Learning Targets

“Students should be able to answer three basic questions:

Where am I going? Where am I now? How can I close the gap?
” 
     J.Myron Atkin, Paul Black, and Janet Coffey
 

A previous issue of Making the Standards Come Alive! titled “Power

Standards: Focusing on the Essential” detailed the rationale for prioritizing
standards in order to ensure effective teaching and learning. In it, I wrote
that determining power standards, rather than giving every standard and
indicator an equal amount of attention in the curriculum and on assessments
means teachers give priority to the most essential standards. These power
standards allow teachers to focus their planning and instruction on what is
most essential for their grade level or course. Teachers, in turn, are able to
work more efficiently and ensure deeper learning for their students.

However, the prioritization of standards alone does not ensure clarity around
what students are expected to understand and do. When there is a lack of
clarity around instructional goals, students are less likely to be engaged and
invested in their success. Standards are broad, complex, and multi-faceted
with both explicit and implicit meaning. If clarity around the standards does
not exist, teachers struggle to accurately teach, assess, and clearly
communicate student progress relative to that standard.

In order to provide specific, transparent, lesson-size expectations for

learning, teachers need to deconstruct standards into specific learning
targets. It isn’t until robust standards are unpacked and made clear to
students that we will be able to answer the question “What is each child
guaranteed to learn throughout this grade level or course?”

Defining Learning Target

The metaphor that Connie Moss and Susan Brookhart use to describe
learning targets in their Educational Leadership article, “What Students
Need to Learn,” is that of a global positioning system (GPS). Much like a GPS
communicates timely information about where you are, how far and how
long until your destination, and what to do when you make a wrong turn, a
learning target provides a precise description of the learning destination.
They tell students what they will learn, how deeply they will learn it, and
how they will demonstrate their learning.
Learning targets describe in student-friendly language the learning to occur
in the day’s lesson. Learning targets are written from the students’ point of
view and represent what both the teacher and the students are aiming for
during the lesson. Learning targets also include a performance of
understanding, or learning experience, that provides evidence to answer the
question “What do students understand and what are they able to do?”

As Moss and Brookhart write, while a learning target is for a daily lesson,
“Most complex understandings require teachers to scaffold student
understanding across a series of interrelated lessons.” In other words, each
learning target is a part of a longer, sequential plan that includes short and
long-term goals.

Why Use Learning Targets?

According to experts, one of the most powerful formative strategies for
improving student learning is clear learning targets for students. In Visible
Learning, John Hattie emphasizes the importance of “clearly communicating
the intentions of the lessons and the criteria for success. Teachers need to
know the goals and success criteria of their lessons, know how well all
students in their class are progressing, and know where to go next.”
Learning targets ensure that students:

 know what they are supposed to learn during the lesson; without a clear
learning target, students are left guessing what they are expected to learn
and what their teacher will accept as evidence of success.
 build skillfulness in their ability to assess themselves and be reflective.
 are continually monitoring their progress toward the learning goal and
making changes as necessary to achieve their goal.
 are in control of their own learning, and not only know where they are going,
they know exactly where they are relative to where they are going; they are
able to choose strategies to help them do their best, and they know exactly
what it takes to be successful.
 know the essential information to be learned and how they will demonstrate
that learning to achieve mastery.
Learning targets are also helpful for the adults working with the students.
They make it easier to plan, monitor, and assess students’ learning and
make instructional decisions that will help all students reach mastery. In
fact, when teachers are clear on their learning targets and criteria for
success, they become more focused and likely to eliminate the instruction
that has no relevance.

Learning targets are a part of a cycle that includes student goal setting and
teacher feedback. Formative assessment, assessment for learning, starts
when the teacher communicates the learning target at the beginning of the
lesson. Providing examples of what is expected along with the target written
in student-friendly language gives students the opportunity to set goals,
self-assess, and make improvements.

The Design and Communication of Learning Targets

When designing an effective learning target, teachers have to distill the
essential knowledge, skills, and/or reasoning for the lesson. Teachers need
to think about what students learned in the previous lesson, what students
will need to learn in the current lesson, and where the students are headed
in subsequent lessons. The learning target can be made visible and
accessible to students through the use of student-friendly language and
using the words “I can…” to begin each learning target statement. Following
the steps below, teachers can maximize the impact of their instructional
planning and delivery.

Determine what is essential for the lesson.

Teachers need to plan with the end in mind and have a clear understanding
of what students should understand and be able to do at the end of a unit,
or larger sequence of lessons. Once that is clear, teachers need to determine
each lesson-sized chunk of learning that will make up the learning journey.

 What will students need to learn and understand in this lesson?

 What have they learned in previous lessons?
 Where will they be headed after this lesson?
Define the level of rigor for the lesson.
An important part of designing a learning target is determining what levels
of thinking will be required of students in order to deepen and extend the
learning that occurred in the previous lesson. Bloom’s Taxonomy and
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge provide clear guidance in this step. (See
Resources and References section for sources.)

Plan a performance of understanding

A performance of understanding is what the teacher is asking the students
to do, and needs to be identified to provide evidence of student learning.
The performance of understanding not only helps the students develop and
demonstrate understanding and skills, it also provides important formative
assessment evidence to the teacher.

