Based on the premise that all students can eventually (at their own speed) learn difficult material, this practice calls for all students to learn material at equivalently high (or mastery) levels. It often involves engaging in formative assessment processes and providing additional opportunities for students to learn content and skills.

Metacognition is thinking about thinking and for instructional purposes, includes methods to help students understand the way they learn and make decisions about strategies to approach future learning.

Microteaching is a video recording of a lesson made by an educator followed by a debriefing with colleagues. The lesson is collaboratively reviewed in order to improve the teaching and learning experience.

Peer Assessment requires students to communicate (either written, verbal or online) task-relevant feedback on the quality, value, or success of the work or performance of their peers. Peer assessment involves assessing or being assessed by peers, or both. Reliable peer assessment depends on the identification of clear outcomes and an understanding of the criteria used to reach an accurate evaluation.

Positive peer influence occurs when a peer influences other learners to do something positive or growth building. For example, peers who are committed to doing well in school or in sports can influence others to be more goal oriented. Similarly, peers who are kind, loyal or supportive, influence others to be the same.

Prior Ability and Achievement is based on the students’ previous learning experiences and how that learning influences, positively and negatively, upon new learning. The amount and quality of prior knowledge positively influences both knowledge acquisition and the ability to apply higher-order, problem solving skills.

When a teacher incorporates Problem-Solving Teaching in the classroom, it requires students to apply previously learned knowledge and skills to solve real problems and dilemmas. Problem solving typically involves developing an accurate understanding of a problem, presenting and discussing solution strategies, implementing the best strategy, reviewing the results and revising the strategy as needed. This critical thinking process requires additional skills including: a positive belief in one’s ability to solve problems, a willingness to engage in productive struggle demonstrating perseverance and creative problem solving, and the ability to examine one’s actions along the way.

Response to Intervention (RTI) aims to identify students who are making inadequate progress and provide them evidence based support to address learning and/or behavior needs. The goal of RTI is to intervene through targeted teaching interventions before students fall too far behind. RTI relies on teachers using data to measure student progress and provide just in time support to learners. RTI is not a special education program, but can help educators identify struggling learners who may qualify for special education services.

Scaffolded supports (for example, visual, verbal and written supports) are provided as temporary assistance to students so they can successfully complete tasks that they cannot yet do independently and with a high rate of success. Teachers model and scaffold steps or processes needed to understand content and concepts, apply skills, and complete tasks successfully and independently. Ongoing changes (e.g., pacing, examples, etc.) occur throughout the sequence based on student performance.

Self-verbalization is talking to oneself about intellectual tasks, focusing one’s attention, planning and responding to tasks, and utilizing self-reinforcement. Self-questioning is an evaluative process where students ask themselves helpful questions before, during, and after learning to check their understanding.

Small Group Learning is an instructional approach where students are grouped into smaller groups within the class to facilitate collaborative learning. Students work together and receive customized supports from the teacher to achieve a shared learning goal, but unlike cooperative learning, they may not necessarily have specific roles or tasks assigned to them.

Strong Classroom Cohesion promotes the sense that the teacher-to-student and student-to-student interactions are working toward positive learning goals. The class is perceived as fair, respectful and focuses on supporting all students in their learning.

Success Criteria are the standards by which the task or project will be judged at the end to decide whether or not it has been successful. They are often brief, co-constructed with students, aim to remind students those aspects on which they need to focus, and can relate to the surface (content, ideas) and deep (relations, transfer) successes from the lesson(s).

Teacher Clarity relates to organization, explanation, examples and guided practice, and assessment of student learning. It can involve clearly communicating the intentions of the lessons and the success criteria. Clear learning intentions describe the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values that the student needs to learn.

Teacher Credibility is the student’s perception of their teacher. It is vital to learning, and students are very perceptive about knowing which teachers can make a difference. There are four key factors of credibility: trust, competence, dynamism and immediacy. Trust, as in believing in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of the teacher. Competence, being the teacher’s ability to teach successfully or efficiently. Dynamism, meaning the teacher is full of energy and excitement towards content and learning. And immediacy, regarding timely feedback and response to learner needs.

Teacher Estimates of Achievement are a teacher’s belief about the level a student is able to achieve based on past experiences. Teacher beliefs are influenced by past experiences such as responses to questions, observations, written work evidence such as assignments and tests, as well as how the student has reacted to increased challenges. These beliefs in turn affect the expectations teachers set for students, establishing next challenges for learning, informing placement and intervention choices, and influencing future instructional choices.

Teacher Expectations are demonstrated by the moment-to-moment interactions they have with the students they teach in thousands of almost invisible ways. Teachers give additional attention to provide more specific feedback and exhibit demonstrations of approval (for example, tone, nods, smiles) to students they expect to succeed. Teachers with high expectations have procedures in place that students manage themselves, communicate learning intentions and success criteria with the class, ask more open questions, manage behavior positively and proactively, make more positive statements and create a positive classroom climate, and set specific learning goals that are regularly reviewed with students.

Teacher-Student Relationships are effective when learners have healthy, sustained relationships with teachers that promote a sense of trust, belonging, safety and a sense that they matter.

Labeling students happens when teachers use terms associated with the ability, potential or behavior of the learners. These labels can be positive or negative and can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Labeling is seen as a factor that could explain differential achievement in schools by ability, class, disability, ethnicity or gender.

For learning to be effective, students must be able to make a spontaneous, unprompted, and appropriate transfer of a learning or problem-solving strategy from one context to another. This can be near transfer to new problems similar to prior instruction, or far transfer to new situations and domains.