Engineering Instruction to Build Student Success
JCCS All-Staff Breakout
Nancy Frey
March 10, 2026
Welcome!
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Academic risk-takers aren’t born. They are BUILT.
Unfortunately, many of our students have already amassed years of struggle and failure in school.
They do not have a history of success.
Our challenge is to systematically re-build a new narrative with them.
A narrative of success.
Our incremental success criteria:
I can explain the impact of experiencing success on learning.
I can define instructional practices that promote success experiences. �
What do you think is the optimal ratio of success to failure?
The Success-Failure Ratio
From Research to Practice (Wilson et al., 2020)
Do we learn from failure?
We don’t learn from failure.
We learn from productive struggle.
Productive struggle requires instruction after the initial failure.
Is past success predictive of future performance?
The Remembered Success Effect
From Research to Practice (Finn et al., 2025)
Do students learn to accept challenge from classmates?
Challenge-seeking behavior is contagious.
The courage to learn spreads.
From Research to Practice (Ogulmus et al., 2024)
Challenge-seeking rates on math word problems were greater after observing a challenge-seeking peer than after observing a challenge-avoiding peer.
Check in with a partner about our first success criteria:
Can I explain the impact of experiencing success on learning?
�
Our incremental success criteria:
I can explain the impact of experiencing success on learning.
I can define instructional practices that promote success experiences. �
Change the face of schooling for students by changing opportunity structures.
Shared JCCS Instructional Areas of Focus
Incremental Success Criteria
Rationale: Students need to regularly experience success throughout the lesson to build confidence and motivation. It is a key action in fostering the courage to learn.
Incremental Success Criteria provide a ladder for students.
Illustration by Hammam Fuad همَّام on Unsplash
Learning Intention in World History
I am learning to use the themes of freedom, slavery, leadership, and violence to describe an artwork.
Incremental Success Criteria
I can…
Passage des onze jours de Pillage de la ville du Cap, J.L. Boquet, 1793
Chunking requires that the teacher break larger bits of
information into smaller units and group these units in
manageable ways.
Rationale:
Chunking makes information easier to understand
and remember. It allows for focused practice on one idea at a time.
Chunking a Lesson on Conductivity
Response Opportunity Assessments
Rationale: Show what you know so I know what you know. It is key to responsive instruction.
QUESTIONS TO GUIDE EVIDENCE-GATHERING DECISIONS
How will I gather evidence: whole group, partners, groups, individuals?
How will I mix formal assessment opportunities (tasks, writing assignments, exit tickets, tests) with informal ones (response to questions, discussions, whiteboards)?
How often will I provide evidence-gathering opportunities throughout the lesson? The unit?
A 2023 meta-analysis of 29 studies found that students using response cards showed:
Marsh, R. J., Cumming, T. M., Randolph, J. J., & Michaels, S. (2023). Updated Meta-Analysis of the Research on Response Cards. Journal of Behavioral Education, 32(3), 450–473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-021-09463-0
QUALITY INSTRUCTION + SCAFFOLDING
Rationale: Support learners as they engage in the courage to learn by providing just-in-case and just-in-time scaffolds.
Don’t be that teacher!
Be this teacher. Look for evidence of these practices in his lesson:
Check in with a partner:
Can I define instructional practices that promote success experiences? �
Thank you!
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