Peels Growing Success Monograph Series:

Visible Learning, An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Revised April 2013

CISESS, Peel District School Board

Know thy impact. John Hattie

Policy
The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning.
Assessment is the process of gathering information that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum
expectations in a subject or course The purpose of improving student learning is seen as both assessment for learning
and assessment as learning. As part of assessment for learning, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback and
coaching for improvement. Teachers engage in assessment as learning by helping all students develop their capacity to be
independent, autonomous learners who are able to set individual goals, monitor their own progress, determine next steps,
and reflect on their thinking and learning.
As essential steps in assessment for learning and as learning, teachers need to:
plan assessment concurrently and integrate it seamlessly with instruction;
share learning goals and success criteria with students at the outset of learning to ensure that students and teachers have
a common and shared understanding of these goals and criteria as learning progresses;
gather information about student learning before, during, and at or near the end of a period of instruction, using a variety
of assessment strategies and tools;
use assessment to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help students monitor their progress towards achieving their
learning goals; analyse and interpret evidence of learning;
give and receive specific and timely descriptive feedback about student learning;
help students to develop skills of peer and self-assessment.

Context
Students interest in learning and their belief that they can learn are critical to their success. After reviewing the
impact of testing on students motivation to learn, Harlen and Deakin Crick (p. 203) recommended the use of assessment for
learning and as learning including strategies such as sharing learning goals and success criteria, providing feedback in
relation to goals, and developing students ability to self-assess as a way of increasing students engagement in and
commitment to learning. Assessment plays a critical role in teaching and learning and should have as its goal the
development of students as independent and autonomous learners. As an integral part of teaching and learning, assessment
should be planned concurrently with instruction and integrated seamlessly into the learning cycle to inform instruction,
guide next steps, and help teachers and students monitor students progress towards achieving learning goals.
Researcher John Hattie defines/summarizes the value of Visible Teaching Visible Learning in three ways:
1. When teachers SEE learning through the eyes of the student.
2. When students SEE themselves as their own teachers.
Hatties 15 year research findings (800+ meta-analyses, 50 000 studies, 200+ million students) on the most important
influences on student learning provide teachers/principals with opportunities to renew healthy debate about the merits of
various influences, instructional interventions and strategies. Hattie argues that, if the starting point of effect is zero, then
almost all teaching strategies can claim to show an impact on student learning. Instead, he says that we need to ask the
question whether the strategy is effective compared with other strategies? We also need to know the story behind the
use of any given strategy. Hattie uses .40 as the typical, average effect size or hinge point. He wants us to pay attention
to strategies that are both above and below this hinge point. He does not argue for all teachers simply using the top ten or
twenty strategies, but rather, if we are using strategies currently ranked below .40 the question becomes, what is the
impact of this or that strategy on student growth and learning and how do we know? Is it working or not working?
The purpose of this monograph is to provide an introductory overview of Hatties research findings and conclusions as a way
to stimulate critically thoughtful discussions among Peel educators about the impact their teaching is having on student
learning . Hatties work provides us with a third point to assess the (relative) effectiveness of our own actions. The
monograph is not intended to be a blanket endorsement of Hatties research methods, findings or personal philosophy. We
must always review current educational research through a critical filter of our own individual and collective professional
judgment and practice. Of course teachers and principals are invited to read Hatties work in full (Visible Learning for
Teachers and Visible Learning) and to make vital comparisons/connections between it and Growing Success.

Page 2

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Which Classroom Practices Embody Visible Learning?

Teachers use...

Such that students

Clear learning intentions

Understand learning intentions

Challenging success criteria

Are challenged by success criteria

Range of learning strategies

Develop a range of learning strategies

Know when students are not progressing

Know when they are not progressing

Providing feedback

Seek feedback

Visibly learn themselves

Visibly teach themselves

What Are the Principles Behind Visible Learning?

