ohn Hattie of the University of Melbourne, Australia, has long researched performance indicators and evaluation in education. His research, Visible Learning, is the culmination of more than 25 years of examining and synthesizing more than 1,600 meta-analyses comprising more than 95,000 studies involving 300 million students around the world.
Hattie wanted to understand which variables were the most important. Although “almost everything we do improves learning,” why not prioritize the ones that will have the greatest effect?
Hattie set about calculating a score or “effect size” for each, according to its bearing on student learning and taking into account such aspects as its cost to implement. The average effect size was 0.4, a marker that represented a year’s growth per year of schooling for a student. Anything above 0.4 would have a greater positive effect on student learning. (Source: visiblelearningplus.com: Visible Learning | Building the capacity of learners to learn, teachers to teach, leaders to lead and systems to improveLinks to an external site.)
Read the link below first, which summaries effect size in educational research and decision making.
John Hattie effect size in education | RenaissanceLinks to an external site.
Review this page second, which is also available in PDF on Canvas.
https://visible-learning.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/VLPLUS-252-Influences-Hattie-ranking-DEC-2017.pdfLinks to an external site.
Watch/Listen/Analyze:
John Hattie’s TED Talk about Effect Size on student learning:
https://youtu.be/rzwJXUieD0U?si=9Uzo8vAfY3-L0m_KLinks to an external site.
Assignment #1: Hattie’s Effect Size –
Write a 2-3 page summary and reflection citing four factors on the list of “Influences on Student Achievement”; Identify 2 influences that are highly effective and 2 influences that have little to no effect. Choose 4 factors that are within your control as a teacher (page 2 of the chart).  These specific categories are found on page 2 of the chart under “Teacher” and “Teaching Focus”.
Reflection prompts:
What surprised you about Hattie’s results?
How do they align or not align with what you understand about instruction?
How could this this research be utilized for instructional planning?
If you are currently teaching, do you use these strategies?
How could this research support or change your instructional planning?