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for improving teaching practice

Teachers best respond to student learning needs when they have detailed
information about what their students know and can do through high-quality
assessment data, but they also need opportunities to develop their knowledge
as they delve into the assessment information, says Helen Timperley.

For a long time we've known more about the poten- capability of individual students and to be
tial for using assessment data to improve teaching used for sorting, labelling and credentialling
practice and student learning than actually how to • teachers need sufficient knowledge of the
do it. Even 10 years ago, we didn't have the right meaning of the assessment data to make
assessment tools, didn't know enough about their appropriate adjustments to practice
use to make a difference to teaching practice and • school leaders need to be able to have conver-
didn't know what else teachers and their leaders sations with teachers to unpack this meaning
needed to know and do to improve teaching prac- !Ill teachers need improved pedagogical coment
tice in ways that benefitted students. This has now knowledge to make relevant adjustments to
changed. We now know what's required if assess- classroom practice in response to the assess-
ment data are to have a useful impact: ment information
.. the data need to provide teachers with cur- • school leaders need to know how to lead the
riculum-relevant information kinds of change in thinking and practice that
., that information needs to be seen by teach- are required for teachers to use the data, and
ers as something that informs teaching and I) all within the school need to be able to engage
learning, rather than as a reflection of the in systematic, evidence-informed cycles of
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28
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and otherwise in accordance with the licence from CAL to ACER.For
" AUSTRAUA~J COllEGE Of EDUCATORS • AS~
more In/ormation contactCA'L on (0.2) 9394~7600 or [email protected]
 research

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inquiry that build the relevant knowledge
and skills identified above.
teaching requires a mind shift towards profes-
sionallearning from data and a new set of skills.
I None of this is easy, but examples of how it To enable that, teachers need to ask with
can be achieved have been identified in my 2008 the help of relevant experts, what knowledge and
best-evidence synthesis of professional learning skills they require in order to address students'
and development with Aaron Wilson, Heather identified needs, and then more detailed ques-
Barrar, and Irene Fung of the international evi- tions. How have we contributed to existing stu-
dence of the kinds of professional learning experi- dent outcomes? What do we already know that
ences that have resulted in improved student out- we can use to promote improved outcomes for
comes, as well as in my investigation with Judith students? What do we need to learn to do to pro-
Parr of the outcomes of a professional development mote these outcomes? What sources of evidence
project in New Zealand involving 300 schools. or knowledge can we utilise?
In this professional development project, stu- In doing this, teachers begin a formative
dent achievement gains have occurred at a ratc assessment cycle that mirrors that of students.
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beyond that expected over the twO years of the Answering these questions requires further use
schools' involvement in the project, particularly of assessment data. Considering teachers' contri-
for the lowest-performing students. The average bution to existing student outcomes, for exam-
effect size gain for all schools that focused on writ- ple, requires teachers to unpack student profiles
ing was 1.20 and for reading it was 0.92, which is within the data and relate them to emphases and
pretty good when you compare it with expected approaches in their teaching practices. Student
average annual effect size gains. using national profiles o£ say, reading comprehension on differ-
normative cross-sectional sample data, of 0.20 for ent assessment tasks can help teachers to identify
writing and 0.26 fot teading. what they teach well and what requires a different
or new emphasis. By co-constructing the evidence
TEACHER INQUIRY AND KNOWLEDGE- to answer the questions, with relevant experts,
BUILDING CYCLES teachers can identify what it is they need to know
Engaging in systematic evidence-informed cycles and do to improve outcomes for students.
of inquiry that build relevant professional know-
ledge, skills and dispositions is a cycle that begins DEEPENING PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE
by identifying the knowledge and skills students AND REFINING SKILLS
need to close the gaps between what they already The next part of the cycle requires teachers to
know and can do, and what they need to know deepen their professional knowledge and refine
and do to satisfy the requirements of the curric- their skills. In synthesising the evidence of the
ulum or other outcomes valued by the relevant kinds of teacher learning that are associated
community. You need curriculum-related assess- with changes in teaching practice that usefully
ment information if you want a detailed analysis affect student outcomes, I've identified three
of students' learning needs. These kinds of data fundamental things embedded in the content of
are more useful for the purposes of diagnosing professional learning.
students' learning needs than assessments focused The fitst is a focus by the teacher on the links
on identifying normative achievement, but not between particular teaching activities, how differ-
related to the curriculum. ent groups of students respond to those activities,
Previous assumptions were that once teachers and what their students actually learn. Without
had this kind of information, they would be able such a focus, teachers can't tell whether changes
to act on it in ways that enhanced student learn- in their teaching practice are necessarily related to
ing. The problem, though, is that many teach- positive impacts on student learning.
ers' previous training and approaches to teaching The second is. the principle that the knowledge
practice didn't require them to interpret and use and skills developed are integrated into coherent
these kinds of data, because assessment informa- practice. Knowledge of the curriculum and how
tion was about labelling and categorising students, to teach it effectively must accompany greater
not about guiding teaching practice. The inter- knowledge of the interpretation and use of assess-
pretation and use of assessment data for guiding ment information. Identifying students' learning