I see learning through the eyes of my students

Mind
Frames
I am an
evaluator/activator
I am a change
agent
I am a seeker of
feedback
I use dialogue
more than
monologue
I enjoy challenge
I have high
expectations for all
I welcome error
I am passionate
about and promote
the language of
learning

A Cooperative
and Critical
Planner
I use learning
intentions and
success criteria
I aim for surface
and deep outcomes
I consider prior
achievement and
attitudes
I set high
expectation targets
I feed the gap in
student learning

An Adaptive
Learning Expert
I create
trusting
environments
I know the
power of
peers
I use multiple
strategies
I know when
and how to
differentiate
I foster
deliberate
practice and
concentration
I know I can
develop
confidence to
succeed

I help students to become their own teachers

A Receiver
of Feedback
I know how to
use the three
feedback
questions
I know how to
use the three
feedback levels
I give and
receive
feedback
I monitor and
interpret my
learning/
teaching

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Page 3

Visible Learning Checklist for Planning and Self-assessment (Pg 1.)

The following checklist is meant as a prompt for reflection and action by teachers and principals. Each
item comes directly from John Hatties findings. The meaning of most items is apparent/obvious but
other items might require a teacher/principal to be more conversant with the accompanying explanations
in Hatties book, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. Hopefully, teachers and
principals can use the checklist as a way forward through continuous self-assessment, to minimize the
amount of variability across classrooms in a single school or schools across a district. Hatties checklist
aligns well to Growing Success policy and demonstrates the power of absolute clarity, transparency and
commitment to learning goals, success criteria and descriptive feedback. The column on the right
allows teachers and/or principals to self-assess by indicating B=Beginning, D=Developing,
A/I=Applying/Innovating and the evidence to support this assessment.

Visible Learning
6. The school has, and teachers use, defensible methods for:
a. monitoring, recording, and making available, on a just in
time basis, interpretations about prior, present and targeted
student achievement;
b. monitoring the progress of students regularly throughout and
across years, and this information is used in planning and
evaluating lessons;
c. creating targets relating to the effects that teachers are
expected to have on all students learning.
7. Teachers understand the attitudes and dispositions that
students bring to the lesson, and aim to enhance these so that
they are a positive part of learning.
8. Teachers within the school jointly plan series of lessons, with
learning intentions (goals) and success criteria related to
worthwhile curricular specifications.
9. There is evidence that these planned lessons:
a. invoke appropriate challenges that engage the students
commitment to invest in learning;
b. capitalize on and build students confidence to attain the
learning intentions;
c. are based on appropriately high expectations of outcomes for
students;
d. lead to students having goals to master and wishing to
reinvest in their learning; and
e. have learning intentions and success criteria that are
explicitly known by the student.
10. All teachers are thoroughly familiar with the curriculum in
terms of content, levels of difficulty, expected progressions
and share common interpretations about these with each other.
11. Teachers talk with each other about the impact of their
teaching, based on evidence of student progress, and about how
to maximize their impact with all students.

Self-assessment (B, D, A/I)

& Evidence

Page 4

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Visible Learning Checklist for Planning and Self-assessment (Pg. 2)

Visible Learning
12. The climate of the class, evaluated from the students
perspective, is seen as fair: students feel that it is okay to say I
do not know or I need help; there is a high level of trust and
students believe that they are listened to; and students know
that the purpose of the class is to learn and make progress.
13. The staffroom has a high level of relational trust (respect for
each persons role in learning, respect for expertise, personal
regard for others, and high levels of integrity) when making
policy and teaching decisions.
14. The staffrooms and classroom are dominated more by
dialogue than by monologue about learning.
15. The classrooms are dominated more by student than teacher
questions.
16. There is a balance between teachers talking, listening, and
doing: there is a similar balance between students talking,
listening and doing.
17. Teachers and students are aware of the balance of surface,
deep and conceptual understanding involved in the lesson
intentions (goals).
18. Teachers and students use the power of peers positively to
progress learning.
19. In each class and across the school, labelling of students is
rare.
20. Teachers have high expectations for all students, and
constantly seek evidence to check and enhance these
expectations. The aim of the school is to help all students to
exceed their potential.
21. Students have high expectations relative to their current
learning for themselves.
22. Teachers choose the teaching methods as a final step in the
lesson planning process and evaluate this choice in terms of their
impact on students.
23. Teachers see their fundamental role as evaluators and
activators of learning.
24. Teachers have rich understandings about how learning
involves moving forward through various levels of capabilities,
capacities, catalysts, and competencies.
25. Teachers understand how learning is based on students
needing multiple learning strategies to achieve surface and deep
understanding.
26. Teachers provide differentiation to ensure that learning is
meaningfully and efficiently directed to all students gaining the
intentions (learning goals) of the lesson(s).

