I recently finished reading Dylan Wiliam’s Leadership for Teacher Learning (Learning Sciences International, 2016). In this book Wiliam argues, as he does elsewhere, (see Black and Wiliam,2010and Wiliam, 2017) that to improve teaching and learning in a school “nothing is likely to be more cost effective than improving teachers’ use of classroom formative assessment” (Wiliam, 2016, p.4). He maintains that research consistently shows that improvements in classroom formative assessment will have the greatest impact on student achievement.
One of the features of Wiliam’s writing that I find particularly compelling is his very critical eye on research methodology and assumptions. He questions, for example, the usefulness of looking at average numbers from very large pools of data, where we lose sight of the range of the data set, which might in fact carry greater implications for applicability within our own setting (p. 42). In another section he points out the pitfalls of copying specific elements of school systems from one country to another without considering the context, culture, format and other factors that impact their implementation (p. 28). Thirdly, he notes that meta-analysis necessarily involves making subjective decisions regarding which (published) studies will be considered, therefore rendering the conclusions suspect as the inclusion criteria may not be completely transparent (p. 79). These examples show that, although he proposes a number of initiatives, he invites each teacher (and each school community) to consider carefully which initiatives are most practical and will yield the greatest impact on student learning within a school.
As I read, the following points struck me as having direct implications on our school’s culture and practices around professional development:
- Teachers need subject-specific knowledge for teaching that includes the type of difficulties a student tends to face in learning that subject, and the type of questions that help us best assess student understanding. This might encourage us to focus on department-centred professional development. However, this should be balanced with school-wide improvement efforts that render exploration of strategies more coherent across subject areas.
- The success of any PD initiative should be measured by its impact on student learning. I have shared this idea on the guidelines for our collaborative networks, and we have discussed this in our curriculum team and curriculum review launch. However, I am now reflecting on the idea of measurement. How will we measure the impact of each collaborative network on student learning? How do we measure the effect of the carefully considered changes to our curriculum in each department? How do we measure the influence of the many conferences and workshops we have attended? I think that some of these questions can be answered through our new Professional Learning Plan initiative, which will allow each individual the opportunity to reflect on their contribution to student learning, but it is worth considering how to make this component explicit given our current format.
- Wiliam devotes a section to explaining why a teacher evaluation framework cannot work as a teacher improvement framework, concluding that teacher evaluation frameworks can lead a teacher to identify areas for growth that are “easy” and that do not have direct impact on student learning. This is particularly relevant in light of our new Professional Learning Plan, and it raises a question in my mind as to whether we should, in fact, focus specifically on what the teacher is doing in the classroom, instead of devoting time and attention to teachers’ other contributions. In fact, Wiliam writes “[If] we want to improve a teacher’s performance, attention to classroom environment and instruction will benefit students more than attention to planning and preparation and professional responsibilities” (p. 126). Although work in the boarding house is very important to a student’s experience at Le Rosey (as well as the other areas towards which a teacher contributes), the biggest impact on student learning will be classroom environment and instruction. Shouldn’t we then ask all teachers to reflect on those areas first and foremost?
- Wiliam promotes the format of “professional learning communities”, where teachers come together in small groups to explore, practice and internalise research-based teaching practices. Those teams are of particular importance to help the individual teacher engage in deliberate practice, described by K. Anders Ericsson as, “a highly structured activity, the explicit goal of which is to improve performance. Specific tasks are invented to overcome weaknesses, and performance is carefully monitored to provide cues for ways to improve further” (quoted on p. 140). Because this type of activity requires sustained effort over time, a team of colleagues with similar goals can be a defining factor in one’s individual success. At the time of sharing with teachers the format for our collaborative networks, I did think that looking at best practices in small groups would be a very effective way to utilise the CN structure and format, although proposals have tackled a wider range of issues and topics. I hope we can look at this format again when our regular school calendar resumes.
