What works in education – Hattie’s list of the greatest effects and why it matters

I have been a fan of John Hattie’s work ever since I encountered Visible Learning. Hattie has done the most exhaustive meta-analysis in education. Thanks to him, we can gauge not only the relative effectiveness of almost every educational intervention under the sun but we can compare these interventions on an absolute scale of effect size. Perhaps most importantly, Hattie was able to identify a ‘hinge point’ (as he calls it) from exhaustively comparing everything: the effect size of .40. The caveat in any meta-anlysis, of course, is that we have little idea as to the validity of the underlying research. Fans of the book may be unaware that a brand new Hattie book has just been released entitled Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. As in Visible Learning, the (updated) rank order of those factors that have the greatest effect size in student achievement will be of interest to every teacher, administrator, and education professor. Like this: Like Loading...

Why I Stay in Teaching | Babs Nichols I never planned to be a teacher. I was headed for law school, for a real career. Teaching was something to "get out of my system." I would teach a couple of years and then go get a real job. After the first couple of years, I promised myself I would leave when I didn't love my job any more. Twenty-nine years later, that day still has not come. So, why do I stay? I stay because I laugh and learn every day. I stay because every single day is different. I stay because I love to see your child realize that he or she has learned something -- whether it's how to craft an argumentative thesis sentence or how to understand the effect of repetition in The Declaration of Independence. I stay because I have the unique and wonderful opportunity to write dozens of letters of recommendation to colleges each year. In 29 years, I've taught honors students, academic students, AP students, IB students, Paideia classes, and classes for students who have never passed an English class -- ever.