My Hattie’s off to you

SD #59 Principals and senior admin staff recently had the opportunity to take part in a full day workshop in Grande Prairie, AB with Dr. John Hattie, and hear in–depth about his research on “Visible Learning.”  The day was informative and enlightening, in the sense that it pulled the veil back on some things that have remained hidden from our view.

Hattie’s research is based on studying meta-analyses in numerous fields of education, looking specifically at impact on learning.  He presents eight “mind frames” or ways if thinking that should drive every decision about schools and learning.  He suggests that if teachers and leaders develop the eight mind frames, they will increase the likelihood of having significant positive impacts on their students. 

What resonated the most for me was Hattie’s reference to the role of principals.  Here is what Hattie said:

I want principals to start by thinking differently about what their role is. And the first things I would take away from them are those tasks that are not directly related to student learning in the schools. In my view as I have said earlier, their role is to be the lead adult learner in the school community, a person who is concerned about the impact that all the other adults are having on student learning in that community.

We often get bogged down in the day-to-day grind and do not get into classrooms nearly enough, despite our best intentions.  I am going to publicly state here that for me, this is about to change.  I whole-heartedly agree with Hattie, where he states,

My argument about what they should do comes back to the first mind frame which is “teachers/leaders believe that their fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of their teaching on students’ learning and achievement.”

I will be asking the key questions that drive things from a leadership point of view,

“What evidence 
do you have that you are making an impact?”
and “How do you evaluate that evidence?”

I am anxiously waiting for the current labour dispute to be over so that we can get back to what really matters.  Our students deserve the best that we can give.