Maximizing Impact on Student Learning

This sharing is based on the presenter’s own classroom research that seeks to maximize student learning. The pedagogical question at the heart of this research is how do we assess whether students have attained the learning goals as stated in the unit being taught?

Formative evaluation is among the most powerful factors identified by John Hattie in his seminal work on Visible Learning (2016). Formative evaluation is a form of feedback from the learner to the teacher, and focuses on the goals of the learning process (Hattie & Zierer, 2018). Underpinning this approach is the gathering of data on student learning and using the data to determine the gaps between the stated learning goals for a curriculum unit, and whether learners have attained the goals.

By undertaking a formative evaluation at the end of a unit, it allows the teacher to gather critical feedback from students about their learning and the attainment of the unit’s learning goals. Formative evaluation also provides an opportunity for the teacher to identify instructional “blind spots” and make necessary adjustments to close the learning gaps before the onset of summative assessments at the end of the curriculum unit. After all, is it not the objective of all pedagogical efforts that students achieve the stated learning goals?

This paper will share how data on student learning was collected and how formative evaluation was conducted using the data to design relevant instructional adjustments. The post-intervention data, both quantitative and qualitative, were subsequently collected to measure the success of the teacher’s instructional adjustments.

Conclusions from this classroom research were subsequently used to design a four-step instructional approach for practitioners on the use of formative evaluation.  This paper presentation will outline the four-step process as follows: (i) formulating clear learning goals, (ii) describing the success criteria, (iii) assessing students’ attainment of learning goals, and (iv) making the necessary instructional adjustments.  As part of the teacher’s post-research work, at least two presentations have been scheduled in 2018 to share this research with fellow professionals, both within the school as well as outside the school.