Visible learning for teachers: maximizing impact on learning, 1st Edition

The main ideas of the book are: ~ The big idea is – know thy impact! Expert teachers are not wedded to specific teaching strategies – rather, they regularly focus on evaluating the effects they have on students, and adjust teaching methods accordingly. ~ When teaching and learning are " visible " – that is, when it is clear what teachers are teaching and what students are learning, student achievement increases. John Hattie made quite a splash with the publication of his earlier book, Visible Learning, in 2009. This book is based on a huge 15-year research project to discover what works in schools. In fact, one reviewer called it " teaching's Holy Grail. " By synthesizing over 50,000 studies related to achievement in school-aged students, Hattie conducted the biggest ever evidence-based research project in education. While research in education has come up with many findings, by synthesizing an enormous number of studies in such a rigorous and thorough way, Hattie has provided us (perhaps not with the Holy Grail) with a much more solid foundation of scientific research than we have ever had in the field of education! SO, what does this mean? And why didn't I summarize his earlier book, Visible Learning? It means that Hattie is taking the guesswork out of education by stating there are practices that we know are effective in the classroom and there are practices that we know are not. We do know what works. Visible Learning told the story of the factors that have the greatest impact on learning. I chose to summarize this book because it translates that story into information schools can put into practice. Also, honestly, it's not as dense for educators to read through. Note that this book does not provide a simple program or easy answers. This is a book of ideas that help practitioners understand the subtleties of research. It will take time to wrestle with some of the nuanced ideas – you can't just say, " Oh, we need more feedback " and run with it, because you may end up lowering student achievement. You need to do a close reading of these ideas.