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Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement
This is a perfect resource for all educators seeking research on the best strategies for raising student achievement through classroom instruction. A guide for educators of students in K-12, readers will find a wealth of research evidence, statistical data, and case studies. Nine categories of instructional strategies that maximize student learning are introduced, along with the pertinent information to understand and synthesize
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
June 9, 2011
For a non-fiction book, this is truly enlightening and inspiring. It stirred up some of my dormant research ideas. Perfect timing!
This book emphasizes the need to support major decisions with factual data from careful study and research. It is written in a very light mood as if Robert Marzano is just conversing with me.
This book emphasizes the need to support major decisions with factual data from careful study and research. It is written in a very light mood as if Robert Marzano is just conversing with me.
February 23, 2012
"Marzano" has been a buzz word in education for years now. Funny how we forget that he did his research with two women. Pickering and Pollock. Not that the ladies made the book any more interesting to read. This research is dry. If it wasn't helpful, I would have given up.
The nine research-based strategies highlighted in this book are effective, particularly for the educator artists who understand the nuances of the strategies, and push their own lesson planning to incorporate these approaches.
The nine research-based strategies highlighted in this book are effective, particularly for the educator artists who understand the nuances of the strategies, and push their own lesson planning to incorporate these approaches.
March 11, 2014
This book is a prime candidate for 3.5 stars if it existed on here.
From bigwig Marzano and friends, this outlines nine different instructional techniques that have the heft of scientific research behind their effectiveness. Most are things that good teachers do already, like encourage note-taking or using visual organizers, but I, for one, like knowing that certain things work better than others, and that you should use what has the most bang for your buck.
A brief, convenient read for any busy teacher too.
From bigwig Marzano and friends, this outlines nine different instructional techniques that have the heft of scientific research behind their effectiveness. Most are things that good teachers do already, like encourage note-taking or using visual organizers, but I, for one, like knowing that certain things work better than others, and that you should use what has the most bang for your buck.
A brief, convenient read for any busy teacher too.
March 24, 2019
Had some great, specific techniques you can use in the classroom to make things interesting, less tedious, and able to reach more kids due to different learning styles.
April 5, 2012
When it comes to the never-ending debate of how to reform our nation’s failing public school system, the most viable solution can be found in adopting research-based teaching strategies. Sounds simple, right? But it’s not an easy task when politicians, parents, administrators, and teachers can’t seem to agree on what it means to incorporate research-based strategies into the classroom.
One text that should be adopted in the school-reform movement is Classroom Instruction that Works by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock. This book would help focus the efforts of everyone squabbling over how to fix America’s schools. The current drive to measure student achievement is via standardized tests, so efforts at reform must begin within that framework. Their book covers nine categories of research-based strategies that can be applied to any subject in order to increase student achievement.
• Identifying Similarities and Differences
• Summarizing and Note Taking
• Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
• Homework and Practice
• Nonlinguistic Representations
• Cooperative Learning
• Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
• Generating and Testing Hypotheses
• Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers
The authors point out levels of achievement from students who go to schools of varying quality will only vary by 10 percent. That doesn’t seem like much, especially when it’s easier to blame poor school performance on aptitude, socioeconomic status, and home life. Yet, those are factors beyond a school’s control. However, that 10 percent difference in student achievement for an average student at a good school equates to a percentile gain of approximately 23 points compared to an average student at a poor school. Those numbers deserve attention.
The nine categories presented in Classroom Instruction that Works delve into meta-analysis and reference effect sizes, standard deviations, and percentile gains. It’s enough to make many readers’ heads spin, but the proof is in the pudding. As long as the reader has a rudimentary understanding of the techniques used, the authors provide a clear path for the implementation of each strategy.
So how do we reach consensus over how to implement such improvements? Teachers leave preparation programs with an arsenal of effective-teaching strategies. The harsh reality is that knowledge is often eclipsed by classroom management issues, stress from long hours and low pay, and staff discontent. What makes teachers of varying experience truly effective? Passion for teaching certainly matters, but teachers need to be supported in what they do. Budget-cuts and fear-mongering mean more teaching to the test now takes place than ever before. What incentives are there for good teachers to remain?
As a teacher I will refrain from speaking for administrators, politicians and parents. It disheartens me to know that I did my best to excel, but in the end, could no longer endure within a system that continues to be its own worst enemy. Everyone has been a student, so everyone has the right to criticize. However, it’s time to go beyond playing the blame game and opening a dialogue of constructive criticism.