PROfESSIONAL EDUCATOR· VOla, NO.3· SEPTEMBER 2009 29

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 --;-1

research

needs through assessment information is unlikely ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF CHANGED

to lead to changes in teaching practice unless teach- ACTIONS
ers have the discipline, curriculum and pedagogical The final part of the cycle also involves knowl-
knowledge to make the relevant changes to prac- edge about and the use of assessment information.
tice. Understanding theories underpinning assess- Given the varied context in which teachers work,
ment information, theories underpinning the cur- there can be no guarantee thac any specific activity
riculum and those underpinning effective teaching will have the anticipated result, because impact
allows teachers to use these understandings as the depends on the context in which those changes
basis for making decisions about practice. A skills- occur. In our best-evidence synthesis of profes-
only focus doesn't develop the deep understandings sionallearning and development, Aaron Wilson,
teachers need if they're to change teaching practice Heather Barrar, Irene Fung and I identified that
in ways that flexibly meet the complex demands the effectiveness of particular changes depends
of everyday teaching and to link the assessment on the knowledge and skills of the students, their
data to requirements for new teaching approaches. teachers and their leaders. Judging impact requires
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In fact, without a thorough understanding of the the use of assessment information on a daily, term-
theory, teachers are apt to believe they are teach- by-term and.annual basis. To be effective, teach-
ing in ways consistent with the assessment infor- ers need a range of ways to assess their students
mation or they have promoted change in practice informally and formally.
when those relationships are typically superficial,
as Karen Hammerness and her colleagues explain LEADING CHANGE
in their chapter, 'How teachers learn and develop,' Recent research analyses dem~nstrating that it is
in Linda Darling-Hammond's Preparing Teachers teachers who have the greatest system influence
for a Changing World. on student outcomes have led to an increasing
The thitd is the principle that you need to focus on what happens in classrooms and how to
provide multiple opportunities to learn and apply promote teacher professional learning. For more
new information, and to understand its implica- on this, see the introduction to Linda Darling-
tions for teaching practices. Interpreting assess- Hammond, John Bransford and Pamela LePage's
ment information, understanding the implications Preparing Teachers for a Changing World, the work
for practice and learning how to teach in different on teacher effects by Barbara Nyc and colleagues,
ways in response to that information is a complex and the work on instructional and school effec-
undertaking. It typically takes one to twO years, tiveness indicators of Jaap Scheerens and col-
depending on the starting point, for professional leagues.
learning to deepen sufficiently to make a differ- Teachers, however, cannot achieve these
ence to student outcomes. changes alone, but require the kinds of organi-
Part of the reason for this is that using assess- sational conditions in which learning from data
ment data for the purposes of improving teaching becomes an integral part of their practice. A
and learning requires changing prior assumptions recent meta-analysis by Viviane Robinson, Claire
about the purposes of assessment information. If Lloyd and Ken Rowe indicates that school lead-
teachers' prior theories are not engaged, it's quite ers who have the greatest influence on improving
possible, as Cynthia Coburn has pointed out, that student outcomes do so through their promo-
they'll dismiss the new uses as unrealistic and tion of and participation in teacher professional
inappropriate for their particular practice context learning. Creating the kinds of conditions in
or reject the new information as irrelevant. Engag- schools in which teachers systematically use
ing teachers' existing ideas means discussing how data to inform their practice for the benefit of
those ideas differ from the ideas being promoted students requires that they teach in contexts in
and assessing the impact that the new approaches which such practice becomes part of the organi-
might have on their students. If they cannot be sational routines.
persuaded that a new approach is valuable and be Research on teacher change has shown that
certain of suppOrt if they implement it, teachers previous assumptions about teachers' use of
are unlikely to adopt it - at least, not without assessment data were unreasonably optimistic.
strong accountability pressures to do so. It's difficult to change from traditional ideas

30
 research

where assessment data were considered to reflect When teachers are provided with opportuni-
students' abilities, about which little can be done, ties to use and interpret assessment data in order to
to one where assessment data are considered to be become more responsive to their students' learning
information to guide effictive teaching, Making needs, the impact is substantial. Teachers, however,
such changes is complex, Not only is professional can't do this alone, but require system conditions
knowledge about - and skill in the use of - assess- that provide and support these learning opportu-
ment data required, but teachers also need deeper nities in ways that are JUSt as responsive to how
pedagogical content knowledge so that they're able teachers learn as they are to how students learn.
to respond constructively to what the information
is telling them about the changes they need to Professor Ilelen Timperley leads the Master
make to their practice, o/Education program at the University of
To undertake this change, teachers need Auckland. Her research interests include
opportunities to develop their knowledge as they policy, leadership and professional learning in
delve into the assessment information, to find Out education.
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what it means for their own learning and to engage

in multiple opportunities to acquire new knowl- This article is based on her paper presented
edge and skills, Changing teaching practice in at the 14th annual research conforence a/the
ways that benefit students means we have to check Australian Council for Educational Research,
constantly that the changes are having the desired which tool? place in Perth in August.
impact. Effectiveness is context-dependent, so the
knowledge and skills to check the impact must For references, go to www.acer.edu.au/
become part of the cycle of inquiry. profed/references.html

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