- Wiliam proposes five key principles for professional learning communities (p. 165):
- choice, so that a teacher can determine their own priorities (and own them);
- flexibility, so that they can modify the practices they want to develop;
- small steps, so that they can commit to 2-3 strategies and continue to focus on them until the new strategies become “second nature”;
- accountability, so that they keep a record of their action plan and share it with their colleagues; and
- support, so that there is a balance between the teacher’s commitment to development for improved student learning outcomes, and the mechanisms that will enable this (time, space, dispensation, support for innovation and risk-taking, etc.).
- These elements are embedded in the conceptualisation of the Professional Learning Plan, but I am interested in exploring further the way we can reflect specifically on the impact in student learning as a way to measure the success of the PLP for individual teachers.
- Something I had not considered for the PLP but which I think is a very useful idea is that when teachers prepare their action plan they also have to explicitly identify “what they will do less of or give up entirely to make room for improvement” (p.180). This shows the teacher that we are aware of how hard they work and when they ask, “What gives?” in order to focus on a new goal, we can involve them in the process of determining what changes they will make to enable that new learning.
- It is encouraging to read about a number of implementation features that resonate with our PLP design:
- The importance of allowing 2-3 years for a significant impact in student learning to “materialise”, as a result of deliberate practice to change one’s habits (p. 220).
- The importance of allocating time (secure, fixed) for those involved in a learning community– or learning plan, in our case (p. 221).
- Three key processes: a clear sense of current performance, a learning goal and the steps needed to reach the goal (p. 235). This resonates with Jim Knight’s model for instructional coaching, which our PLP draws from.
- Promoting video recording (and reflection) over single-visit classroom observations (p. 236).
- Encouraging the teacher to compare his/her performance “with his or her previous performance” as opposed to a rubric or some other “standard” (p. 238).
- The importance of involving peers in providing feedback to teachers (p. 238).
- The teacher is in control of their growth experience by (i) specifying the focus of any observation (whether on video or live); (ii) specifying the evidence to be collected; (iii) owning any notes made by the observer (or the video footage of their class). (p. 238).
- The following idea would make for a beautiful component in any teacher evaluation (not the PLP): “evaluations are based on what the teacher learned in teaching the lesson. This creates an incentive for teachers to innovate and experiment because if the lesson goes completely as planned, there is little opportunity for the teacher to learn. Learning is much easier when things go wrong than when things go right” (p. 184).
It is clear to me we are getting many things right in our approach to professional development, and finding clear research that supports some of our recent decisions is encouraging. What matters is how we move forward to maintain this momentum: a strategic plan is of utmost importance at this point.
My favourite quotations:
In many countries, it would be absurd to design an education system without having a clear statement of the purpose of education, but in the United States, like many English-speaking countries, there is widespread distrust of philosophy. This practical approach can be very useful in avoiding long debates, but there is also a danger that differences in unexamined assumptions make meaningful debate impossible.(my emphasis, p. 7)
[T]he reason that we need education to be broadly based is that a broadly based curriculum can provide young people with sources of fulfillment into adulthood… For me, the whole idea of school is that it exposes children to things that they would not otherwise come across. Schooling should, literally, broaden the mind. (my emphasis, p. 18)
A best-evidence review of research [by Education Endowment Foundation, 2013] on improving achievement in K-12 education identified the three most cost effective strategies for improving learning in schools as feedback, peer tutoring, and metacognition and self-evaluation. (p. 112)
[Teachers] could be even better if we create a climate in which all teachers work hard on improvement, not because they are not good enough, but because they could be even better. (p. 161)
Sources
Black, Paul, and Dylan Wiliam. “Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment.” Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 92, no. 1, 2010, pp. 81–90.
Wiliam, Dylan. Embedded Formative Assessment. Solution Tree Press, 2011.
Wiliam, Dylan. Leadership Teacher Learning: Creating a Culture Where All Teachers Improve so That All Students Succeed. Learning Sciences International, 2016.
