Getting serious about school improvement: new models of teacher professional development

Dylan Wiliam Presentation to Governor’s Institute for Data Driven Instructional Practices in Reading and Mathematics for School Improvement Hershey, PA: July 2008 www.dylanwiliam.net

Overview of presentation

Why raising achievement is important Why investing in teachers is the answer Why formative assessment should be the focus Why teacher learning communities should be the mechanism How we can put this into practice

Raising achievement matters

For individuals

 Increased lifetime salary  Improved health  Longer life

For society

 Lower criminal justice costs  Lower health-care costs  Increased economic growth

…now more than ever…

$35.00

$30.00

$25.00

$20.00

$15.00

$10.00

$5.00

Dropout HS Diploma Some College BA/BSc Prof Degree $0.00

1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 Source: Economic Policy Institute

Which of the following categories of skill is disappearing from the work place most rapidly?

1.

2.

Routine manual Non-routine manual 3.

4.

5.

Routine cognitive Complex communication Expert thinking/problem-solving

…but what is learned matters too

Autor, Levy & Murnane, 2003

Where’s the solution?

Structure

 Small high schools  K-8 schools

Alignment

 Curriculum reform  Textbook replacement

Governance

 Charter Schools  Vouchers

Technology

 Computers  Interactive white-boards

School effectiveness

Three generations of school effectiveness research

 Raw results approaches  Different schools get different results  Conclusion: Schools make a difference  Demographic-based approaches  Demographic factors account for most of the variation  Conclusion: Schools don’t make a difference  Value-added approaches  School-level differences in value-added are relatively small  Classroom-level differences in value-added are large  Conclusion: An effective school is a school full of effective classrooms

It’s the classroom…

In the USA, variability at the classroom level is up to 4 times that 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

USA 100 80 60 -40 -60 -80 40 20 0 -20 Within schools Between schools Within schools Between schools explained by social background of schools Between schools explained by social background of students Between schools not explained by social background OECD PISA data from McGaw, 2008

Teacher quality matters…

Barber & Mourshed, 2007

…but more for some than others

Impact of teacher quality on student outcomes (Hamre & Pianta, 2005))

Achievement gaps

Disadvantaged background (mother’s education) Poor behavior Teacher’s provision of instructional support Teacher’s provision of emotional support High Average Low

No (good) No (good) Yes (bad)

High Average Low

Yes (bad) Yes (bad) Yes (bad)

High Average Low

Yes (bad) Yes (bad) Yes (bad)

High Average Low

No (good) Yes (bad) Yes (bad)

The ‘dark matter’ of teacher quality

Teachers make a difference But what makes the difference in teachers?

Advanced content matter knowledge <5% Pedagogical content knowledge Further professional qualifications (MA, NBPTS) Total “explained” difference 10-15% <5% 20-25%

Most of the rest is probably pedagogy

In real classrooms, over extended periods, using distal measures of achievement, adoption of formative assessment practices increases student achievement by 0.3 standard deviations.

One standard deviation of increased teacher quality is associated with an increase of 0.2 sd of student achievement Therefore the range of teacher quality (4 sd) is associated with 0.8 sd of student achievement.

Formative assessment practices would therefore seem to be equivalent to half of the “unexplained” difference

Teacher quality

A labor force issue with 2 (non-exclusive) solutions

 Replace existing teachers with better ones?

 Important, but very slow, and of limited impact  “Teach for America”  Gradually raising the bar for entry to teaching  Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers  The “love the one you’re with” strategy  It

can

be done  Provided we focus rigorously on the things that matter  Even when they’re hard to do

Cost/effect comparisons

Intervention Extra months of learning per year Class-size reduction (by 30%) 4 Increase teacher content knowledge from weak to strong Formative assessment/ Assessment for learning 2 8 Cost/yr $30k ?

$3k

The research evidence

Several major reviews of the research

 Natriello (1987)  Crooks (1988)  Kluger & DeNisi (1996)  Black & Wiliam (1998)  Nyquist (2003)

All find consistent, substantial effects

The formative assessment hi jack…

Long-cycle

 Span: across units, terms  Length: four weeks to one year  Impact: Student monitoring; curriculum alignment

Medium-cycle

 Span: within and between teaching units  Length: one to four weeks  Impact: Improved, student-involved, assessment; teacher cognition about learning

Short-cycle

 Span: within and between lessons  Length:  day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours  minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours  Impact: classroom practice; student engagement

Unpacking formative assessment

Key processes

 Establishing where the learners are in their learning  Establishing where they are going  Working out how to get there

Participants

 Teachers  Peers  Learners

Aspects of formative assessment

Teacher Peer Where the learner is going Where the learner is How to get there

Clarify and share learning intentions Engineering effective discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Understand and share learning intentions Activating students as learning resources for one another

Learner

Understand learning intentions Activating students as owners of their own learning

Five “key strategies”…

Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions

 curriculum philosophy

Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning

 classroom discourse, interactive whole-class teaching

Providing feedback that moves learners forward

 feedback

Activating students as learning resources for one another

 collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, peer-assessment

Activating students as owners of their own learning

 metacognition, motivation, interest, attribution, self-assessment (Wiliam & Thompson, 2007)

…and one big idea

Use evidence about learning to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs

Keeping Learning on Track (KLT)

A pilot guides a plane or boat toward its destination by taking constant readings and making careful adjustments in response to wind, currents, weather, etc.

