? • Repetition – Supportive structure for getting better together – While the structure is constant, the “case studies” will vary-meetings not tedious or stale – Time to problem solve • Accountability • Keeps the Focus 25 25
New learning about Af. L • • • Magazine/journal articles Book study Official publications Personal experiences Video extracts 26 26
Personal Action Planning • Each teacher updates his or her personal Action Plan and arranges to get needed support from colleagues – – – Make ideas more concrete Provide a reference for future work Create accountability for trying new things Focus attention on a couple of areas Provide a reminder to give up some things 27 27
Summary of Learning • The group checks to see where they are with regard to the learning intentions for the meeting – If yes, great! – If no, plan for addressing any gaps 28 28
The TLC leader’s role • • • To ensure the TLC meets regularly To ensure all needed materials are at meetings To ensure that each meeting is focused on Af. L To create and maintain a productive and non-judgmental tone during meetings To ensure that every participant shares with regard to their implementation of Af. L To encourage teachers to provide their colleagues with constructive and thoughtful feedback To encourage teachers to think about and discuss the implementation of new Af. L learning and skills To ensure that every teacher has an action plan to guide their next steps But not to be the Af. L “expert” 29 29
Peer observation • Run to the agenda of the observee, not the observer • Observee specifies focus of observation • Observee specifies what counts as evidence – e. g. , teacher wants to increase wait-time – provides observer with a stop-watch to log wait-times 30 30
Summary • Raising achievement is important • Raising achievement requires improving teacher quality • Improving teacher quality requires teacher professional development • To be effective, teacher professional development must address – What teachers do in the classroom – How teachers change what they do in the classroom • Af. L + TLCs – A point of (uniquely? ) high leverage – A “Trojan Horse” into wider issues of pedagogy, psychology, and curriculum 31 31
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