Reflections on the Visible Learning Journey for Greenfield Exempted Schools, Ohio
Educators are constantly looking for the right formula that helps their students learn and thrive in the classroom. With so many different techniques and strategies, how do you know what will work best for your students? What will be most effective? Laureate Professor Emeritus and Chief Academic Advisor for Corwin, John Hattie, set out to find the answers to those questions. As an enthusiastic researcher, Hattie analyzed more than one hundred thousand studies involving over 300 million students around the world, totaling 2,100 meta-analyses. These 2,100 meta-analyses are the powerhouse behind Visible Learning.
John Hattie’s quest to find what works best for students lives within the Visible Learning research and his findings have made a positive impact on millions of teachers and students over the last 30 years. Greenfield Exempted Village School District, a public school district in Greenfield, Ohio has experienced this impact and continues to see amazing results.
The challenge that started Greenfield’s Visible Learning journey was learning of their middle school’s large achievement gaps. With the goal of improving student performance, Greenfield partnered with Corwin author and longtime educator, Cathy Lassiter.
The solution? Lassiter worked with the district to implement Visible Learning+ professional learning into the Greenfield school district, with the goal of boosting low scores and transform student learning for the better.
Read more about Greenfield’s Visible Learning work in this case study.
Guided by Dr. Lassiter’s expertise, an expanded focus on Teacher Clarity was also implemented. Starting with the middle school and then moving on to districtwide implementation a year after that, student understanding significantly increased. A student voice survey was conducted to measure students’ ability to answer the prompts: What are you learning today? How will you know you’ve learned it? What makes a learner a good learner? In a year’s time, Greenfield’s survey results show a substantial percentage increase.
Alisa Barrett, Greenfield Exempted School’s Director of Instruction reflects on the progress made since implementing Visible Learning+ and Teacher Clarity:
Q: What was your favorite part of the process when implementing visible learning practices?
A: “I am most proud of the commitment of our district staff to build a culture of learning for all students AND staff members based on the Visible Learning framework. We have created a common language of learning that includes all students in preschool through high school. The language encompasses common learning dispositions, feedback strategies, self-assessment tools, and questions used to ask students about the learning intentions and success criteria. This language is not only used in the classroom with students, but it is used during PLC meetings, staff meetings, conversations between colleagues, and with parents. The culture change has also included teachers and administrators collaboratively learning about and implementing high-effect learning strategies. It has been quite inspiring to witness the commitment of our district staff to follow through with systemic change throughout this process.”
Q: Describe the ongoing changes you witnessed in the children after Visible Learning+ was implemented in their classrooms.
A: “Before we implemented Visible Learning, if a student was asked “What makes a good learner a good learner?” they would respond with behavior-type responses, such as “listen to the teacher”, “do my work”, and “sit quietly”. Additionally, if a student was asked “What are you learning today?” they would respond “math”, “reading”, or maybe even “I don’t know”. However, now, five years after implementation, over 90% of our students are consistently responding to those questions with responses such as, “A good learner takes ownership of their learning” or “I am learning how pollution affects the human population”. The engagement levels of our students have dramatically risen as students are driving their learning through self-reflection, giving and receiving feedback, self-assessing, and tracking their progress toward their individual learning goals.”
Q: What was the most memorable part of your experience?
A: “For me, the most memorable part of this process has been experiencing the ups and downs that come along with systemic change. Before our Visible Learning journey, our district would undertake a new initiative every few years. Through this process, I have realized that in the past we didn’t reach deep implementation of an initiative because we didn’t stay focused on one initiative long enough. We are now in year five of focusing on Visible Learning. Although each year we add another small piece to what we are implementing, the Visible Learning framework all connects and fits together like a puzzle. I have learned the importance of taking each piece at a time and deeply implementing that piece before adding something else.”
Q: What’s next for Greenfield?
A: “Moving into year six, we plan to continue to deepen our implementation of the Teacher Clarity process and Visible Learning practices. Specific tools we will continue to use in our process include learning intentions, success criteria, multiple forms of feedback, self-assessment, monitoring our engagement using the engagement continuum, setting learning goals, and using high-effect-size learning strategies with all students. We have started using AI as a tool to help plan instruction in alignment with Visible Learning in grades 4-12. Along with continued expansion to preschool-3rd grade, AI will be a piece to our puzzle next school year as a tool for simplifying the planning and implementation process of Visible Learning.”
Q: In your opinion, why is professional development important for educators?
A: “Professional learning is one of the most important parts of our jobs as educators. We are in the learning business. I view all administrators, from the central office to the school buildings, and every teacher in every classroom as lead learners. We should be modeling what it means to be a learner for our students. Doctors examine new procedures and strategies for providing the best possible healthcare for their patients. Mechanics learn about new tools that can save time and provide efficiency for repairing our vehicles. I believe educators have a responsibility to our students and their families to have the most current evidence-based knowledge possible to effectively teach all of our students.”
Professional learning is not just one year, or two years; it is a multi-year journey of growth and development to nurture educators to hone their skills and reach their full potential. In the example of Greenfield, commitment to professional development has brought a tangible impact to the school district.
Because of our work with Visible Learning, all students know how to learn, our teachers are continually growing in expertise of their craft, and our administrators are instructional leaders within our schools” -Alisa Barrett
Learn more about how to begin your Visible Learning journey here.
