Developing Learning Targets and Creating Success Criteria

Module 3, Lesson 2, A-D

Program Goals for Participants

To provide an extra layer of support in the development of the inductees’ professional knowledge and skills through the…

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1. cultivation of a professional attitude toward teaching and learning;
2. nurturing of strong working relationships and communication skills with students, parents, and colleagues;
3. creation of a safe physical and emotional classroom environment;
4. promotion of equitable access to the curriculum with high expectations for all students;
5. engagement of students in relevant and rigorous standards-based instruction; and
6. use of a wide range of assessments in order to define and refine student learning goals and by differentiating instruction.

Learning Target(s)

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• I am learning about the importance of teacher clarity or a teacher’s ability to communicate the learning intention and success criteria so students know where they are going in their learning, how they are progressing, and their next steps.

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• I am learning that once I have deconstructed a standard and identified the content and skills, my next step is to break the standard into lesson-sized “chunks” called learning targets.

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• I am learning that success criteria helps students know what success looks like, so they are more likely to plan and predict, set goals, and acquire a stronger sense of how to judge their own progress.

Learning Criteria

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• After “deconstructing” a standard, I can create and communicate a learning target that describes for students what they should know and/or be able to do at the end of the day’s lesson.

• I can identify, describe, and communicate “success criteria” to students for each and every learning target so they (and I) know what success “looks like.”

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• If asked by a colleague, I can explain how learning targets and success criteria lead to teacher clarity which research has suggested is a highly effective teaching strategy.

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Note

Note

This lesson will focus on teacher clarity, learning targets, and success criteria. Like many topics in education, terms, processes, and approaches may differ depending on who is providing the information.

Always check in with your administration to determine what terms are used, what processes are encouraged, and what approaches are mandated by your school/district/state to avoid confusion and/or the appearance of non-compliance.

For this lesson, terms will be defined and alternative terms will be acknowledged in an effort to eliminate ambiguity.

Bell Ringer

Turn to the page in your digital interactive student notebook reserved for Module 3, Lesson 2, A.

Click the YouTube logo to the left, follow the link, and watch the video clip from the play, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Sally questions her teacher about the fairness of her grade. List her protests about the the fairness of her grade in your digital interactive student notebook.

Module 3, Lesson 2, A

Opening - What is teacher clarity?

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: the quality of being clear: such as

a: the quality of being easily understood

b: the state of having a full, detailed, and orderly mental grasp of something

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According to Hattie, teacher clarity is the ability to name all of one’s planning steps about goals, content, methods and media and using examples to explain them to students.

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“When learning is organized and intentional, and when the learner knows what he or she is learning, great things can happen.” --Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Olivia Amador, and Joseph Assof

Key Term

Opening: Why is teacher clarity important?

“If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.” ~Yogi Berra

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“The ability of a teacher to identify and precisely express what students will know and be able to do as a result of a lesson.” ~Mike Rutherford

“The teacher clarifies learning goals that state what students will know or be able to do at the end of a unit or set of lessons.” ~ Robert J. Marzano

Key Term

Opening: What are learning standards?

Learning standards are concise, written descriptions of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education. Learning standards describe educational objectives—i.e., what students should have learned by the end of a course, grade level, or grade span—but they do not describe any particular teaching practice, curriculum, or assessment method (although this is a source of ongoing confusion and debate).

Key Term

Opening: What does it mean to

“deconstruct”a standard?

Deconstructing standards is a systematic process to identify embedded learning targets in standards and ensure that nothing essential is missed during instruction.

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Other terms used to describe this process: unwrapping, unpacking, analyzing (Refer to Module 3, Lesson 2)

Key Term

Opening: What is a learning target?

Once a standard has been deconstructed, and the content and skills have been identified, the teacher breaks the standard into lesson-sized “chunks.”

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These “chunks” are communicated to students as learning targets or statements of what students are expected to learn (knowledge, skills, concepts) in a given lesson.

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Other terms used: learning intention, learning objective

Key Term

Opening: What is a learning target?

Learning Intention (target) - A description of what the student is going to learn by the end of today’s lesson, stated in age appropriate language, but retaining the rigor and intent of the standard that students can understand and aim for during today’s lesson. It establishes the learning destination, “Where are we going?” (Almorode & Vandas, 2019).

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Learning Intention (target) - It is a statement of what student are learning and not what they are doing (Sharrat, 2019).

Key Term

Opening: What is success criteria?

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Success criteria provide a means for the student and the teacher to gauge progress toward learning, thereby making learning visible to the teacher and the student.

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Success criteria answer the question, “How do you AND your students know if they are successful at learning what you wanted them to learn?”

Key Term

Opening: Success Criteria (continued)

• Success Criteria provides a description of what it means to do quality work in today’s’ lesson and is observable and measurable, so students can use them to assess the quality of their work while they are learning.

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• It describes the evidence student must provide to show they have achieved the learning intention for today’s lesson. The criteria are specific to the learning target, understandable and visible.

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• They are the “look-fors” while students are doing the lesson.

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• It is a snapshot of what learning will be assessed for the day.

Key Term

Opening: What impact do learning targets and success criteria have on learning?

It’s important to communicate the learning intention and success criteria so students can identify where they are going in their learning, how they are progressing, and where they will go next, thus providing students enough clarity to own their learning (Hattie, 2009)

John Hattie’s research: A learning effect size of 0.40 equates to a year’s growth in learning. Implementing teacher clarity correctly results in an effect size of 0.75. This results in almost twice the effect size on one year of formal schooling.

Key Term

Opening: In a nutshell

Teacher clarity refers to the ability of the teacher to deconstruct standards into daily learning targets and success criteria and then communicate them is such a way that students understand what they are learning in a single lesson, what success looks like, and how the learning task and assessment relate to both.

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Key Term

Work Period

Directions: Click the images below, follow the links, and watch the videos on teacher clarity, learning targets (intentions), and success criteria. Use the page in the Interactive Participant Notebook (IPN) labeled Module 3, Lesson 2, B to record new learning.

Doug Fisher on Teacher Clarity

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John Hattie on Global Teachership Hub on

Learning Intentions Learning Intentions,

and Success Criteria Learning Outcomes and

Success Criteria

Module 3, Lesson 2, B

ESC Region 13 on Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

Work Period

Four Rungs on the Ladder of Teacher Clarity

A Framework for Lesson Planning

Using Success Criteria to Spark Motivation

in Your Students

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Writing Tips for Learning Goals and

Success Criteria

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Module 3, Lesson 2, C

Directions: Click the images to the right, follow the links, and read the information about learning targets and success criteria. Record new information in the IPN on the page labeled Module 3, Lesson 2, C.

Work Period - Apply

Module 3, Lesson 2, D

Directions: Consider a lesson you’ll be teaching in the near future. Deconstruct the standard you’ll be addressing, create a learning target and corresponding success criteria; then, communicate both to students during the lesson. Make sure the standard, target, and success criteria align with each other and with the lesson task and assessment. Use the page in the IPN labeled Module 3, Lesson 2, D to help you with your planning.

Key Concept

Module 3, Lesson 2, D

“Explaining the intended learning in student-friendly terms at the outset of a lesson is the critical first step in helping students know where they are going...Students cannot assess their own learning or set goals to work toward without a clear vision of the intended learning. When they do try to assess their own achievement without understanding the learning targets they have been working toward, their conclusions are vague and unhelpful.”

(Stiggins, Arter, Chappius & Chappius, 2004, pp. 58-59)

Dig a Little Deeper