Hattie has always suggested that school leaders and teachers not simply go after those influences that have the highest effect sizes. Slavin does bring up a point that Hattie often brings up. It was published by the Johns Hopkins School of Education and is called John Hattie is Wrong. Recently, I read a criticism of Hattie’s work from Robert Slavin, which you can read here. I also left my job as a school principal which I loved very much, so I too have taken a great deal of time to look at his research through a critical lens, and I believe I see how it fits into our practical lens as building principals and teachers. To some that may mean I have a bias, which is probably somewhat true, but it also means that I have taken a great deal of time to understand his research and remain current in what he suggests. Additionally, I present with him often, and read pretty much everything he writes because I want to gain a deeper understanding of the work. We don’t like large effect sizes that are over a 1.00.įor full disclosure I work with Hattie as a Visible Learning trainer, and I often write about his research here in this blog.

We don’t like the meta-analysis approach that Hattie uses because he combines large studies that include smaller individual studies.

There have been a few consistent criticisms of Hattie’s work. They treat it as though it is static and hasn’t changed from when he first published Visible Learning in 2009, and ignore the fact that he has been open and honest about the lessons he has learned along the way. While many teachers and leaders want to soak up his research and get a deeper understanding, there are others who want to cherry pick at his research and criticize it. Lately, it has been happening a great deal to University of Melbourne researcher and professor, John Hattie.

Perhaps they tire that it’s your name that comes up, or that their ideas are ignored. Have you ever been the teacher or school leader and find that your ideas are interesting to other people? Other colleagues like how you engage students through classroom strategies or relationships, and they want to learn more from you? Suddenly, months go by and other colleagues in the school or district begin to get a bit upset that you are the one asked to teach new strategies at faculty meetings or in professional development sessions.

John hattie