Not one of the strategies in Classroom Instruction that Works involve teaching to the test. If given the freedom to teach a rich and varied curriculum, the test scores will follow. The purpose of school must be re-examined because current efforts at reform increasingly promote a narrower picture of what student achievement should look like.
One text that should be adopted in the school-reform movement is Classroom Instruction that Works by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock. This book would help focus the efforts of everyone squabbling over how to fix America’s schools. The current drive to measure student achievement is via standardized tests, so efforts at reform must begin within that framework. Their book covers nine categories of research-based strategies that can be applied to any subject in order to increase student achievement.
• Identifying Similarities and Differences
• Summarizing and Note Taking
• Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
• Homework and Practice
• Nonlinguistic Representations
• Cooperative Learning
• Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
• Generating and Testing Hypotheses
• Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers
The authors point out levels of achievement from students who go to schools of varying quality will only vary by 10 percent. That doesn’t seem like much, especially when it’s easier to blame poor school performance on aptitude, socioeconomic status, and home life. Yet, those are factors beyond a school’s control. However, that 10 percent difference in student achievement for an average student at a good school equates to a percentile gain of approximately 23 points compared to an average student at a poor school. Those numbers deserve attention.
The nine categories presented in Classroom Instruction that Works delve into meta-analysis and reference effect sizes, standard deviations, and percentile gains. It’s enough to make many readers’ heads spin, but the proof is in the pudding. As long as the reader has a rudimentary understanding of the techniques used, the authors provide a clear path for the implementation of each strategy.
So how do we reach consensus over how to implement such improvements? Teachers leave preparation programs with an arsenal of effective-teaching strategies. The harsh reality is that knowledge is often eclipsed by classroom management issues, stress from long hours and low pay, and staff discontent. What makes teachers of varying experience truly effective? Passion for teaching certainly matters, but teachers need to be supported in what they do. Budget-cuts and fear-mongering mean more teaching to the test now takes place than ever before. What incentives are there for good teachers to remain?
As a teacher I will refrain from speaking for administrators, politicians and parents. It disheartens me to know that I did my best to excel, but in the end, could no longer endure within a system that continues to be its own worst enemy. Everyone has been a student, so everyone has the right to criticize. However, it’s time to go beyond playing the blame game and opening a dialogue of constructive criticism.
Not one of the strategies in Classroom Instruction that Works involve teaching to the test. If given the freedom to teach a rich and varied curriculum, the test scores will follow. The purpose of school must be re-examined because current efforts at reform increasingly promote a narrower picture of what student achievement should look like.
February 28, 2013
This book puts the RESEARCH in research-based teaching strategies. I would have just preferred the strategies though. If you're looking for more strategies, you may want to see A Handbook for Classroom Instruction That Works, which is a companion book to this one. Unfortunately, there was almost too much data given and made it harder to read. Overall, though, it had some great practical strategies that can easily be translated to the classroom. Obviously, Marzano knows his stuff.
If you are interested, the book goes through the following aspects:
-Identifying similarities & differences
-Summarizing & note taking
-Reinforcing effort & providing recognition
-Homework & practice
-Nonlinguistic representations
-Cooperative learning
-Setting objectives and providing feedback
-Generating and testing hypotheses
-Questions, cues, and advance organizers
If you are interested, the book goes through the following aspects:
-Identifying similarities & differences
-Summarizing & note taking
-Reinforcing effort & providing recognition
-Homework & practice
-Nonlinguistic representations
-Cooperative learning
-Setting objectives and providing feedback
-Generating and testing hypotheses
-Questions, cues, and advance organizers
April 3, 2010
I really enjoyed reading some of the strategies and how they affect student learning immediately and over time. Some of the strategies are reminders some are newer.
One aspect I wish some educational books would take into consideration is subject area. Certain subject areas are easier to work with some of the strategies than others. Examples from the more difficult areas would have been more beneficial to me.
One aspect I wish some educational books would take into consideration is subject area. Certain subject areas are easier to work with some of the strategies than others. Examples from the more difficult areas would have been more beneficial to me.
March 14, 2010
I read this book for my New Teacher Project, like all books of this type 1 or 2 good ideas, cleverly hidden in a morass of stuff I already knew or suspected.
