“This is stupid. I hate school!” 14-year-old Daniel muttered as he tossed his dismal report card into the trash. Labeled gifted in first grade, Daniel had been in gifted and advanced classes since, and one might assume that he would be a straight A student. In fact, just the opposite was true.He struggled to maintain a C average because he lacked motivation to complete much of the work his teachers assigned, and he often argued loudly whenever he felt passionately about a topic. As a result, some of his more generous teachers called him quirky, but most found him exasperating.
I loved Daniel’s unique way of viewing the world, which made my journalism class a natural fit for him (as it was a place where he had autonomy to explore topics about which he was passionate.) My friends who struggled with kids like Daniel told me, “It’s easy for you to give kids freedom to direct their own learning in your class because you teach an elective. It’s not so easy in academic classes.” I knew from 20 years in public education that the school reform movement had indeed placed a great deal of stress on core academic teachers in particular, as they are heavily judged based on student achievement such as test scores. But because I had also taught English for many years and was well aware of the demands of teaching a high-stakes academic subject, I was convinced that blaming our pedagogical challenges on the reform movement was a limiting belief and something that could be overcome (because I had done it myself.) I wanted to help my struggling colleagues find a better way to relate to kids like Daniel so that life would be easier for everyone in the classroom. But I wasn’t quite sure how to do that.
It was only after I enrolled in a doctoral program that I found the answer. One of my educational psychology professors shared APA’s Top 20 Principles from Psychology for PreK to 12 Education (based on psychological science). After reading it, I became almost giddy with excitement because I felt it was the most accurate, practical distillation of everything a teacher needs to know to be successful that I had ever seen.
So as part of my dissertation research, I took on the role of site-based professional learning leader and offered classes to middle school teachers based on identified needs and interests using the APA document as a framework. I knew that those with degrees in education had encountered such information at some point in their undergraduate careers, but it was clear based on their struggles that many of them were not using these principles to inform instruction. In addition, I worked with some teachers who had become certified through alternative routes and had not taken foundational courses in education. To increase the likelihood of conceptual change, I limited our focus to the document’s first two topics: “How do students think and learn?” and “What motivates students?” so that we could explore and reflect on each concept more deeply. I offered classes on these topics throughout the school year (both face-to-face and online) and assessed teachers’ efficacy beliefs via surveys at the beginning and end of the school year and compared them with those of teachers from a similar school. In the end, I found that teachers’ sense of efficacy may be favorably influenced by the use of professional learning that is based on the “Top 20” principles. I found these results so interesting that I will continue to use these principles to guide professional learning at my school next year.
Why use these principles?
- Research-based– This document is a synthesis of years of studies by some of the most distinguished researchers in psychology, and is filled with references to the field’s most seminal work.
- User-friendly– It is well organized by category, and is not written in researcher jargon that cannot be understood by the average educator. Any administrator, instructional coach, or teacher should be able to interpret and apply these principles; they do not need to have special training in educational psychology.
- Fills in knowledge gaps– The document offers information that fills in knowledge gaps that may exist about teaching and learning, either because teachers forgot the information they learned as an undergraduate or because they never learned it at all.
- Offers practical solutions– Most importantly, the document offers useful solutions to common problems faced by teachers, like how to foster motivation to learn and how to support students’ social and emotional needs.
How can I improve teaching and learning at my school?
My best advice comes from Arthur Ashe:
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
I believe many top-down reform efforts fail because they are not attuned to the unique needs of teachers and students that vary from school to school. A school leader interested in improving teaching and learning need not buy an expensive program or call in high-dollar consultants. Simply using APA’s Top 20 principles as a framework and offering research-based, practical suggestions for teachers to use in the classroom may lead to some positive shifts in teachers’ beliefs about learning as well as accompanying changes in their practice. As my colleague Mrs. P remarked after taking my classes based on these principles, “I loved learning about how kids learn. I was able to implement several strategies in my own classroom (i.e., autonomy, higher expectations) and I have witnessed great improvement in [student] engagement. I feel that this professional development showed some really amazing teaching strategies and encouraged teachers to focus on the kids, not the grades.” In short, APA’s “Top 20” principles serve as welcome reminders of the basics of effective teaching and learning and offer solutions that can help teachers transform their classrooms into student-centered, creative, and challenging spaces where both they and their students can thrive.
I would love to hear from other teachers who have used the “Top 20” principles to guide teaching and learning. Which principles most effectively address your unique classroom challenges? How have you used this document to inform your planning? Additionally, I am always interested to talk with school leaders regarding how they can offer site-based professional learning opportunities that are supportive of teachers’ agency and responsive to their diverse instructional needs.
References:
American Psychological Association. Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education. (2015). Top 20 principles from psychology for preK-12 teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/cpse/top-twenty-principles.pdf
Lucariello, J. M., Nastasi, B. K., Anderman, E. M., Dwyer, C., Ormiston, H., & Skiba, R. (2016). Science supports education: The behavioral research base for psychology’s top 20 principles for enhancing teaching and learning. Mind, Brain, And Education, (1), 55. doi:10.1111/mbe.12099
