Seven Practices for
Effective Learning
Created by:
Kelly Cassibry
Teacher of the Gifted
Reeves Elementary
LBSD Gifted PLC Presentation
April 1, 2014
“Like successful athletic coaches, the
best teachers recognize the importance
of ongoing assessments and continual
adjustments on the part of both
teacher and student as the means to
achieve maximum performance.”
Types of Assessments
Summative: Summarizes what
was learned
Diagnostic: Pre-Assessments
Formative: Occurs concurrently
with instruction
Practice 1: Use summative assessments
to frame meaningful performance goals.
O First, the summative assessments clarify
the targeted standards and benchmarks
for teachers and learners.
O Second, the performance assessment
tasks yield evidence that reveals
understanding.
O Third, presenting the authentic
performance tasks at the beginning of a
new unit or course provides a meaningful
learning goal for students.
Critical Questions to Ask
Yourself:
• What do ALL of my students need
to KNOW?
• What should ALL of my students be
able to DO
to demonstrate they know?
• What standards do I want
to measure?
• Which outcomes are not being
assessed adequately?
Practice 2: Show criteria and models in
advance.
 Rubrics
 Examples of Product (Show a variety of
examples to prevent copying)
Practice 3: Assess before
teaching.
The teacher will know WHAT to teach.
The teacher will know HOW to teach.
Can use checklists, pre-tests, KWL
charts, questions, etc.
Practice 4: Offer appropriate
choices.
First, teachers need to collect appropriate
evidence of learning on the basis of goals rather
than simply offer a “cool” menu of assessment
choices.
Second, the performance assessment tasks
yield evidence that reveals understanding.
Third, presenting the authentic performance
tasks at the beginning of a new unit or course
provides a meaningful learning goal for
students.
Practice 5: Provide feedback
early and often.
It must be timely, specific,
understandable to the
receiver, and formed to allow
for self-adjustment on the
student's part.
Specificity is key to
helping students
understand both their
strengths and the
areas in which they
can improve.
The learner needs
opportunities to
act on the
feedback.
Practice 6: Encourage selfassessment and goal
setting.
 What aspect of your work was most
effective?
 What aspect of your work was least
effective?
 What specific action or actions will
improve your performance?
 What will you do differently next
time?
Show students how to assess their own
and others' work against the
performance standards, expectations or
levels.
Help students learn “Habits of Success”,
how to set goals and both reflect on and
monitor their own work
Practice 7: Allow new
evidence of achievement to
replace old evidence.
A driver education student fails his driving test the
first time, but he immediately books an
appointment to retake the test one week later. He
passes on his second attempt because he
successfully demonstrates the requisite knowledge
and skills. The driving examiner does not average
the first performance with the second, nor does
the new license indicate that the driver “passed on
the second attempt.”
Students are more likely to put forth the
required effort when there is
Task clarity—when they clearly understand
the learning goal and know how teachers
will evaluate their learning (Practices 1 and
2).
Relevance—when they think the learning
goals and assessments are meaningful and
worth learning (Practice 1).
Potential for success—when they believe
they can successfully learn and meet the
evaluative expectations (Practices 3–7).
Guidelines for Assessment
Practices
1. Use summative assessments to frame
meaningful
performance goals - in terms of desirable
outcomes
2. Show criteria and models in advance
to help students
understand criteria
3. Assess before teaching
4. Offer appropriate choices
5. Provide feedback early and often - F³
(timely, specific
and understandable)
6. Encourage self-assessment and goalsetting
7. Allow new evidence to replace old
evidence
“The principal limitation of any
grading system that requires the
teacher to assign one number or
letter to represent . . . learning is
that one symbol can convey
only one meaning. One symbol
cannot do justice to the different
degrees of learning a student
acquires across all learning
outcomes.”
Tombari and Borich, Authentic
Assessment in the Classroom,
Prentice Hall, 1999,
Bibliography
Johnston, Howard. “Best Practices in Grading”. Shaker Regional
School District. Education Partnerships, Inc. December 2011.
Moore, Barbara. “Effective Grading Practices 12 Fixes for Broken
Grades. Southern Regional Education Board. 2014.
O’Connor, Ken and McTighe, Jay. “Seven Practices for Effective
Learning.” Educational Leadership. Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, November 2005.