Write student learning targets

Student learning targets should be written using student-friendly language
and written from a student’s point of view. In order to write these “I can…”
statements, teachers need to ask themselves:
  What concepts and skills do students need in order to be successful
with this standard?
 What reasoning skills will they need in order to be successful with this
standard?
 What is the intended learning for the lesson?
 How should lessons be scaffolded?
 How will students demonstrate their learning?
 How will students record their thinking and learning about each target?
 Is the learning target written in accessible, student-friendly language?
Identify criteria for success
By identifying the criteria for success, students know exactly where they are
and where they need to go in order to be successful. When success criteria is
used, students can answer questions like:

 What does quality look like with this task?

 Where am I relative to success with this learning target?
 What are my next steps?
 Do I understand what proficiency and mastery looks like?
 How can I use the target(s) to self-assess, set goals, and monitor my
progress?
Share the learning target
Sharing the learning target with your students does not mean to simply post
it on the board. Teachers should check for students’ understanding of the
learning target by having them verbalize the intended learning in their own
words either individually, in partners, or in small groups. During the lesson,
students come to understand the learning target when they have the chance
to engage in a task that is aligned precisely with the intended learning for
the lesson.

 Are the learning targets made visible to students before, during, and
after the lesson?
 Is the necessary learning clear to students?
 Have students had the opportunity to make meaning of the learning
target?
Promote student reflection
Another value of a learning target is the student’s ability to self-assess, set
goals, monitor progress, and initiate improvements. In order to help
students do this, learning targets can be placed in a template where next to
each target students can reflect how they are doing using words like “not
yet,” “getting there,” or “got it.” To further apply their learning and reflect
on their progress, students can complete additional assignments that include
the same learning target and evidence of learning in order to extend what
they have come to know and understand from the day’s lesson.
In their book Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for
Understanding in Today’s Lesson, Moss and Brookhart include a four-
step framework for writing learning targets from the students’ point of view.
You can access it online
at http://bvqca.weebly.com/uploads/1/8/7/5/18754300/reading_excerpts__
how_to_design_learning_targets_moss_brookhart.pdf.

When learning targets are clearly constructed from the student’s point of
view, students are able to answer the following questions:

 What will I be able to do at the end of this lesson?

 What do I need to know to be able to do this?
 How will I show my learning?
 How well will I have to do it?
 

Learning Target Exemplars

Elementary

 I can use the word wall to help me spell new words in my writing.
 I can construct an equation with a letter standing for the unknown
quantity.
 I can compare and contrast two characters and how they interact in
the story.
Middle School

 I can formulate an inference from an assigned text and use evidence

from my reading to support my inference.
 I can use comparisons, analogies, or anecdotes to highlight the
significance of a piece of evidence in my argument.
 I can use variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem.
High School

 I can explain the structure and function of a carbohydrate.

 I can cite specific textual evidence to support the analysis of primary
and secondary sources.
 I can prove theorems about parallelograms.
 Learning Targets Misconceptions

“Teachers who truly understand what they want their students to

accomplish will almost surely be more instructionally successful
than teachers whose understanding of hoped-for student
accomplishments are murky.”

– W. James Popham

Misconception 1 – Learning targets describe the activity that

students will complete.
Learning targets are framed as what the students will learn, not the activity
in which they will engage. Learning targets are about the concepts students
will understand and the skills they can apply as a result of a lesson.

 Non-Example: I can work in a small group to read and discuss an

article about Westward expansion.
 Example: I can describe ways that human activities have altered
places and regions.
 Non-Example: I can complete a worksheet that includes strategies for
subtraction.
 Example: I can subtract numbers using an unmarked number line as a
strategy.
Misconception 2 – Learning targets are the same as instructional
objectives.
Instructional objectives guide instruction and are written for the teacher. The
purpose of instructional objectives are to link outcomes across a unit, and
they tend to be written in broader terms. In contrast, learning targets are
shared by both the teacher and the student and guide the students’ learning.
They are written in student-friendly language and each learning target is a
lesson-sized amount of information, skills, and reasoning. Learning targets
are made visible to the students and shared at the start of, during, and at
the end of the lesson.

Misconception 3 – Learning targets are checklists.

Learning targets are not intended to be taught, checked off, and forgotten.
Rather they are a way to make student learning clear, focused, and
transferable. When well-crafted learning targets are used, they provide
evidence of learning, and criteria for success.
Misconception 4 – Posting the learning target is enough.
In order for the learning target to promote reflection and guide the students’
learning, students must have the opportunity to make meaning of the target
for today’s lesson. There are a variety of ways to engage students in making
meaning of their learning targets as they work individually, in partners, or in
small groups:

 Reflect on their understanding using thumbs up, thumbs in the center,

or thumbs down
 Paraphrase the learning target
 Rewrite the learning target in their own words
 Reflect on where they are in their learning in writing either on a rubric
or checklist (not yet, getting there, got it)
Share how they will know if they have met the learning target
 Write an entry where they explain where they are in their learning
process answering the questions “Where am I going? Where am I
now? How will I get there?”
In summary, learning targets shared between teachers and students have
the potential to yield academic gains for all students. Without clearly defined
learning targets, teachers are unable to provide effective feedback and
design quality assessments that target the content and skills to be mastered
in a grade level or course.