June 20, 2023
It's research based so that's good. There are some useful and practical classroom methodology to apply. My only issue is that it was a lot of information. The book covered every single grade level. If is was just elementary focused, I think I would have absorbed more, but there was a lot of good information in there.
November 12, 2022
A good resource for teachers and administrators looking to incorporate more research-based instructional practices into the classroom. Additional strategies for mathematics teachers would have improved the book.
January 30, 2018
A good book with many examples for teacher who want to know what strategies to use and how they are applied.
February 18, 2019
Lot's of good information
February 21, 2019
Marzano text is about classroom instruction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2020
I enjoyed reading this book. Helped me review my teaching framework and take notes for strategies and practices to implement.
July 25, 2022
A lot of interesting research and useful strategies to think about implementing.
October 3, 2015
This book has had many editions and the most current one is not the Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock book. This review pertains only to this edition as I have not yet read the Ceri B. Dean, Elizabeth Ross Hubbell, and Howard Pitler revision of the book. While I have not always loved the direction the states have gone with Marzano's work, and some of the narrative about data-driven and research-based strategies overlooks that some of the research methodologies around "Best Practices" in education are actually still highly debated and some the paradigms used have been rejected in pure cognitive psychology, this book does give one an a wealth of applied strategies. Each of the ten strategies gives both the research behind the strategy and multiple discipline examples of its use.
Now there are assertions that are backed up with quantitative research that are harder to validity and asserted as if uncontroversial: The authors assert that levels of achievement from students who go to schools of varying quality will only vary by 10 percent. That doesn’t seem like much, especially when it’s easier to blame poor school performance on aptitude, socioeconomic status, and home life. Yet, those are factors beyond a school’s control. However, that 10 percent difference in student achievement for an average student at a good school equates to a percentile gain of approximately 23 points compared to an average student at a poor school. But points in gains measured by standard tests whose validity and generalizability are hard to grasp because most of the matrices are protected by law as trade secrets? How complicated are the intersection of those factors? Etc. This is the more "problematic" side of this book because these issues are unaddressed and school reformers will cite this as it were clear that these strategies are consistent cure-alls.
Now that said, the strategies that are given are mostly sound and, frankly, common sense driven. Furthermore, they do not seem to be overly geared towards either the "progressivist" end of education or the "current traditionalist" end, and are fairly balanced. I have used all of them in my class with varying degrees of success and would suggest that any serious education look at this book despite my caveats about some the hard assertions it makes around data that seem to ignore harder questions in educational research. I can, however, see how teachers would resent the way this book as often been used as a check-list for teacher evaluations and a "cure-all" for schools that exist in social contexts with huge problems outside of the classroom.
As far as the authors go, any one in educational research must "deal" with Marzano, whose work is impressive even if one does not agree with it. I also think the work done by Pickering and Pollock separately are quite good, and I particularly have enjoyed and used Jane Pollock's other books.
Now there are assertions that are backed up with quantitative research that are harder to validity and asserted as if uncontroversial: The authors assert that levels of achievement from students who go to schools of varying quality will only vary by 10 percent. That doesn’t seem like much, especially when it’s easier to blame poor school performance on aptitude, socioeconomic status, and home life. Yet, those are factors beyond a school’s control. However, that 10 percent difference in student achievement for an average student at a good school equates to a percentile gain of approximately 23 points compared to an average student at a poor school. But points in gains measured by standard tests whose validity and generalizability are hard to grasp because most of the matrices are protected by law as trade secrets? How complicated are the intersection of those factors? Etc. This is the more "problematic" side of this book because these issues are unaddressed and school reformers will cite this as it were clear that these strategies are consistent cure-alls.
Now that said, the strategies that are given are mostly sound and, frankly, common sense driven. Furthermore, they do not seem to be overly geared towards either the "progressivist" end of education or the "current traditionalist" end, and are fairly balanced. I have used all of them in my class with varying degrees of success and would suggest that any serious education look at this book despite my caveats about some the hard assertions it makes around data that seem to ignore harder questions in educational research. I can, however, see how teachers would resent the way this book as often been used as a check-list for teacher evaluations and a "cure-all" for schools that exist in social contexts with huge problems outside of the classroom.
As far as the authors go, any one in educational research must "deal" with Marzano, whose work is impressive even if one does not agree with it. I also think the work done by Pickering and Pollock separately are quite good, and I particularly have enjoyed and used Jane Pollock's other books.