Self-assessment (B, D, A/I)

& Evidence

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Page 5

Visible Learning Checklist for Planning and Self-assessment (Pg. 3)

Visible Learning
27. Teachers are adaptive learning experts who know where
students are on the continuum from novice to capable to
proficient, when students are and are not learning, and where
to go next, and who can create a classroom climate to attain
these learning goals.
28. Teachers are able to teach multiple ways of knowing and
multiple ways of interacting, and provide multiple opportunities
for practice.
29. Teachers and students have multiple strategies for learning.
30. Teachers use principles from backward design moving
from the outcomes (success criteria) back to the learning
intentions (goals), then to the activities and resources needed
to attain the success criteria.
31. All students are taught how to practise deliberately and
how to concentrate.
32. Processes are in place for teachers to see learning through
the eyes of students.
33. Teachers are aware of, and aim to provide feedback,
relative to, the three important feedback questions: Where am
I going, How am I going there?; and Where to next?
34. Teachers are aware of, and aim to provide feedback
relative to, the three important levels of feedback: task,
process and self-regulation.
35. Teachers are aware of the importance of praise, but do not
mix praise with feedback information.
36. Teachers provide feedback appropriate to the point at
which students are in their learning, and seek evidence that this
feedback is appropriately received.
37. Teachers use multiple assessment methods to provide rapid
formative interpretations to students and to make adjustments
to their teaching to maximize learning.
38. Teachers:
a. are more concerned with how students receive and interpret
feedback;
b. know that students prefer to have more progress than
corrective feedback;
c. know that when students have more challenging targets, this
leads to greater receptivity to feedback;
d. deliberately teach students how to ask for, understand, and
use the feedback provided; and
e. recognize the value of peer feedback, and deliberately teach
peers to give other students appropriate feedback.

Self-assessment (B, D, A/I)

& Evidence

Page 6

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Visible Learning Checklist for Planning and Self-assessment (Pg. 4)

Visible Learning

Self-assessment (B, D, A/I)

& Evidence

39. Teachers provide evidence that all students feel as though

they have been invited into their class to learn effectively. This
invitation involves feelings of respect, trust, optimism, and
intention to learn.
40. Teachers collect evidence of the student experience in their
classes about their success as change agents, about their levels
of inspiration, and about sharing their passion with students.
41. Together, teachers critique the learning intentions (goals)
and success criteria, and have evidence that:
a. students can articulate the learning intentions (goals) and
success criteria in a way that shows that they understand them;
b. students attain the success criteria;
c. students see the success criteria as appropriately
challenging; and
d. teachers use the information when planning their next set of
lessons/learning.
42. Teachers create opportunities for both formative (for
learning) and summative (of learning) interpretations of student
learning, and use these interpretations to inform future
decisions about their teaching.
Hatties Six Signposts Towards Excellence in Education (Visible Learning, pp. 238-9)
1. Teachers are among the most powerful influences in learning.
2. Teachers need to be directive, influential, caring, and actively engaged in the passion of teaching and learning.
3. Teachers need to be aware of what each and every student is thinking and knowing, to construct meaning and
meaningful experiences in light of this knowledge, and have proficient knowledge and understanding of their content
to provide meaningful and appropriate feedback such that each student moves progressively through the curriculum
levels.
4. Teachers need to know the learning intentions (goals) and success criteria of their lessons, know how well they are
attaining these criteria for all students, and know where to go next in light of the gap between students current
knowledge and understanding and the success criteria of : Where are you going?, How are you going?, and
Where to next?.
5. Teachers need to move from the single idea to multiple ideas, and to relate and then extend these ideas such that
learners construct and reconstruct knowledge and ideas. It is not the knowledge or ideas, but the learners
construction of this knowledge and these ideas that is critical.
6. School leaders and teachers need to create school, staffroom, and classroom environments where error is welcomed as
a learning opportunity, where discarding incorrect knowledge and understandings is welcomed, and where participants
can feel safe to learn, re-learn, and explore knowledge and understanding.
In these six signposts, the word teachers is deliberate, as a major theme is when teachers meet to discuss, evaluate and
plan their teaching in light of the feedback evidence about the success or otherwise of their teaching strategies and
conceptions about progress and appropriate challenge. This is not critical reflection, but critical reflection in light of
evidence about their teaching.

