The Annual Visible Learning Conference was held July 9 and July 10 in Chicago, IL. When I got there, an employee at the hotel asked me, “What is the conference about?” A group of friends that I was re-connecting with after 15 years asked me,
Every summer, Corwin holds a dynamic conference that showcases world-renowned educational thought leaders and the latest research in K-12 education: The Annual Visible Learning Conference. This year’s event took place from July 9th through the 10th at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Hotel in Chicago, IL. The conference was particularly significant as it followed closely after Corwin’s April global acquisition of Visible Learningplus, the model of school change
Wouldn’t it be great to double academic achievement with digital tools in our schools? The challenge it seems, when it comes to educational technology use in our schools, is to differentiate authentic impact evidence from hoopla. I’ve only just returned from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2018 conference, where I was confronted with this challenge at nearly every turn. In fact, much of the evidence-free rhetoric I heard reminded me of a prediction made by
Just Google “growth mindset” and it won’t take long to uncover the storm of controversy over this popular theory. It’s well-known by now that several studies have shown that mindset has a low effect size of 0.19 (Nottingham, 2018). Proponents say mindset is being done wrong; the opposition
I had the privilege of teaching a forestry class this year to a group of 7th graders. During my initial assessment of student understanding of the core content of the class, I found that several learners understood the basic content. In our school district, we
While the Visible Learning research has been spread all over the world and has been transforming schools and the way we teach, we can’t be blind to the questions and criticisms that have also arisen from that spotlight. I’d like to take this opportunity to address
The Challenge Konocti Unified is located in the town of Clearlake, California. Only 8% of Clearlake residents hold a four-year college degree or higher, the median household income for a family of four is $25,000, hovering just over the federal poverty line, and the city
In our February 2018 blog post, we wrote about the power of assessment-capable visible learners. This work is derived from John Hattie’s seminal research on what matters for student learning. Those of you that have been following Hattie’s work know that he has created a list of 250 influences on
Education researcher John Hattie’s ground-breaking research about the factors that influence student achievement gives us much to think about in terms of our habits and practices. It helps us to prioritize initiatives, counteract negative influences, and get rid of practices – such as retaining students
Think back to what brought you to your job as an educator. Whether you are an administrator or a classroom teacher—and whether you are aware of it or not—your beliefs about schools, classrooms, other administrators, and teachers had a significant influence on your decision to