July 29, 2016
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Rutherford County Schools
Nearly 200 elementary and middle school principals, assistant principals, response to intervention coaches and lead teachers from Rutherford County Schools took part in the first of three days of professional development based on the Visible Learning philosophy of John Hattie.
Hattie’s research and his meta-analysis, which is based on more than 50,000 studies that included almost 500 million students worldwide, was the culmination of 25 years of work and served as the basis for the ground-breaking book Visible Learning (2009) and, more recently, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning (2012).
Visible Learning is a professional program for teachers that explores how evidence can be used to create innovation in the learning environment, according to Corwin publishing. Hattie’s books “link the biggest ever research project on teaching strategies to practical classroom implementation.”
“(Director of Schools Don) Odom and the leadership of Rutherford County are always reminding us of the importance of evaluating our work as a Professional Learning Community,” said Trey Duke, Response to Intervention & Instructional Coordinator for Rutherford County Schools, “and the impact we are having on student achievement. This series of trainings is aimed at growing our knowledge base of the latest educational research and to give schools a chance to reflect on what is truly working best in their buildings.”
Hattie is a professor and director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and honorary professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
The first session, which was described as “Foundation Day,” was presented by Corwin Visible Learning consultants Dave Nagel and Dr. BR Jones at Lane Agri-Park in Murfreesboro. Nagel and Jones each have 19 years experience in education and have twice been certified in Visible Learning.
Director of Schools Don Odom also spoke regarding the “high impact strategies” of Visible Learning.
The first training session was divided into three sections — helping those in attendance to articulate the key findings from Hattie’s research, listing the key characteristics of assessment-capable learners and understanding that effect sizes are a useful way to measure progress.
The second training session will take place Aug. 30 followed by a final session Nov. 21.
“The great thing about this training is that the focus is not on a new product or program,” said Duke, who recently attended a national Visible Learning conference in Washington, D.C. “The focus is on working together to ensure we are providing each teacher the tools they need to hone their craft and maximize the academic growth of every student.”
PHOTO: Director of Schools Don Odom talks to fellow Rutherford educators during the first day of training on "Visible Learning," a professional program for teachers that explores how evidence can be used to create innovation in the learning environment.