A KLT teacher does the same:

 Plans a carefully chosen route ahead of time (in essence building the track)  Takes readings along the way  Changes course as conditions dictate

Putting it into practice

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

Knowledge ‘transfer’

to

Tacit knowledge Explicit knowledge

from

Tacit knowledge

Socialization

sympathised knowledge Dialogue

Externalization

conceptual knowledge Sharing experience Networking Explicit knowledge

Internalization

operational knowledge Learning by doing

Combination

systemic knowledge

After Nonaka & Tageuchi, 1995

Implementing formative assessment requires changing teacher habits

Teachers “know” most of this already So the problem is not a lack of knowledge It’s a lack of understanding what it means to do formative assessment That’s why telling teachers what to do doesn’t work 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, 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)

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 teacher started out as a student! — they’ve lived inside the old culture of classrooms all their lives: every  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…

 Professional development must be sustained over time

A model for teacher learning

Content, then process Content (what we want teachers to change)

 Evidence  Ideas (strategies and techniques)

Process (how to go about change)

 Choice  Flexibility  Small steps  Accountability  Support

Two opposing factors in any school reform

Need for flexibility to adapt to local conditions, resources, etc

 Implies there is appropriate flexibility built into the reform

Need to maintain fidelity to core principles, or theory of action of the reform, if it is to achieve desired outcomes

 Implies you have a well-thought-out theory of action

“Tight but loose”

Some reforms are too loose (e.g., the ‘Effective schools’ movement) Others are too tight (e.g., Montessori Schools) The “tight but loose” formulation

… combines an obsessive adherence to central design principles (the “tight” part) with accommodations to the needs, resources, constraints, and particularities that occur in any school or district (the “loose” part), but only where these do not conflict with the theory of action of the intervention.

Strategies and techniques

Distinction between strategies and techniques

 Strategies define the territory of formative assessment (no brainers)  Teachers are responsible for choice of techniques  Allows for customization/ caters for local context  Creates ownership  Shares responsibility

Key requirements of techniques

 embodiment of deep cognitive/affective principles  relevance  feasibility  acceptability

Examples of techniques

Learning intentions

 “sharing exemplars”

Eliciting evidence

 “mini white-boards”

Providing feedback

 “find it and fix it”

Students as owners of their learning

 “colored cups”

Students as learning resources

 “pre-flight checklist”

Design and intervention

Our design process cognitive/affective insights synergy/ comprehensiveness set of components Teachers’ implementation process set of components synergy/ comprehensiveness cognitive/affective insights

Sustaining formative assessment with teacher learning communities

Signature pedagogies

In Law

In Medicine

How to set up a TLC

Plan that the TLC will run 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 (75 - 120 minutes 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

A “signature pedagogy” for teacher learning?

Every monthly TLC meeting should follows the same structure and sequence of activities

Activity 1: Introduction & Housekeeping (5-10 minutes) Activity 2: How’s It Going (35-50 minutes) Activity 3: New Learning about formative assessment (20-45 minutes) Activity 4: Personal Action Planning (10 minutes) Activity 5: Summary of Learning (5 minutes)

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 AfL To create and maintain a productive and non-judgmental tone during meetings To ensure that every participant shares with regard to their implementation of AfL To encourage teachers to provide their colleagues with constructive and thoughtful feedback To encourage teachers to think about and discuss the implementation of new AfL learning and skills To ensure that every teacher has an action plan to guide their next steps But not to be the AfL “expert”

Peer observation

Run to the agenda of the observed, not the observer Observed teacher specifies focus of observation Observed teacher specifies what counts as evidence

 e.g., teacher wants to increase wait-time  provides observer with a stop-watch to log wait-times

The synergy

Content: formative assessment Process: teacher learning communities Components of a model

 Initial workshops  Monthly TLC meetings  Peer observations  ‘Drip-feed’ resources  Writings  New ideas

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

Formative assessment + Teacher learning communities

 A point of (uniquely?) high leverage  A “Trojan Horse” into wider issues of pedagogy, psychology, and curriculum

Comments?

Questions?

Practical techniques

Eliciting evidence

Key idea: questioning should

  cause thinking provide data that informs teaching

Improving teacher questioning

 generating questions with colleagues  closed v open  low-order v high-order  appropriate wait-time

Getting away from I-R-E

  basketball rather than serial table-tennis ‘No hands up’ (except to ask a question)   class polls to review current attitudes towards an issue ‘Hot Seat’ questioning

All-student response systems

 ABCD cards, Mini white-boards, Exit passes

Questioning in math: discussion

Look at the following sequence: 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, ….

