can be found at:Review of Educational ResearchAdditional services and information for

Abstract not found

This paper focuses on the New Zealand Numeracy Projects (NZNP), an initiative aimed at reforming mathematics teaching and learning. Evidence shows that students benefited from NZNP, regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender, or age, but that differential performance and progress were evident for particular subgroups-Asian and European students, high socio-economic status (SES) students, boys, and older students began higher and made greater progress than students in other groups. Evidence suggests that the gaps between some groups (eg, high & low SES) may be narrowing, possibly because of the benefits for low SES schools of being involved in other initiatives. Effect sizes provided a measure of how practically meaningful the benefits of NZNP were. The average effect size for Multiplication/Division, Proportion/Ratio and Addition/Subtraction was 0.40, 0.43, and 0.19, respectively, comparing favourably with those found in the UK (0.17 & 0.18). In a related study, children’s perspectives on their mathematics learning were explored using individual interviews. Overall, children were more positive about the value of explaining their thinking to other people than about knowing the solution strategies used by their peers. Students at City School were particularly enthusiastic about the value of sharing their thinking with others than were those from other NZNP schools. Staff at City School indicated that for some time, they had been developing a collaborative approach to working with their students, encouraging them to discuss their thinking and reflect on their learning in all curriculum areas. The findings indicate that more emphasis needs to be given to the communication of thinking and reasoning in mathematics.

Lower literacy scores reflect an important issue in the education of minority students in many countries. This review of New Zealand literacy studies considers some possible explanations for the performance of Pasifika students in New Zealand schools. Brian Street writes that literacy is not a neutral technology that can be detached from specific social contexts (Street, 1984). His ideological and autonomous models of literacy may go some way to help us interpret and explain the performance of Pasifika students in our schools. Should the performance of these students be considered purely in terms of technical skill or should it also be looked at from the point of view of culture and ideology? Are we asking the right questions and asking in ways to discover what these students really know? While there may be no final answers to the problem, all possible remedies need to be explored. Two key ideas about literacy learning and teaching emerge from the literature. The first idea is that of literacy as a set of skills that are culture-free and that can be taught and transferred to a new situation. These skills tend to be the reading and writing skills that belong to the school. This skills interpretation appears to be the commonly held “official ” view of literacy and it marginalises the other types of literacy that may occur outside the formal school setting. Although literacy is generally described as both reading and writing, it appears that reading is given greater emphasis in the

ABSTRACT: The belief that effective teaching can raise the performance of students to a marked extent seems to have become fixed in the contemporary discourse of educational policymakers. It is asserted that evidence-based research has demonstrated a causal relationship between better teaching and better learning. A critical examination will show, however, that the case is less secure than it might seem, even within the logic of quantitative modelling. The argument is based on an examination of Hattie’s influential meta-analyses of teacher effectiveness research and on an analysis of some relevant data on teachers ’ expectations from the New Zealand PIRLS 2000 dataset. Research indicates that effective classroom teaching can explain up to half of a child’s educational achievements. (Mallard, 2003) What does it mean to assert that, “effective classroom teaching can explain up to half of a child’s educational achievements”? I put this question to a 200-level sociology of education class. The students were puzzled. After some discussion they reached the hesitant consensus that about half of what a child

What is the nature of evidence that makes a difference to learning?

The thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the thesis.

Abstract not found

Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, but this impact can be either positive or negative. Its power is frequently mentioned in articles about learning and teaching, but surprisingly few recent studies have systematically investigated its meaning. This article provides a conceptual analysis of feedback and reviews the evidence related to its impact on learning and achievement. This evidence shows that although feedback is among the major influences, the type of feedback and the way it is given can be differentially effective. A model of feedback is then proposed that identifies the particular properties and circumstances that make it effective, and some typically thorny issues are discussed, including the timing of feedback and the effects of positive and negative feedback. Finally, this analysis is used to suggest ways in which feedback can be used to enhance its effectiveness in classrooms. KEYWORDS: feedback, assessment, student and teacher learning. Although it is often mentioned in articles about learning and teaching, surprisingly few recent studies have systematically investigated the meaning of feedback in classrooms. In this article, we begin with a conceptual analysis of the meaning of feedback and a synthesis of the evidence related to the power of feedback to improve teaching and learning. We then propose a model of feedback that is used to identify the circumstances under which feedback has the greatest impact. Specifically, the research evidence related to the different types of feedback and their effectiveness in terms of promoting student learning are discussed, the different ways students deal with feedback are described, and the relationship between assessment and feedback is provided. Finally, the model, together with the evidence underpinning it, is used to show how feedback can be used to enhance classroom learning and teaching. The Meaning of Feedback In this review, feedback is conceptualized as information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book, parent, self, experience) regarding aspects of one's performance or understanding. A teacher or parent can provide corrective information, a peer can provide an alternative strategy, a book can provide information to clarify ideas, a parent can provide encouragement, and a learner can look up the answer to evaluate the correctness of a response. Feedback thus is a "consequence" of performance. at UNIV OF KENTUCKY on December 27, 2010 http://rer.aera.net Downloaded from Hattie & Timperley 82 To assist in understanding the purpose, effects, and types of feedback, it is useful to consider a continuum of instruction and feedback. At one end of the continuum is a clear distinction between providing instruction and providing feedback. However, when feedback is combined with more a correctional review, the feedback and instruction become intertwined until "the process itself takes on the forms of new instruction, rather than informing the student solely about correctness" (Kulhavy, 1977, p. 212). To take on this instructional purpose, feedback needs to provide information specifically relating to the task or process of learning that fills a gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood Feedback has no effect in a vacuum; to be powerful in its effect, there must be a learning context to which feedback is addressed. It is but part of the teaching process and is that which happens second-after a student has responded to initial instruction-when information is provided regarding some aspect(s) of the student's task performance. It is most powerful when it addresses faulty interpretations, not a total lack of understanding. Under the latter circumstance, it may even be threatening to a student: "If the material studied is unfamiliar or abstruse, providing feedback should have little effect on criterion performance, since there is no way to relate the new information to what is already known" (Kulhavy, 1977, p. 220). The focus of this article on feedback as information about the content and/or understanding of the constructions that students have made from the learning experience is not the same as a behaviorist input-output model. Contrary to the behaviorists ' argument, Kulhavy (1977) demonstrated that feedback is not necessarily a reinforcer, because feedback can be accepted, modified, or rejected. Feedback by itself may not have the power to initiate further action. In addition, it is the case that feedback is not only given by teachers, students, peers, and so on, but can also be sought by students, peers, and so on, and detected by a learner without it being intentionally sought. The Effectiveness of Feedback The first question to ask is, How effective is feedback? We answer this question by referring to the usual effects of schooling on student achievement and then comparing them with the evidence related to feedback. Hattie (1999) reported a synthesis of over 500 meta-analyses, involving 450,000 effect sizes from 180,000 studies, representing approximately 20 to 30 million students, on various influences on student achievement. This analysis included more than 100 factors influencing educational achievement and covered various aspects of those typically at UNIV OF KENTUCKY on December 27, 2010 http://rer.aera.net Downloaded from 83 identified, such as attributes of schools, homes, students, teachers, and curricula. The average or typical effect of schooling was 0.40 (SE = 0.05), and this provided a benchmark figure or "standard" from which to judge the various influences on achievement, such as that of feedback. At least 12 previous meta-analyses have included specific information on feedback in classrooms The effect sizes reported in the feedback meta-analyses, however, show considerable variability, indicating that some types of feedback are more powerful

Abstract not found