One very important piece of an effective classroom is teacher clarity. John Hattie’s research in The Applicability of Visible Learning to Higher Education [Hattie 2015] assigns teacher clarity an effect size of .75 which is well above the threshold of .40 which represents one year’s growth for one year’s effort. This effect size makes it clear that teacher clarity is very important as we consider strategies for reaching our students, but what is teacher clarity? How do we make sure we have “clarity” in our classrooms?

Teacher clarity is a simple concept to understand but can be more complex to actually implement. Clarity is the process by which we communicate to students, in a clear, consise manner, exactly what we want them to know, do or understand in order to master a topic or learning standard. That seems simple enough but often times as teachers we have not clearly defined what that means on a given topic for ourselves! When we “unpack” standards and create guiding questions, we must also take a close look at the words of the standards to determine exactly what is required and to what depth of knowledge. Our guiding questions should be sufficiently broad to encourage inquiry and research by our students but as teachers we must know and communicate the details that will answer our guiding questions.

If we have carefully crafted our guiding questions to fit the standards that we want students to know, and if we have posted the current question or questions in the classroom to stimulate student thinking, the next step is to carefully define the details that make up the answer to our question and communicate them to our students in the lesson or lessons we teach. These details are what we want students to know, do or understand in order to completely answer a guiding question. These are presented as part of the lesson and should provide a basis for students to formulate an answer to the guiding question from their own perspectives. By the end of a lesson, a student who has mastered the topic should be able to discuss all the pieces that make up the answer to the guiding question and also be able to demonstrate the skills involved from the included standards.

Teachers must carefully define the knowledge and skills required during the lesson or lessons and intentionally tie them back to the guiding question throughout the lesson. Students must be constantly assessed not only on the required knowledge or skills but also on the understanding of exactly what will show mastery. Students must be clear at all times on what is expected of them and how they will be assessed. This allows the student to set and work toward a goal, and maintain focus and direction during the lesson.

Research shows that maintaining student clarity of focus during a lesson will lead to better student achievement but it can also lead to better use of standards in instruction for teachers. If you are looking for better focus by both student and teacher, take a look at how clearly you are defining student expectations to your students. A small adjustment in the way you define expectations to your students could be the answer!