Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners, Grades K-12: Maximizing Skill, Will, and Thrill

"When students know how to learn, they are able to become their own teachers" - Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and John Hattie

Imagine students who describe their learning in these terms: "I know where I'm going, I have the tools I need for the journey, and I monitor my own progress." Now imagine the extraordinary difference this type of ownership makes in their progress over the course of a school year.

This illuminating book shows how to make this scenario an everyday reality in your classroom - one that will significantly increase your students' capacity to thrive as they take responsibility for their own learning.

With its foundation in principles introduced in the authors' bestselling Visible Learning for Literacy, this resource delves more deeply into the critical component of self-assessment. Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners reveals:

• The most effective types of assessment and how each can motivate students to higher levels of achievement
• How to introduce students to the tools they will use to support their own learning, along with the know-how they need to choose the right tool for any learning challenge
• How to create a classroom culture where errors are viewed as opportunities to learn
• The learning strategies, including cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational strategies, that fuel student progress, and how to give students opportunities to use them
• Real-world examples of the strategies and tools at work, through classroom scenarios contained in the book and online videos accessible via QR codes

As inspiring as it is practical, Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners gives you a clear strategy for empowering each of your students in shaping their own educational success.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Characteristics of Visible Learners

What is Visible Learning?

Chapter 1 Defining the Assessment-Capable Visible Learner (and the Teachers Who Create Them)

• What Does It Mean to Learn?
• What Fuels Learning?
• Four general categories of learning strategies
• Characteristics of Assessment-Capable Visible Learners
• High Yield Influences to Build Assessment-Capable Visible Learners
• Teacher clarity
• Teacher expectations
• Challenge
• Self-reported grades
• Student expectations
• Agency and ownership for learning through goal setting
• Feedback
• Conclusion

Chapter 2 Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Know Their Current Level of Understanding

• Confidence in the Teacher
• Recognizing When You Don't Know Something
• Metacognitive Awareness in Younger Children
• Assessing in Advance of Instruction
• Cloze assessments
• Self-assess background knowledge
• Self-ranking
• How sure are you?
• Anchoring
• Conclusion

Chapter 3 Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Know Where They're Going and Are Confident to Take on the Challenge

• Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
• Relevance
• Teacher Clarity
• Clear Explanations and Guided Instruction
• Attention in Learning
• Motivation in Learning
• Aspiring to challenge
• Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation
• Conclusion

Chapter 4 Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Select Tools to Guide Their Learning

• Learning How to Learn
• The Effects of Practice on Learning
• Teach Students How to Practice, Study, and Learn
• Mnemonics
• Graphic organizers
• Flashcards
• Summarizing
• Problem Solving
• Create Opportunities to Apply Strategies
• Collaborative reasoning
• Repeated reading
• Conclusion

Chapter 5 Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Seek Feedback and Recognize that Errors Are Opportunities to Learn

• Feedback Fuels Learning
• A Model of Feedback
• Three big questions your feedback should address
• Four types of feedback
• Create Feedback Opportunities
• Self-reflection feedback loop
• Peer feedback loop
• Teacher feedback loop
• Soliciting Feedback
• Seeing Errors as Opportunities for Learning (and Celebrating Those Errors)
• Conclusion

Chapter 6 Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Monitor Progress and Adjust Their Learning

• Reflective Self-Questioning
• Collaboration to Foster Self-Questioning
• Think-outside-the-box questions
• Self-questioning to Reflect on Goals
• Planning and Organizing to Adjust Learning
• Note-taking
• Conclusion

Chapter 7 Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Recognize Their Learning and Teach Others

• Formative Evaluations That Inform Students
• Interpreting Their Data
• Student-led Assessments
• Comparative self-assessments
• Self-grading
• Skillful Use of Formative and Summative Evaluation
• Competency-based Grading
• Peer Learning
• Teaching Each Other with Student Think-alouds
• Teaching Each Other with Reciprocal Teaching
• Conclusion

Chapter 8 Mindframes of Schools That Create Assessment-Capable Visible Learners

• Assessment-capable Schools Are Filled with Adaptive Learning Experts
• Assessment Capable Schools Use Strategic and Flexible Grouping
• Mind Frames of Assessment-Capable Schools
• Conclusion

References

Literature Cited