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Page 7

Visible Learning Your Personal Health Check

Instructions: Think carefully about each statement below and Check B, D, or A/I beside each item.
Take some time to discuss your findings with a partner or small group.
B=Beginning (I am beginning to learn more about this and how it can transform my classroom)
D=Developing (I am reshaping my classroom as I construct new ways to implement these ideas)
A/I=Applying/Innovating (I am refining these ideas with increasing effectiveness in my classroom)
___I am actively engaged in, and passionate about teaching and learning.
___I provide students with multiple opportunities for learning based on surface and deep thinking.
___I know the learning intentions and success criteria of my lessons, and I share these with
students.
___I am open to learning and actively learn myself.
___I have a warm and caring classroom climate in which errors are welcome.
___I seek regular feedback from my students.
___My students are actively involved in knowing about their learning (that is, they are assessmentcapable).
___I can identify progression in learning across multiple curricular levels in my student work and
activities.
___I have a wide range of teaching strategies in my day-to-day teaching repertoire.
___I use evidence of learning to plan the next learning steps with students.

What Expert Teachers Know and Can Do

a. Expert teachers can identify the most important ways in which to represent the subject that they teach
b. Expert teachers are proficient at creating an optimal classroom climate for learning
c. Expert teachers monitor learning and provide feedback
d. Expert teachers believe that all students can reach the success criteria
e. Expert teachers influence surface and deep student outcomes

Page 8

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

8 Mind Frames
Hattie points out that teachers do have theories of practice. The argument for Visible Learning rests on
holding a set of mind frames that underpin every action/decision made by a teacher in a school. These have
been reproduced here as a third point for discussion among teachers and administrators.

Mind Frame 1: Teachers/leaders believe that their fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of their
teaching on students learning and achievement
Key Questions:
How do I know that this is working?
How do I compare this with that?
What is the merit and worth of this influence on learning?
What is the magnitude of the effect?
What evidence would convince me that I was wrong in using these methods and resources?
Where is the evidence that shows that this is superior to other programs?
Where have I seen this practice installed where it has produced effective results (which would convince me and my
colleagues on the basis of the magnitude of the effects)?
Do I share a common conception of progress with other teachers?

Mind Frame 2: Teachers/leaders believe that success and failure in student learning is about what they,
as teachers or leaders, did or did not doWe are change agents!
Some positive beliefs that need to be fostered include the following:
All students can be challenged
Its all about strategies, never styles
It is important to develop high expectations for all students relative to their starting point
It is important to encourage help-seeking behaviours
It is important to teach multiple learning strategies to all students
It is important to develop assessment-capable students
Developing peer interactions is powerful for improving learning
Critique, error and feedback are powerful opportunities for improving learning
Developing student self-regulation and developing students as teachers are powerful mechanisms for improving
learning
Dont blame the kids
Handicaps of social class and home resources are surmountable
There is no place for deficit thinking-that is, there is no labelling of students, nor are there low expectations of
students

Mind Frame 3: Teachers/leaders want to talk more about the learning than the teaching
Mind Frame 4: Teachers/leaders see assessment as feedback about their impact
Critical questions:
Who did you teach well and who not so well?
What did you teach well and what not so well?
Where are the gaps, where are the strengths, what was achieved, and what has still to be achieved?
How do we develop a common conception of progress with the students and with all of the teachers in our school?

Mind Frame 5: Teachers/leaders engage in dialogue not monologue

Mind Frame 6: Teachers/leaders enjoy the challenge and never retreat to doing their best
Mind Frame 7: Teachers/leaders believe that it is their role to develop positive relationships in
classrooms and staffrooms

Mind Frame 8: Teachers/leaders inform all about the language of learning

Page 9

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Hatties Research Findings and the Assessment Framework in Growing Success

Influences on Student Achievement that align to assessment for learning Practices (.40 is the typical/average effect size) in
Growing Success (indicated in brackets). Hatties findings support the power of learning intentions and success criteria.
Rank (out of 135)
1
3
8
9
10
11
13
25
29
30
34
36
53

