Impactful instruction is very intentional. From planning the learning targets to planning how students will practice and demonstrate learning, we work to provide clarity for our students. Success criteria brings everything into focus for the learner.

Dr. John Hattie defines success criteria as:

Success criteria are the standards by which the project or performance will be judged at the end to decide whether or not it has been successful. They are often brief, co-constructed with students, aim to remind students those aspects on which they need to focus, and can relate to the surface (content, ideas) and deep (relations, transfer) successes from the lesson(s).

The effect size of using success criteria is a .88-over 2 years of growth in one year!

Here are 3 ways success criteria helps learners grow:

By Ashley Taplin

As I think about interventions, I am reminded of a quote by Mike Mattos in which he says, “the best intervention is prevention.” When interventions are embedded within daily formative assessments, students can see that learning is an ongoing process. Below are some strategies that can be used virtually or in-person, and give both students and teachers clear next steps for learning.

Designing Intervention Groups with Exit Slips: One strategy that was shared in Corwin’s Distance Learning Playbook is specifically designing student groupings based off of exit slip responses. To do this, the teacher shared that at the end of a lesson he asks his students to choose one of the of 4 options below.

1. I’m just learning (I need more help)
2. I’m almost there (I need more practice)
3. I own it! (I can work independently)
4. I’m a pro! (I can teach others)

Then, at the start of the next class, he creates virtual breakout rooms with 2’s and 3’s mixed together and 4’s sprinkled throughout. He gives those rooms parallel problems for students to work on together and meets in a separate breakout room with 1’s. It is there that that he is able to reteach, uncover unknowns, and clear up misconceptions. I love this intervention model that provides a safe space for learning and focuses on a growth mindset and collaboration. Furthermore, when he brings students back, he asks the question “what are you learning about yourself as a learning,” which allows students to become more self-aware, a pillar of SEL. (Fisher, Frey, Hattie-The Distance Learning Playbook; CASEL).

3-2-1 Strategy: Using a 3-2-1 structure (3 things you learned, 2 things you found interesting, and 1 question you still have) is another way to check for understanding and provide direction for interventions. As a scaffold, teachers could reference the success criteria for the lesson to help students identify specific learning and lingering questions. I created this GoogleSlides template to use with students virtually that allows the teacher to include their own learning targets and success criteria on the first slide and gives students the ability to type in their responses on the second. Click here to make a copy to your Drive.

Check out Ashley's upcoming BER seminar Increase Student Perseverance to Improve MATH Learning!

By Ann Elise Record

In my consulting work, I’m frequently asked about how interventionists can structure their limited time with students to be the most impactful. There are two areas of content that I think are often not given enough instructional time that can be incredibly powerful and positively affect students’ achievement as well as their disposition: fluency and word problem structures. It’s all about finding out the students’ strengths and then building on them. In this post, I’ll be focusing on fluency and next month I’ll delve into word problem types.

Beginning to Learn Math Facts

Traditionally, students’ math fact journeys have begun with our students in the counting phase of reasoning. So, when asked to add two amounts, they will use objects or fingers to show both of the amounts and then begin counting them all beginning at 1. Then, students develop the understanding of groups. They begin to “count on” starting with the amount of the larger group and counting up to the other addend. A big step at this stage is recognizing the efficiency of counting on from the larger addend. At this point, many students are then asked to memorize the math facts using games and activities with all their facts. Unfortunately for many, they aren’t able to memorize the facts, so they continue counting on and thus are only in a counting phase of reasoning. This is actually extended to their work typically when working with multi-digit computation if they are using algorithms.

What is Fluency?

When teachers are expected to report out to parents on the progress of their children on mastering their math facts, often the students are given timed tests, because fluency has been narrowly defined as speed and accuracy. There are many issues with this, not the least of which is that it has repeatedly been shown to be the start of math anxiety. There are many long lasting effects on self-efficacy throughout students’ lives. Fluency is so much more than speed and accuracy. It includes flexibility and efficiency as well. The more we provide opportunities for students to flexibly work with numbers and use derived facts to help them solve the ones they don’t know, the more their number sense will develop and their speed and accuracy will naturally improve as well. Additionally, they will be moving from using counting strategies into additive reasoning.

Using Math Running Records to Determine Starting Points and Growth

But where do we start with our students who have been identified as being “behind”? My favorite assessment tool for knowing exactly where a student needs to begin working is a Math Running Record created by Dr. Nicki Newton. After 10 years of pouring over the math fact research, as well as her own action research, the Dr. Nicki has developed a math interview that provides us data on all 4 aspects of fact fluency: accuracy, flexibility, efficiency, and relative speed (although the students have no idea we are keeping track of the time it takes to say an answer). With an interview protocol for each operation, the Math Running Record allows us to zoom in on exactly which set of facts are causing super slowdown, inaccuracies, or inefficient strategies and then to determine where the students are on the levels of strategies such as counting, mentally using counting strategies, using derived facts, or having mastery with understanding.

by Cindy Jones

My grandson, Charlie is thirteen and in 8th grade. He is a good student and generally likes school, but he has been diagnosed with ADHD and has problems with paying attention and organizational skills. The Covid 19 pandemic has made the problem much worse. Today, many students have increased frustration due to changes in school structure and instruction.

My daughter really wanted to help Charlie, but had no idea where to start. After some research, she discovered the book, That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week, by Ana Homayoun. The author is a specialist who works with teenage boys who struggle with organizational and time management issues.

The book includes descriptions of the types of disorganized learners, how to organize student planners and notebooks, how to check the notebooks, and many other tips for interventions.

Here are some strategies that the book recommends to support your students with organizational issues:

Have students set academic and personal goals.

Teach students how to set goals. Review these goals with them on a regular basis. Organization might be a great first goal! No one feels successful when they can’t find things and the environment is messy.

Post a schedule for the routine of the day or the period.

Post this in large letters on the board or on the students’ desks. This will help students with structure.

Have students clean out their desks, notebook, and backpacks once a week.

The students are to throw away all trash in their desks and backpacks. They should then open their binders and put all papers neatly in the appropriate binder.

Show student what it looks like to be organized.

Create anchor charts that show diagrams of pictures illustrating how the desk and binders should look.

Label and color-code books, binders, and folders.

Have a specific color for each subject. The textbook can be covered in that color, as well as the matching subject binder or folder.

Have daily checklists and planners.

Put checklists on the disorganized student’s desk or locker. This will help the student to visualize what he needs to do an will remind him what to take home.

Planners are an important tool, as well. At the end of the day, or period, teach students what and where to write the assignments. Also, give them, or remind them of, important dates and deadlines.

Use memory aids.

Teach students memory tricks and acronyms. Also, give them sticky notes and rubber bands for flashcards.

Create a Buddy System.

Pair up students with another student who is organized and responsible.

It will be relatively simple to ascertain if these strategies are successful. Student notebooks will be organized and complete.

Work areas will be neater and students should appear less frustrated and able to more easily grasp new information. Grades should also improve.

Remember, without the organizational tools to thrive, our disorganized students may give up in frustration and never reach their full potential. They need our intervention.

Be sure to register for the online seminar Practical Strategies for Improving the Behavior of Attention-Seeking, Manipulative and Challenging Students presented by Cindy Jones.