Visible Learning, John Hattie

Dr. John Hattie, the author of Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement, recently provided the keynote address at the Data Team Summit in Vail, Colorado. After listening to Dr. Hattie's presentation, I purchased his book

and read it on the flight home. He presents an amazing quantitative analysis of the effects of various educational programs and initiatives. He examined over 50,000 educational studies involving the learning of over 200 million students to determine the typical influence on achievement. He places each upon a single continuum of achievement for comparison. He arrived at an typical effect size of 0.40 as the 'hinge-point' where the effects of the educational innovation enhances achievement that is greater than significantly average. This .040 hinge point creates a standard to judge the efficacy of educational innovations. His findings are quite interesting and thought provoking.

Below is a list of several highly effective educational innovations with the corresponding effect size:

• Acceleration (speed up a year) .88
• Comprehensive interventions for learning disabled students .77
• Feedback .73
• Student-teacher relationships .72
• Teaching study skills .59
• Reading Recovery .50
• Cooperative Learning .41