Deepening Your Learning Leadership Through Balanced Analysis and Feedback

by Dr. Joe Schroeder, Associate Executive Director, AWSA

“As a leader, how do I significantly improve student learning in my school without first significantly growing my ability to help faculty become more skillful, reflective, and resourceful teachers?”  In other words, “How do I realistically think I can ‘coach up’ that which I personally don’t understand deeply yet?”  That’s the central -- and convicting -- rationale for our newest AWSA Academy, Analyzing Teaching for Student Results (ATSR).  Rooted in the highly regarded work of Jon Saphier (author of The Skillful Teacher, now in its 6th edition and used by hundreds of districts and leading institutions of higher learning around the country/world), we are personally witnessing how ATSR is growing Wisconsin leaders in several key and connected areas: 

1)    Developing keen observation and analytical skills to the nuance of skillful teaching

2)    Effectively communicating key information and data through common, coherent language

3)    Matching feedback and resources to the most relevant needs of teachers

In short, we are seeing numerous examples of how leaders are growing and equipping themselves, through ATSR, to build on the foundation and promise of Educator Effectiveness to continuously grow and support skillful teaching practice in Wisconsin.  A particularly powerful approach for deepening learning leadership impact that we are learning in ATSR is through what RBT calls “Balanced Analysis” -- a method I will discuss through the remainder of this article.

In Educator Effectiveness (EE), Wisconsin administrators received extensive instruction about basing evaluative feedback on claims that are supported by observational evidence, where claims are generalizations or assertions drawn from experiences and where examples of evidence are such things as direct quotations, data, and literal descriptions.  Wisconsin EE training also emphasized that data and questions are the two most helpful and impactful forms of feedback.  These are concepts shared through the Balanced Analysis approach that we are learning in the ATSR Academy.  However, a key value-add in Balanced Analysis is to ensure that each feedback opportunity connects claims and evidence to an impact statement, which is “a comment of what the teaching behavior accomplished or intended to accomplish, what was significant about it, and -- most importantly -- its effect on students.” 

A typical example of effective balanced analysis is conveyed as a one paragraph unit of feedback organized sequentially as C-E-I-Q (where C = claim, E = evidence, I = impact statement, and Q = question).  What follows are two examples of Balanced Analysis in action.  The first example is an instance where the purpose is to reinforce and extend observed teacher practice, whereas the second is an effort to address an instructional concern.  In both examples, the following key is in play to assist your understanding of the sequential C-E-I-Q structure of Balanced Analysis:  the Claim is underlined, Evidence is shown in italics, the Impact statement is placed in blue font, and the reflective Question is presented in red font. 

Balanced Analysis Example 1

“Ron, you have a consistent and highly effective pattern of persevering and returning with students who are confused.  For example, to Maria:  ‘I don’t want to drop you yet, Maria.  What would be the next step?.’  Or with Daryl:  ‘So try one more to be sure it’s making sense. . . OK, explain how you thought about it.’  As a result, students get the message that you believe in them and that you will not press on and leave them behind. What did you do or say at the beginning of the year to get this outcome so fast? 

Balanced Analysis Example 2

Sara, you communicate low expectations to some students by routinely offering unsolicited help.  For example, you went to Brian and Terrence four times during the first six minutes of math (10/27).  In addition, you provided elaborate instructions to Brian four times and Shaylene three times during social studies independent work without either student requesting assistance or signaling a problem (11/12).  Furthermore, you walked immediately to Brian, who was working, and started coaching (“read the question”), then to Charlie and Terence, who were sitting waiting (12/7).  As a result, these students are likely to get the message that they do not need to listen carefully, try things on their own, or demonstrate effective effort? What are some ways to shift expectations so that these students get the message they need to listen carefully and try things on their own at first?

Like any new skill, tying keen observations to evidence, providing clear language, and organizing targeted feedback and resources to have the most impact takes dedicated effort over time.  But we are finding through our ATSR Academy to date that the C-E-I-Q approach of Balanced Analysis provides several benefits:

1)    It more frequently and naturally frames feedback from a coaching stance, to deepen impact

2)    It complements the good practices of evidence-based claims that were introduced/reinforced through previous EE training across the state and augments them further through regular use of the impact statement, which has notable influence on reinforcing and/or shifting practices as appropriate

3)    Through regular use of impact statements in feedback, we are equipping educators with practical and frequent means to “know their impact” which is at the essence of Hattie’s seminal research as described in his best-seller, Visible Learning

4)    Moreover, the embedding of the practical, deep-seeded, research-based resource of The Skillful Teacher within the ATSR Academy equips administrators to be effective co-learners with their teachers in identifying well-matched instructional moves for addressing the coaching questions raised through the Balanced Analysis approach.

If this sort of development is intriguing to you, please know that we are planning to launch two, 40-seat cohorts (Cohorts 2 and 3) of the ATSR Academy in the Milwaukee metro and Fox Valley regions respectively in 2017-18.  More details about next year’s ATSR Academies and other AWSA Professional Learning opportunities will be available in April.  Regardless, may the spring provide you more opportunities to grow and deepen your learning impact!

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Elementary Edition - Secondary Edition - District Level Edition