Influence
Student expectations of their own achievement
(self-assessment)
Providing formative evaluation
(assessment for learning)
Teacher clarity
(learning goals and success criteria)
Reciprocal teaching
(peers as instructional resources)
Feedback
(feedback that moves learners forward)
Teacher-student relationships
(7 Fundamental Principles, Climate for Learning)
Meta-cognitive strategies
(peer and self-assessment, goal setting)
Direct Instruction
(explicit instruction gradual release of responsibility)
Mastery learning
(criterion-referenced assessment)
Worked examples
(inquiry/use of models and samples)
Challenging goals
(learning goals and success criteria)
Peer tutoring
(peers as instructional resources)
Questioning
(checking for understanding, assessment for learning)

Studies
209

Effect
305

ES
1.44

30

78

.90

Na

Na

.75

38

53

.74

1287

2050

.73

229

1450

.72

63

143

.69

304

597

.59

377

296

.58

62

151

.57

604

820

.56

767

1200

.55

211

271

.46

Barometer of Influence
For each influence or strategy, Hattie provides a visual in the form of a barometer which indicates the effect size of any
given influence/strategy. Typical or average effect size is .40. The barometer starts at below zero and goes beyond 1.0 in
terms of effect size. The thinking behind the barometer is captured in the question-whether this strategy or teaching
method worked better than alternative strategies? All influences above the hinge point (d=0.40) are labeled in the
Zone of desired effects as these are the influences that have the greatest impact on student achievement outcomes.
Typical effects from teachers fall between d=0.15 and d=0.40-any influences in this zone are similar to what teachers can
accomplish in a typical year of schooling. The zone between d=0.0 and d=0.15 is what students could probably achieve if
there was no schooling. Any effects below d=0.15 can be considered potentially harmful and probably should not be
implemented. The final category includes the reverse effects-those that decrease achievement. The sample barometer for
Formative Evaluation demonstrates that it is well above the typical or average effect size and is one of the most effective
classroom strategies that improve student achievement (0.90 Effect Size). For any influence/strategy, key questions for
teachers include: what impact am I having on my students? What did I teach well? Why? Not so well? Why not?

Page 10
RANK
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

INFLUENCES ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT (143 out of 150 are listed)

Self-reported grades/Student expectations (students estimations of own performance)

Piagetian programs (knowing students Piagetian stages of development)
Response to intervention (everything is examined in terms of its impact on the student)
Teacher credibility (students perceptions of value added teaching)
Providing formative evaluation (assessment for learning)
Micro-teaching (student teachers teaching small group of students in lab followed by debrief)
Classroom discussion
Comprehensive interventions for learning disabled students
Teacher clarity (clear learning intentions and success criteria)
Feedback (descriptive feedback)
Reciprocal teaching
Teacher-student relationships (climate for learning, working and assessment)
Spaced vs. mass practice (multiple and varied opportunities to practice)
Meta-cognitive strategies (assessment as learning)
Acceleration
Classroom behavioural
Vocabulary programs
Repeated reading programs
Creativity programs on achievement
Prior achievement
Self-verbalization and self-questioning
Study skills
Teaching strategies
Problem-solving teaching
Not labelling students
Comprehension programs
Concept mapping
Cooperative vs. individualistic learning
Direct instruction (explicit instruction, not didactic, gradual release of responsibility model)
Tactile stimulation programs
Mastery learning
Worked examples
Visual-perception programs
Peer tutoring
Cooperative vs competitive learning
Phonics instruction
Student-centred teaching
Classroom cohesion
Pre-term birth weight
Kellers Master Learning
Peer influences
Classroom management
Outdoor/adventure programs
Home environment
Socio-economic status
Interactive video methods
Professional development
Goals
Play programs
Second/third-chance programs
Parental involvement
Small-group learning
Questioning
Concentration/persistence/engagement
School effects
Motivation
Quality of teaching
Early intervention
Self-concept
Preschool programs
Writing programs
Teacher expectations
School size
Science programs
Cooperative learning
Exposure to reading
Behavioural organizers/adjunct questions
Mathematics programs
Reducing anxiety
Social skills programs
Integrated curricula programs

