Supporting Deeper Learning

How Can We Develop Teaching that

Ensures Success in the 21st Century?

What Deeper Learning is Not

Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

What Deeper Learning is:

An understanding of the meaning and

relevance of ideas to concrete problems

An ability to apply core concepts and modes
of inquiry to complex real-world tasks
A capacity to transfer knowledge and skills to
new situations, to build on and use them
Abilities to communicate ideas and to
collaborate in problem solving.
An ongoing ability to learn to learn

DEMAND FOR SKILLS

IS CHANGING

Complex
Communications

10
Expert Thinking

Percentile Change from 1960

8
6
4
2
0
-2

Routine Manual

-4
-6
-8
-10
1960

The dilemma of schools:

The skills that are easiest to teach and
test are also the ones that are easiest
to digitize, automate, and outsource
1970

1980

1990

Routine
Cognitive
Non-routine
Manual

1998
Source: Murnane &
Levy

FORTUNE 500 MOST VALUED SKILLS

197
0
Writing
Writing
Computational Skills
Computational Skills
Reading Skills
Reading Skills
Oral Communications
Oral Communications
Listening Skills
ListeningCareer
Skills
Personal
Personal
Career
Development
Development
Creative
Thinking
Creative
Thinking
Leadership

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Leadership
Goal Setting/Motivation

Goal Setting/Motivation
Teamwork
Organizational
Teamwork
Effectiveness
Organizational
Problem
Solving
Effectiveness

1
0

Problem Solving
Interpersonal
Skills
Interpersonal Skills

1
1
1
2

199
9

Toward What Ends?

Sustaining people

-- Employment
-- Food and shelter
-- Clean water
Sustaining the earth
Resolving conflict
Nurturing peaceful collaboration
Developing new solutions and strategies for
living and learning

How Can Teachers Support

Deeper Learning?
1. Make it relevant Connect to the real world
2. Teach through disciplinary modes of inquiry
3. Simultaneously develop lower- and higher-order
skills
4. Encourage transfer of learning
5. Teach students to learn to learn
6. Address misunderstandings directly
7. Promote teamwork as a process and outcome
8. Exploit technology to support learning
9. Foster students creativity

NINE LESSONS FROM THE SCIENCE OF

Teaching for Cognitive Flexibility

and Creativity
Visual arts and music
Design & engineering (making)
World languages
Social-emotional learning

-- Perspective taking
-- Acting with and for others

Teaching for Student Agency

The abilities to
Take initiative
Plan and implement
Find and use resources
Evaluate and synthesize
Learn to learn

Dependent learners

Independent learners

rely heavily on the teacher

are self-reliant

cannot make decisions about their

learning

can make informed decisions

about their learning

do not know their own strengths

and weaknesses

are aware of their strengths and

weaknesses

do not connect classroom learning

with the real world

connect classroom learning with

the real world

think that the teacher is wholly

responsible for their learning

take responsibility for their own

learning

do not know the best way to learn

something

know about different strategies for

learning (generally and personally)

do not set learning goals.

plan their learning and set goals.

work for extrinsic motivators such

as grades or rewards

are intrinsically motivated by

making progress in learning

do not reflect on how well they are

learning and why

often reflect on the learning

process and their own progress

Teaching for Student Agency

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Create complex, authentic tasks worth doing

Plan for choice and inquiry
Connect tasks to authentic assessments
Build effective scaffolding that supports competence,
confidence, and motivation
Support self- and peer-assessment and revision
Build reflection & extension into learning
Enable collaboration & peer learning
Develop social-emotional skills
Identify strengths, learning styles, and
goals with students
Support student decision making, social
responsibility, and leadership

How Can We Support

Teaching for Deeper Learning?

Creating a System that Supports

Teaching for Deeper Learning

Standards that Guide Development

(NBPTS)
1. Teachers are committed to students and their learning:
they know how to support learning and development;
2. Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach
those subjects to students: they generate multiple pathways
to knowledge;
3. Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring
student learning, using multiple methods to create
engagement, orchestrating learning in group settings;
4. Teachers think systematically about their practice and
learn from experience, using research and seeking advice;
5. Teachers are members of learning communities,
collaborating with other professionals, parents, & community.

Teacher Education that Instantiates

and Supports Deeper Learning
Candidates experience deeper learning pedagogies:

-- hands-on projects and

assessments
-- revision to standards
-- communication, groupwork
Focus is on how people learn for
mastery and transfer
Development is at the core
Content is linked directly to
for practice
Candidates learn to take the
perspective

performance

opportunities
students

Clinical Training: The Need for

Teaching Schools & Residencies
As in medicine, teachers need to see and enact

good practice while studying research and theory

Model schools support learning from expert
veterans while candidates are taking tightly linked
coursework, modeling state-of-the art education
for students and teachers as well as opportunities
for developing curriculum, new practices, and
research.

Intentional Induction
New teacher supports: orientation, mentoring,

and seminars in key areas

Reduced teaching load and collaborative
planning time
Demonstration Classroom Learning:
observations, debriefing, co-teaching
Professional learning for mentors

Inquiry-Based Professional
Learning
Collaborative inquiry through professional learning
communities and networks
-- Lesson study
-- Action research
-- Peer observation and coaching
-- Subject matter projects for content pedagogy
-- School-wide / cross-school authentic assessment
Time for Collaborative Learning
-- Other countries: 15-20 hours per week + 100 hours per
year

Professional Learning Opportunities

that Impact Practice are Generally:

Focused on specific curriculum content

Organized around real problems of practice
Connected to teachers work with children
Linked to analysis of teaching and student learning
Intensive, sustained and continuous over time

Supported by coaching, modeling,

observation, and feedback
Connected to teachers collaborative work in
professional learning communities
Integrated into school and classroom planning
around curriculum, instruction, and
assessment

USING ASSESSMENT FOR STUDENT & TEACHER LEARNING

Assessment
of, as, and for Learning
Assessment measures are structured to
continuously improve teaching and learning.

Graduation by Portfolio Supports

School-wide Learning
Tasks evaluating :
Scientific investigation
Mathematical problem solving
Literary analysis
Social science research and analysis
World language proficiency
Global awareness
Artistic performance

Assessments Can Support

Teacher Learning
As models of good instruction
As exemplars of quality work and standards
As diagnostic information regarding learning

especially when feedback shows actual performances,

not just scores
As a focus for professional
conversation
about standards,
curriculum, and
instruction
As information to guide
investments in professional
development

Around the World, Teachers Collaborate in

Assessment Design, Scoring, and Evaluation

Assessments Can Support Equity

Rich tasks with thoughtful rubrics and teacher
moderation can enhance curriculum equity when

They are embedded in curriculum and instructional

supports
They are readily available to teachers
They are used to analyze student learning

Focus Accountability on Learning

As Ted Sizer noted, the goal of

education is for students to learn to use their minds

well and to be able to apply what they know in the
world beyond school i.e. Learn deeply
Assessment of, for, and as learning focuses on
improvement for students, teachers, & schools
Intelligent accountability through evaluation,
reflection, and sharing of expertise is designed to
support the learning of everyone in the
system: from students and teachers
to school organizations and state
agencies.

21st Century Learning for All

What the best and
wisest parent wants for
his or her child, that
must the community
want for all of its
children. Any other child
is narrow and unlovely.
Acted upon it destroys
our democracy.
-- John Dewey