Learning In Community

In 2008, John Hattie, an educational researcher from New Zealand, released his landmark book, Visible Learning. His work, built from thousands of meta-analyses, offered educators a new way of measuring what actually makes a difference in schools.

Hattie introduced the concept of effect sizes, which shows the relative impact of a particular strategy on student achievement. He found that an average year of schooling moves a student forward by an effect size of 0.40. In practical terms, that means any intervention with an effect size above 0.40 has the potential to accelerate student learning beyond the norm.

One of Hattie’s surprising findings was that 90% of educational interventions have a positive effect on learning. So the question isn’t “What works?” but rather “What works best?” Hattie’s ongoing research continues to identify the factors that have the greatest impact on student learning.

In light of our theme for this year, Bersama-Sama: We Belong Together, I wondered what Hattie’s research says about learning in relation to others. Does it matter that we learn in community? The answer is a resounding yes!

Here are some of Hattie’s top findings from Visible Learning MetaX:

• Collective teacher efficacy (1.01) – Teachers’ belief in their shared ability to positively impact student outcomes
• Jigsaw (0.92) – Each student learns a piece of content and then teaches it to their peers
• Strong classroom cohesion (0.66) – The sense that the teacher and the students are working together toward positive learning goals
• Cooperative versus individualistic learning (0.62) – Working together on tasks versus working alone
• Cooperative versus competitive learning (0.58) – Working together versus against one another
• Inclusion programs (0.52) – Mainstreaming and inclusion involve students with special needs placed in a general education classroom
• Belonging (0.45) – The extent to which students feel respected, included, accepted, and encouraged by others in the school

This is just a short list of the many factors connected to community. These numbers may look technical, but the message is clear: learning together in community is not just good; it is powerful. In fact, all of these approaches can result in more than a year’s worth of growth in achievement in a single school year.

This reflects something deeper than educational theory. It echoes God’s design for all of us to be in community with one another, supporting and challenging one another. Together, we learn best. Together, we flourish.