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is S Spotlight Al on Stidlent Success

A digest of research from the Laboratory for Student Success No. 209

What Helps Students Learn?!

by
Margaret C. Wang, Geneva D. Haertel, and Herbert J. Walberg

Changes in education should be grounded in a knowledge base derived from research; such
a base is now emerging. By analyzing the content of 179 handbook chapters and reviews,
compiling 91 research syntheses, and surveying 61 educational researchers, the authors of
this study compiled a knowledge base comprised of 11,000 statistical findings that shows
consensus on the most significant influences on student learning.

The results of the research analysis were summarized using a 28-category conceptual
framework based on models of schooling that posited influences on learning. To better
understand which influences were most important, the 28 categories were grouped into six
broad types of influences: student characteristics; classroom instruction and climate; home,
peer, and community context; program design; school organization; and state and district
characteristics. The 28 categories of the conceptual framework are listed in this Spotlight,
along with a representative variable for each category.

By combining the results from the content analysis, the research synthesis, and the survey of
experts, an average score was obtained for each of the 28 categories. This score represents
the degree of influence of each category.

In general, direct influences were found to have a greater impact on learning than indirect
influences. Direct influences, for example, include the amount of time a teacher spends on a
topic and the quality of the social interactions teachers have with their students. Examples of
indirect influences include policies adopted by a school, district, or state and organizational
features such as site-based management.

The estimates obtained on the effectiveness of various educational strategies for improving
student learning provide a set of considerations for formulating educational policies and
practices as well as a way to identify school improvement priorities. Overall, findings show
renewed emphasis on psychological, instructional, and contextual influences.

Paradoxically, the state, district, and school policies that have received the most attention in
recent years appear to have the least influence on learning. Because indirect influences may
only affect direct influences, they appear to be weaker and less consistent in their results. For
example, implementing a districtwide policy for teacher evaluation does not guarantee that
students in any given classroom will have a competent teacher.

Unless reorganizing and restructuring strongly affect direct influences on learning, they offer
little hope of substantial improvement Changing policies is unlikely to change practices in
classrooms and homes, where much of learning actually takes place. Better alignment of
remote policies and district practices and more direct intervention in the psychological
determinants of leaned promise the most effective avenues of reform.

Twenty-Eight Categories of Influence on School Learning

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Student Characteristics includes gender, academic history, and a variety of social,
behavioral, motivational, cognitive, and affective characteristics.

1. Metacognitive Processes

Comprehension monitoring (planning, monitoring effectiveness of and outcomes of
actions; testing, revising, and evaluating strategies)

2. Cognitive Processes

Level of specific academic knowledge in subject area instructed
3. Social and Behavioral Attributes

Positive, nondisruptive behavior

4. Motivational and Affective Attributes

Attitude toward subject matter instructed

5. Psychomotor Skills

Psychomotor skills specific to area

6. Student Demographics

Socioeconomic status

Classroom Instruction and Climate includes classroom routines and practices,
characteristics of instruction, classroom management, monitoring of student progress, quality
and quantity of instruction, student/teacher interactions, and classroom atmosphere.

7. Classroom management

Group alerting (teacher uses questioning/recitation strategies that maintain active
student participation)

8. Student and Teacher Social Interactions

Student responds positively during interactions with teachers and other students
9. Quantity of Instruction

Time on task (amount of time students are actively engaged in learning)

10. Classroom Climate Cohesiveness

(class members are friends, share common interests and values, and emphasize
cooperative goals)

11. Student and Teacher Academic Interactions

Frequent calls for extended, substantive oral and written response (not one-word
answers)

12. Classroom Assessment

Use of assessment as a frequent, integral component of instruction

13. Classroom Instruction

Use of clear and organized direct instruction

14. Classroom Implementation and Support

Establishing efficient classroom routines and communicating rules and procedures

Home, Peer, and Community Context includes community demographics, peer culture,
parental support and involvement, and the amount of out-of-class time students spend on
activities such as television viewing, leisure reading, and homework.

15. Home Environment and Parental Support

Parental involvement in ensuring completion of homework

16. Peer Group

Level of peers' academic aspirations

17. Community Influences

Socioeconomic level of community

18. Out-of-Class Time

Student participation in clubs and extracurricular school activities

Program Design refers to the physical and organizational arrangements for instructional
delivery and includes strategies specified by the curriculum and characteristics of
instructional materials.

19. Curriculum Design
Instructional materials employ advance organizers

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20. Program Demographics

Size of instructional group (whole class, small group, one-on-one instruction)

21. Curriculum and Instruction

Alignment among goals, content, instruction, student assignments, and evaluation

School Organization refers to culture, climate, policies, and practices, and includes
demographics of the student body, whether the school is public or private, funding for
categorical programs, school-level decision-making variables, policies, and practices.

22. School Culture

School wide emphasis on and recognition of academic achievement

23. Teacher/Administrator Decision Making

Principal actively concerned with instructional program

24. Parental Involvement Policy

Parental involvement in improvement and operation of instructional programs
25. School Demographies

Size of school

26. School Policies

Explicit school wide discipline policy

State and District Characteristics refers to governance and administration, state curriculum
and textbook policies, testing and graduation requirements, teacher licensure, provisions in
teacher contracts, and district-level administrative and fiscal variables.

27. State-Level Policies
Teacher licensure requirements
28. District Demographics
School district size

! Adapted from M.C. Wang, G.D. Haertel, & H.J. Walberg, Synthesis of Research: What
helps students learn? Educational Leadership, December 1993/January 1994, 74-79.

[Spotlight on Student Success is an occasional series of articles highlighting findings from the Laboratory for Student Success (LSS) that have
significant implications for improving the academic success of students in the mid-Atlantic region. For more information on LSS and other LSS
lpublications, contact the Laboratory for Student Success, 9th Floor, Ritter Annex, 13th Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA,

19122; telephone: (800) 892-5550; E-mail: <LSS@vm.temple.edu>.

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