Research-Led Approachesto Increasing Pupil Learning

BOWDEN ROOM

Professor Robert CoeDirector of the Centre for Evaluationand Monitoring at Durham University

Research-Led Approachesto Increasing Pupil Learning

Research-Led Approaches to Increasing Pupil LearningRobert CoeNorth of England Education Conference 2014Nottingham, 15 January

∂

Outline How can we use school resources to get the

biggest increases in learning? What can research tell us about the likely

impact of different strategies? How do we implement these strategies? What else do we need do to make it likely

that attainment will rise?

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Improving Education: A triumph of hope over experiencehttp://www.cem.org/attachments/publications/ImprovingEducation2013.pdf

Evidence about the effectiveness of different strategies

6

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Toolkit of Strategies to Improve Learning

The Sutton Trust-EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit http://www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/

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Impact vs cost

Cost per pupil

Effec

t Size

(mon

ths g

ain)

£00

8

£1000

Meta-cognitive

Peer tutoringEarly Years1-1 tuitionHomework

(Secondary)

Mentoring

Summer schools After

school

AspirationsPerformance pay

Teaching assistants

Smaller classes

Ability grouping

Most promising for raising attainment

May be worth it

Small effects /

high cost

Feedback

Phonics

Homework (Primary)

CollaborativeSmall gp

tuition Parental involvement

Individualised learning

ICT

Behaviour

Social

www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit

∂

Some things that are popular or widely thought to be effective are probably not worth doing– Ability grouping (setting); After-school clubs;

Teaching assistants; Smaller classes; Performance pay; Raising aspirations

Some things look ‘promising’– Effective feedback; Meta- cognitive and self

regulation strategies; Peer tutoring/peer‐assisted learning strategies; Homework

Key messages

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Clear, simple advice:

Choose from the top left Go back to school and do it

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For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong

H.L. Mencken

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Why not? We have been doing some of these things for a

long time, but have generally not seen improvement

Research evidence is problematic– Sometimes the existing evidence is thin– Research studies may not reflect real life– Context and ‘support factors’ may matter

Implementation is problematic– We may think we are doing it, but are we doing it right?– We do not know how to get large groups of teachers and

schools to implement these interventions in ways that are faithful, effective and sustainable

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So what should we do?

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∂

Four steps to improvement

Think hard about learning Invest in good professional development Evaluate teaching quality Evaluate impact of changes

1. Think hard about learning

∂

Impact vs cost

Cost per pupil

Effec

t Size

(mon

ths g

ain)

£00

8

£1000

Meta-cognitive

Peer tutoringEarly Years1-1 tuitionHomework

(Secondary)

Mentoring

Summer schools After

school

AspirationsPerformance pay

Teaching assistants

Smaller classes

Ability grouping

Most promising for raising attainment

May be worth it

Small effects /

high cost

Feedback

Phonics

Homework (Primary)

CollaborativeSmall gp

tuition Parental involvement

Individualised learning

ICT

Behaviour

Social

www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit

∂

Poor Proxies for Learning Students are busy: lots of work is done (especially written

work) Students are engaged, interested, motivated Students are getting attention: feedback, explanations Classroom is ordered, calm, under control Curriculum has been ‘covered’ (ie presented to students in

some form) (At least some) students have supplied correct answers,

even if they– Have not really understood them– Could not reproduce them independently– Will have forgotten it by next week (tomorrow?)– Already knew how to do this anyway

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∂Learning happens when people have

to think hard

A simple theory of learning

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Hard questions about your school

How many minutes does an average pupil on an average day spend really thinking hard?

Do you really want pupils to be ‘stuck’ in your lessons?

If they knew the right answer but didn’t know why, how many pupils would care?

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2. Invest in effective CPD

∂

How do we get students to learn hard things?

Eg Place value Persuasive

writing Music

composition Balancing

chemical equations

• Explain what they should do• Demonstrate it• Get them to do it (with

gradually reducing support)• Provide feedback • Get them to practise until it is

secure• Assess their skill/

understanding

∂

How do we get teachers to learn hard things?

Eg Using formative

assessment Assertive

discipline How to teach

algebra

• Explain what they should do

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Intense: at least 15 contact hours, preferably 50 Sustained: over at least two terms Content focused: on teachers’ knowledge of

subject content & how students learn it Active: opportunities to try it out & improve Supported: external feedback and networks to

improve and sustain Evidence based: promotes strategies supported by

robust evaluation evidence Evaluated: so we know the impact on learning

What CPD helps learners?

3. Evaluate teaching quality

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Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.

Dylan Wiliam

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Monitoring the quality of teaching

Classroom observation– Much harder than you think!– Multiple observations/ers, trained and QA’d

Progress in assessments– Quality of assessment matters

Student ratings– Extremely valuable, if done properly

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4. Evaluate impact of changes

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School ‘improvement’ often isn’t School would have improved anyway

– Volunteers/enthusiasts improve: misattributed to intervention– Chance variation (esp. if start low)

Poor outcome measures– Perceptions of those who worked hard at it– No robust assessment of pupil learning

Poor evaluation designs– Weak evaluations more likely to show positive results – Improved intake mistaken for impact of intervention

Selective reporting– Dredging for anything positive (within a study)– Only success is publicised

(Coe, 2009, 2013)

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Clear, well defined, replicable intervention

Good assessment of appropriate outcomes

Well-matched comparison group

EEF DIY

Evaluatio

n Guide

Key elements of good evaluation

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1. Think hard about learning

2. Invest in good CPD

3. Evaluate teaching quality

4. Evaluate impact of changes

Summary …

Robert.Coe@cem.dur.ac.uk @ProfCoe

www.cem.org

Research-Led Approachesto Increasing Pupil Learning