Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Marzano's Classroom Instruction That Works

Marc Pierlott

Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. By Marzano, Pickering & Pollock

“…the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher.”
-William Sanders

If you are looking for a book that provides effective strategies to improve student achievement, you will find this book valuable. Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering and Jane Pollock believe we are “at the beginning of a new era in education – one in which research will provide strong, explicit guidance for the classroom teacher” (Marzano et al., 2001, p. 10). The authors have written a very user-friendly book that provides rich research data along with excellent instructional strategies. They have organized most chapters to follow the same format. First, the authors summarize research and theory regarding the effectiveness of an instructional strategy that improves student learning. Second, they discuss “guiding principals” of how to utilize these instructional strategies in your classroom. Lastly, they provide detailed examples of how these strategies have been successfully implemented in classrooms.

Effective pedagogy consists of instructional strategies, management techniques and curriculum design. The authors focus specifically on instructional strategies. They propose that “the ‘art’ of teaching is rapidly becoming the ‘science’ of teaching” (Marzano, et al., 2001, p. 1). The authors found flaws in the Coleman Report of 1966 that initially led many to believe teachers and schools had minimal impact on student achievement. The authors found that schools do, in fact, have an impact on student learning. A student’s school can affect her achievement by as much as 23 percentile points (Marzano, et al., 2001, p. 2). Further, the authors report that individual teachers improve student achievement if the teacher employs quality instructional strategies. In this book, the authors provide examples of nine instructional strategies that research proves increase student achievement.

What follows are the nine instructional strategies in order of their effect size – the increase in achievement – with the most effective (identifying similarities and differences) listed first:

The Nine Instructional Strategies

1. Identifying similarities and differences (venn Diagrams, charts, metaphors, analogies)

2. Summarizing and note taking (consistent strategy, clarifying questions, predictions)

3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition (“pause, prompt, praise”)

4. Homework and practice (provide feedback)

5. Nonlinguistic representations (visual aids, movement)

6. Cooperative learning (vary group sizes)

7. Setting objectives and providing feedback (rubrics, corrective feedback)

8. Generating and testing hypotheses (make predictions, summarize conclusions)

9. Questions, cues, advance organizers (stories, sketches, graphic images)


The authors warn these strategies are tools to use at the teacher’s discretion. They understand that “no instructional strategy works equally well in all situations (Marzano, et al., 2001, p. 8). They state research is still needed to “study the effects of instructional strategies on specific types of students in specific situations, with specific subject matters” (Marzano, et al., 2001, p. 9). However, their belief in a new era of research-based teaching persists and they are hopeful this book will benefit teachers and their students on their shared quest for higher achievement.

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