Which is the best rule to describe the sequence?

A.

n + 4 B.

C.

D.

3 + n 4n - 1 4n + 3

Questioning in math: diagnosis

In which of these right-angled triangles is a 2 + b 2 = c 2 ?

A a b B a c C b c a D b b c c a E c a F c b b a

Questioning in science: discussion

Ice-cubes are added to a glass of water. What happens to the level of the water as the ice-cubes melt?

A.

B.

The level of the water drops The level of the water stays the same C.

The level of the water increases D.

You need more information to be sure

Questioning in science: diagnosis

The ball sitting on the table is not moving. It is not moving because: A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

no forces are pushing or pulling on the ball. gravity is pulling down, but the table is in the way.

the table pushes up with the same force that gravity pulls down gravity is holding it onto the table. there is a force inside the ball keeping it from rolling off the table

Wilson & Draney, 2004

Dinosaurs extinction

Why did dinosaurs become extinct?

 A) Humans destroyed their habitat  B) Humans killed them all for food  C) There was a major change in climate

Save the ozone layer

What can we do to preserve the ozone layer?

A.

Reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by cars and factories B.

Reduce the greenhouse effect C.

Stop cutting down the rainforests D.

Limit the numbers of cars that can be used when the level of ozone is high E.

Properly dispose of air-conditioners and fridges

Questioning in English: discussion

Macbeth: mad or bad?

Questioning in English: diagnosis

Where is the verb in this sentence?

The dog ran across the road

A B C D

Questioning in English: diagnosis

Which of these is the best thesis statement?

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

The typical TV show has 9 violent incidents The essay I am going to write is about violence on TV There is a lot of violence on TV The amount of violence on TV should be reduced Some programs are more violent than others Violence is included in programs to boost ratings Violence on TV is interesting I don’t like the violence on TV

Questioning in history: discussion

In which year did World War II begin?

A.

1919 B.

1938 C.

D.

E.

1939 1940 1941

Questioning in history: diagnosis

Why are historians concerned with bias when analyzing sources?

A.

People can never be trusted to tell the truth B.

C.

People deliberately leave out important details People are only able to provide meaningful information if they experienced an event firsthand D.

E.

F.

People interpret the same event in different ways, according to their experience People are unaware of the motivations for their actions People get confused about sequences of events

Questioning in MFL: discussion

Is the verb “être” regular in French?

Questioning in MFL: diagnosis

Which of the following is the correct translation for ”I give the book to him”?

A.

Yo lo doy el libro.

B.

C.

Yo doy le el libro.

Yo le doy el libro.

D.

E.

F.

Yo doy lo el libro.

Yo doy el libro le.

Yo doy el libro lo.

Hinge Questions

A hinge question is based on the important concept in a lesson that is critical for students to understand before you move on in the lesson.

The question should fall about midway during the lesson.

Every student must respond to the question within two minutes.

You must be able to collect and interpret the responses from all students in 30 seconds

Figurative language

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

Alliteration Hyperbole Irony Metaphor Onomatopoeia Personification Simile None of the above 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

He was a bull in a china shop.

May I have a drop of water?

This backpack weighs a ton.

The sweetly smiling sunshine… He honked his horn at the cyclist.

I’ve told you a million times already.

The Redcoats are coming!

“They in the sea being burnt, they in the burnt ship drown’d.” He was as tall as a house.

Triangle shirt waist factory fire, March 25th, 1911

Triangle factory fire

Which of the following sources is biased?

A.

B.

C.

D.

Photograph of the event New York Times story on Mar 26, 1911 Description of the fire in the textbook Transcript of talk by Frances Perkins, Sep 30 1964

Practical techniques: feedback

Key idea: feedback should

 cause thinking  provide guidance on how to improve

Comment-only grading Focused grading Explicit reference to rubrics Suggestions on how to improve

 ‘Strategy cards’ ideas for improvement  Not giving complete solutions

Re-timing assessment

 (eg three-fourths-of-the-way-through-a-unit test)

Practical techniques: sharing learning intentions

Explaining learning intentions at start of lesson/unit

 Learning intentions  Success criteria

Intentions/criteria in students’ language Posters of key words to talk about learning

 eg describe, explain, evaluate

Planning/writing frames Annotated examples of different standards to ‘flesh out’ assessment rubrics (e.g. lab reports) Opportunities for students to design their own tests

Students owning their learning and as learning resources

Students assessing their own/peers’ work

 with rubrics  with exemplars  “two stars and a wish”

Training students to pose questions/identifying group weaknesses Self-assessment of understanding

 Traffic lights  Red/green discs

End-of lesson students’ review

Force-field analysis (Lewin, 1954)

What are the forces that will support or drive the adoption of formative assessment practices in your school/district?

What are the forces that will constrain or prevent the adoption of formative assessment practices in your school/district?

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