Effect Size
1.44
1.28
1.07
0.90
0.90
0.88
0.82
0.77
0.75
0.75
0.74
0.72
0.71
0.69
0.68
0.68
0.67
0.67
0.65
0.65
0.64
0.63
0.62
0.61
0.61
0.60
0.60
0.59
0.59
0.58
0.58
0.57
0.55
0.55
0.54
0.54
0.54
0.53
0.53
0.53
0.53
0.52
0.52
0.52
0.52
0.52
0.51
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.49
0.49
0.48
0.48
0.48
0.48
0.48
0.47
0.47
0.45
0.44
0.43
0.43
0.42
0.42
0.42
0.41
0.40
0.40
0.39
0.39

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

RANK
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143

INFLUENCES ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT (143 out of 150 are listed)

Enrichment
Principals/school leaders
Career interventions
Time on task
Psychotherapy programs
Computer-assisted instruction
Adjunct aids
Bilingual programs
Drama/arts programs
Creativity related to achievement
Attitude to mathematics/science
Frequency/effects of testing
Decreasing disruptive behaviour
Various teaching on creativity
Simulations
Inductive teaching
Ethnicity
Teacher effects
Drugs
Enquiry-based teaching
Systems accountability
Ability grouping for gifted students
Homework
Home visiting
Exercise/relaxation
Desegregation
Teaching test-taking and coaching
Use of calculators
Volunteer tutors
Lack of illness
Mainstreaming
Values/moral education programs
Competitive vs. Individualistic learning
Programmed Instruction
Summer school
Finances
Religious schools
Individualized instruction
Visual-audio visual methods
Comprehensive teaching reforms
Teacher verbal ability
Class size
Charter schools
Aptitude/treatment interactions
Extra-curricular programs
Learning hierarchies
Co-/team teaching
Personality
Within-class grouping
Special college programs
Family structure
School counselling effects
Web-based learning
Matching style of learning
Teacher immediacy
Home-school programs
Problem-based learning
Sentence-combining programs
Mentoring
Ability grouping
Diet
Gender
Teacher education
Distance education
Teacher subject matter knowledge
Changing school calendars/timetables
Out-of-school curricular experiences
Perceptual-motor programs
Whole language
Ethnic diversity of students
College halls of residence
Multi-grade/multi-age classes

Page 11
Effect Size
0.39
0.39
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.37
0.37
0.37
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.34
0.34
0.34
0.33
0.33
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.31
0.31
0.30
0.29
0.29
0.28
0.28
0.27
0.27
0.26
0.25
0.24
0.24
0.24
0.23
0.23
0.23
0.23
0.22
0.22
0.22
0.22
0.21
0.20
0.19
0.19
0.19
0.19
0.18
0.18
0.18
0.18
0.18
0.18
0.17
0.16
0.16
0.15
0.15
0.15
0.12
0.12
0.12
0.12
0.11
0.09
0.09
0.09
0.08
0.06
0.05
0.05
0.04

Page 12

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Activator or Facilitator ?
An Activator

ES

A Facilitator

ES

Reciprocal teaching
Feedback
Teaching self-verbalization
Meta-cognition strategies
Direct Instruction
Mastery learning
Goals - challenging
Frequent/ Effects of testing
Behavioral organizers

.74
.72
.67
.67
.59
.57
.56
.46
.41

Simulations and gaming

Inquiry based teaching
Smaller class sizes
Individualized instruction
Problem-based learning
Different teaching for boys & girls
Web-based learning
Whole Language Reading
Inductive teaching

.32
.31
.21
.20
.15
.12
.09
.06
.06

ACTIVATOR .60 ES

FACILITATOR .17 ES

ES=Effect Size

ES=Effect Size

An active teacher, passionate for their subject

and for learning, a change agent?
OR
A facilitative, inquiry or discovery based
provider of engaging activities?
OR
A bit of both? Why?

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Page 13

The Six Factors (Adapted from Visible Learning, pp. 31-38)

The shaded areas (within the Six Factors that influence student achievement) are all areas where principals and teachers
can influence and take action to improve student learning and growth.
These shaded areas then become the focus of ongoing professional learning, purposeful talk and conversation,
collaborative inquiry and school planning efforts.
Factor

The Child

The Home

The School

Influences on Student Achievement/Student Learning:

Prior knowledge of learning;

Expectations;
Degree of openness to experiences;
Emerging beliefs about the value and worth to them from investing in learning;
Engagement;
Ability to build a sense of engagement in learning, and a reputation as a learner.

