The new kid on the block of Hattie’s Effect sizes…

The greatest effect size when I first started blogging in 2012 was “Feedback” at 1.13, but Hattie has continued to add to his meta-analysis since then and there is a new kid on the effect size block…

Are you a Senior Leader – have you heard of CTE ? If not you ignore it at your peril. it’s going to change the way you look at school leadership. Watch this space for an update on the latest evidence.

John Medlicott, Director JMC

This is a revisited post from 2012.

Hattie says ‘effect sizes’ are the best way of answering the question ‘what has the greatest influence on student learning?’.

An effect-size of 1.0 is typically associated with:

• advancing learners’ achievement by one year, or improving the rate of learning by 50%

• a correlation between some variable (e.g., amount of homework) and achievement of approximately .50

• A two grade leap in GCSE, e.g. from a C to an A grade

Below is Hattie’s table of effect sizes.

Terms used in the table 

• An effect size of 0.5 is equivalent to a one grade leap at GCSE

• An effect size of 1.0 is equivalent to a two grade leap at GCSE

• ‘Number of effects is the number of effect sizes from well-designed studies that have been averaged to produce the average effect size.

• An effect size above 0.4 is above average for educational research

This work supports the initial findings of a study by academics at Salford University which showed a strong correlation between the built environment where teaching takes place and test results in reading, writing and maths. Lighting, circulation, acoustics, individuality and colour were revealed to affect pupils’ progress in the year-long study of achievement by 751 children in seven primary schools in Blackpool. It found eight out of 10 environmental factors displayed significant correlations with the pupils’ performance and the report’s authors concluded: “This clear evidence of the significant impact of the built environment on pupils’ learning progression highlights the importance of this aspect for policymakers, designers and users.”
But Gove has dismissed the significance of the findings. A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “There is no convincing evidence that spending enormous sums of money on school buildings leads to increased attainment”.

Clearly the most significant factor is Feedback 

So the DFE may be on safe ground. If we look at the quality of teaching the learning will improve. Hattie has made clear that ‘feedback’ includes telling students what they have done well (positive reinforcement), and what they need to do to improve (corrective work, targets etc), but it also includes clarifying goals. This means that giving students assessment criteria for example would be included in ‘feedback’.

Can’t wait to find out more about CTE? We have an INSET course for school leaders on CTE. I intend to follow up with an updated blog on where schools should go from here

John Medlicott, Director JMC

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