Learning targets in the classroom

Thanks to all of you who attended our Open House last night. As you were looking around the room, you might have noticed that teachers are posting "Learning Targets" sometimes called learning objectives. On the surface, it might appear simple and inconsequential. But let me break it down for you a little.... 
These targets are made up of three components: What, why, and the success criteria. Some teachers are using the same terminology:

I can _______ so that I can _______ . 
I'll know I mastered it when _______.

John Hattie (click name to see some research) is currently the leading researcher in the field of education. He has studied tens of thousands of research projects that involved over 200,000,000 kids all over the planet. Through this exhaustive study, he created a list of the most impactful (not a word, yet) teaching strategies (click to see some research). He identified strategies that, when correctly and consistently utilized by teachers, can help students make 2-3 years of growth during a school year. Without getting too much into the jargon, .40 growth = an average year's growth of a student with an average teacher. Anything over .40 growth is helping a student make more than a year's worth of growth in a school year. .80 means a student is making about 2 years of growth in one school year. Make sense? 

What does this have to do with learning targets? 

Here is the learning target, broken into three sections, aligned with some of Hattie's research on the what the effect of the strategy has on student growth:

I can _______________

Effect size:

• Self-efficacy (confidence they can do it) = .63
• goal setting = .68
• achieving approach = .70

• error transfer of new problems = .80

.....so that I can _______

Effect size:

• worked examples = .57
• problem-solving teaching = .61
• meta-cognitive strategies = .69
• teacher clarity = .75

I'll know I mastered it when _______.

Effect size:

• Feedback = .75
• providing formative evaluation = .90
• success criteria =1.13
• self-reported grades = 1.44

Teachers are doing everything they can to put the learning back on the learners. When students know what they are learning, why they're learning it, and how they can know they were successful, research shows students can show incredible growth.