February 27, 2017
A bit old now, with much of what is written here supersede by more recent work, but nevertheless a reasonable primer for considering some basic aspects of planning instruction strategically to support all learners and focus on the learning, not the teaching.
October 16, 2011
Marzano details 9 strategies that will engage students, differentiate learning, and help students retain knowledge. I found it an easy read, and yes, some of the 9 are common sense and simply remind us of some of the things we already know we should be doing. But if you currently teach, you need to read this, because more and more schools have adopted Marzano as the underlying source for their professional development and their evaluation of teacher performance. Therefore it is important to know the 9 so you can speak the language that your administrators want you to use. It is well written and easy to read. Read it without resentment, apply the 9 diligently, and your teaching will improve.
October 2, 2014
This is the most useful book I've ever read on teaching.
This book is full of practical, specific strategies on classroom instruction. It's not about how to run a classroom or how to deal with unruly students or any of that crazy stuff. It's just straight up how to design instructional content for maximum effectiveness. I'm not even a teacher, but I read this for fun and it's really interesting. I can see how you could use this even if you're not a teacher (e.g. if you have to give a presentation).
This book is full of practical, specific strategies on classroom instruction. It's not about how to run a classroom or how to deal with unruly students or any of that crazy stuff. It's just straight up how to design instructional content for maximum effectiveness. I'm not even a teacher, but I read this for fun and it's really interesting. I can see how you could use this even if you're not a teacher (e.g. if you have to give a presentation).
February 4, 2017
It has been some time now since I read this book (as well as a second Marzano book) and what I've found is that much of what's stated and/or demonstrated in these books is very much based upon the reader or evaluator's interpretation, not necessarily Marzano's intended outcome. In addition, I am yet to find any worthiness in most of his evaluation premises, although, I do find his data compelling and logical. It's unfortunate that in some schools, his general/basic ideals are twisted and then used in ways unintended therefore causing vast confusion amongst teachers.
August 10, 2009
Marzano and his co-authors go through 9 teaching strategies that have been proven to increase student learning (...as the title would imply). With each strategy, they talk a little bit about the research behind it, and then go into how to use it in the classroom. A lot of the strategies are things many teachers already do but it's nice to read about why they're effective and the little things to think about as you're using them. The book's a little dry at times but very informative.
December 16, 2010
This book is an excellent resource. It details some teaching strategies that research supports as effective across all subject areas. For each strategy it gives background information and research on the strategy before discussing practical applications of that strategy in the classroom. This book will make an excellent addition to my library. I'm interested in other teaching materials by Marzano.
April 16, 2008
I have to admit I am a Marzano groupie when it comes to research based practices for the classroom. Marzano has done great research and has pulled together everything into a user friendly format. Everything in teaching can fit into his "9". If teachers don't know the "9", they should. It will only make them better for it.
April 28, 2011
Truly awful. Much of the data was collected when I was in grade school. Half of the chapters were nothing more than lessons in the obvious (with aged research to back it up of course). There was next to nothing that I could utilize in either my teaching or apply to my philosophy of education. It was simply a colossal waste of time.
June 26, 2014
This book has a lot of ideas and instructional strategies that can be used in the classroom. It is a bit more difficult to read than some of the other straight forward books. Marzano explains the research in the book which is probably something I could have skipped. If you tell me it's research based I will take your word for it.
March 31, 2008
I read this book for a Continuing Education class. It was filled with tons of different ideas that will help me in the classroom. I won't blog too much on this, but as a teacher I found it helpful and interesting.
January 4, 2009
I can't say that this book provided any groundbreaking strategies that I'd never considered, but it did provide a gentle reminder of the variety of strategies that teachers need to employ in order to reach the maximum number of learners.
February 16, 2010
This book presents nine strategies that all teachers should use in the classroom for the best possible results in teaching. We had a movie that went along with it, where the writers discussed several of these strategies in detail, so it was interesting.
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July 24, 2011Really great. Pretty much all the proven teaching practices and why we use them. Some new stuff I didn't know too. I can't wait for them to figure out more specific stuff for my age/stage of teaching.
February 25, 2012
Very helpful mix of theory and practice with excellent examples. Well written, easy to digest, easy to find information and refresh my memory. Highly recommend for any teacher wanting to improve their practice.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews