Robert Marzano on a Powerful Way to Improve Student Learning

(Originally titled "When Students Track Their Progress")

In this Educational Leadership article, Robert Marzano highlights a strategy that he says brings about 32 percentile-point gains in achievement: having students record their scores on a chart after taking each interim assessment and following their progress over time. When the assessment involves a rubric score, this gives students and teachers two kinds of information: a specific description of what is expected, and a graphic representation of how each student is doing. "The combination of these two types of information," says Marzano, "produces a powerful effect."

However, Marzano cautions that this strategy will produce dramatic gains only if three things are done right:

            · All the interim assessments must address the same year-end learning goal or goals. If the goals are different from assessment to assessment, teachers and students will be comparing apples to oranges and won't see an accurate trajectory of progress.

            · Use consistent rubrics instead of points. When teachers use points to score assessments, there are often variations in the difficulty of test items, leading to inconsistent scores from test to test. Rubrics that clearly describe end-of-year performance on a 4-3-2-1-0 scale (for example, at Level 3, Students will explain and illustrate how habitats provide plants and animals with the things they need to survive) do a far better job.

            · Branch out from paper-and-pencil assessments. Marzano suggests using demonstrations, probing discussion, unobtrusive observations, and student-generated assessment.

"When Students Track Their Progress" by Robert Marzano in Educational Leadership, December 2009/January 2010 (Vol. 67, #4, p. 86-87)