Parental expectations and aspirations for their child;

Parental knowledge of the language of schooling.

The climate of the classroom, such as welcoming errors, and providing a safe, caring
environment;
Peer influences.

The Curriculum

The Teacher

Developing a curriculum that aims for the best balance of surface and deep understanding;
Ensuring a focus on developing learning strategies to construct meaning;
Having strategies that are planned, deliberate, and having explicit and active programs that
teach specific skills and deeper understanding.

The quality of the teaching as perceived by the students;

Teacher expectations;
Teachers conception of teaching, learning, assessment, and the students-this relates to
teachers views on whether all students can progress and whether achievement for all is
changeable (or fixed), and on whether progress is understood and articulated by teachers;
Teacher openness-whether teachers are prepared to be surprised;
Classroom climate-having a warm socio-emotional climate in the classroom where errors are
not only tolerated but welcomed;
A focus on teacher clarity in articulating success criteria and achievement;
The fostering of effort;
The engagement of all students.

Teaching
Approaches

Paying deliberate attention to learning intentions and success criteria;

Setting challenging tasks;
Providing multiple opportunities for deliberative practice;
Knowing when one (teacher and student) is successful in attaining these goals;
Planning and talking about teaching;
Ensuring the teacher constantly seeks feedback information as to the success of his or her
teaching on the students.

Page 14

Visible Learning: An Introduction, Grades 1-12

Something to Think About:

1. To what extent does my own teaching reflect a Visible Learning stance?
How do I know? What are my strengths? What are my gaps/needs?
2. To what extent is our school a Visible Learning school? How might we reduce the amount of variation
between classrooms through adoption of a Visible Learning stance towards our students?
What might be some other barriers and possible solutions to these barriers?
3. Do we hold a shared definition of student success, growth or progress? Does our definition need some
revision or refinement? How might we involve our parent community in understanding what is meant by
Visible Learning?
4. What actions might we take to create a healthy, safe and non-judgemental school climate where not
knowing, error and risk-taking are more possible and where teachers and leaders discuss the effectiveness
of teaching and learning more openly? How might we encourage teachers to replicate this supportive
climate in every school classroom?

Thinking More Critically About John Hatties Research

1. What is the goal(s) purpose(s) behind Hatties research? Is it clear? To what extent do his goal(s) or
purpose(s) reveal something about the complexity of teaching and learning? To what extent do his
goal(s) or purpose(s) oversimplify or reduce the complexity of teaching and learning? Why or why not?
2. What is the question at issue or problem to be solved by Hatties research? Can you articulate it? To
what extent do you think Hattie has answered the question at issue or resolved the problem? Why?
3. Hattie deals in meta-analyses of research done by other educational researchers. What is the relative
quality of the information (research studies) from which he draws many of his inferences and
conclusions? What are the strengths and weaknesses of his methodology? Do you agree with his notion
of a hinge point? What can be learned from a close reading of the original Visible Learning text? How
valid, reliable or current is his meta-analysis of the educational research? Should other evidence be
examined from other researchers conducting meta-analyses (i.e. Marzano)? Why?
4. What might be some implications and consequences of the visible learning research findings for where
teachers, administrators and system support people spend their time, energies and resources? What
are the advantages/disadvantages of evidence-based teaching as understood by John Hattie?
5. Which concepts, theories, definitions, models, principles, paradigms underpin Hatties Visible Learning
research? Which are implicit? Which are made explicit? How do these affect your perceptions?
6. Can you articulate Hatties point of view and frame of reference? What aspects of his point of view
need to be challenged or interrogated? Why? Which aspects do you sympathize with? Why?

7. What are Hatties assumptions or presuppositions about visible learning? Can you articulate
what they might be?
Additional Resources

Growing Success, Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement, John Hattie, Routledge, 2009
Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning, John Hattie, Routledge, 2012
Visible Learning Power Point Presentation by John Hattie, 2012
John Hattie-Leaders in Educational Thought, http://resources.curriculum.org/secretariat/leaders/
Webinar How to Make Your School a Visible Learning School, The Leadership and Learning Centre
Critical Thinking: Learn the Tools the Best Thinkers Use, Concise Edition, Richard Paul and Linda Elder, 2006