Staff developers sometimes lie awake at night wondering if the training programs they provide to teachers are having any effect in the classroom. Do teachers actually make use of the strategies and ideas they get in staff development training? Or will today's latest promising program become tomorrow's white elephant, discarded as soon as a newer, "hotter" program appears?
Early signs indicate that the Dimensions of Learning (DoL) program, jointly developed in 1992 by ASCD and the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL), hasn't met that fate. DoL, a K-12 framework for instructional planning that provides practical classroom strategies for integrating the teaching of thinking with the teaching of curriculum content, is ASCD's most popular training program. And feedback from users of DoL suggests that it is having an impact. Some educators are using it to revamp their curriculum and assessment programs at the district level or to design units of study for classroom use. Others cull from the program various instructional strategies teachers might find helpful.
Five Dimensions
DoL is built around the idea that all learning involves the interaction of five "dimensions" of thinking. These are: positive attitudes and perceptions about learning; thinking involved in acquiring and integrating knowledge; thinking involved in refining and extending knowledge; thinking involved in using knowledge meaningfully; and productive habits of mind. DoL provides a framework to guide educators as they make decisions about how curriculum, instruction, and assessment might reflect these various dimensions. The program also includes a multitude of instructional strategies that teachers can use to tap into the various dimensions during instruction.
Although it's impossible to say precisely how popular the DoL framework is in the field, there are some rough indicators. ASCD has sold more than 27,000 of the DoL teachers' manuals, which suggests that at least that many educators have gotten some training in the framework. Professional development institutes about DoL offered by ASCD and by McREL continue to be well attended. And a Dimensions of Learning Network sponsored by ASCD launched last fall already has 130 members.
Educators who helped to develop DoL, as well as those who conduct or have gone through the training, say the program has proven popular for several reasons.
First, DoL provides a comprehensive framework for organizing curriculum around the active, constructivist learning supported by research. "It is the most integrative and practical framework that reflects and incorporates what we know about learning," says Jay McTighe, director of the Maryland Assessment Consortium. Through the use of this framework, schools and districts have gained a common vocabulary for describing the different types of knowledge and skills students should master, the strategies that teachers might use to help pupils learn them, and the kinds of assessment tasks best suited to measuring different learning goals, say those using the program. "It's really become a framework for discussing what we want to have happen in our schools," says Brenda McCartney, director of elementary education for the Garrett County, Md., public schools, a district that has provided training in the program to all of its teachers.
Another reason that DoL has proven popular is that, rather than being "another new program," it is compatible with several other existing programs. DoL is "an organizing framework" that shows how some different programs and strategies interact, notes Robert Marzano, deputy director of training and development at McREL and chief developer of the program. This quality appeals to educators who want to see how various programs designed to improve teaching and learning fit together. "We wanted something that would tie together all the positive things [in staff development] that we've done in the past," such as cooperative learning and learning styles, says Mary Ellen Shaw, assistant superintendent for the Falls Church City, Va., public schools. The district will begin a major training initiative in DoL this fall. DoL "pulls things together, rather than being one more bandwagon," she says. DoL "is not the next new thing," confirms Frances Jones, executive director of the Piedmont Triad Horizons Education Consortium at the University of North Carolina- Greensboro. "It's a framework to fit what we do regardless of the changes that are sure to come in education."
In addition, DoL has proven useful to educators trying to revamp their approach to curriculum and assessment—often through work on standards, outcome-based education, or performance assessment. DoL provides a general framework and numerous practical strategies for making progress on those types of reforms, proponents say. "In schools where standards are being set and performance assessments are being developed, that's where Dimensions of Learning gets a lot of use," notes Jane Pollock, a senior program associate at McREL. The latest addition to the DoL program, the book Assessing Student Outcomes: Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning Model, provides numerous examples of performance tasks and scoring rubrics that can be used to tie together content and the types of thinking represented by the various dimensions.
Tales Out of Schools
DoL is used widely in Maryland, in part because of the state's efforts to craft learner outcomes and to design new performance assessments, says McTighe, who formerly worked at the state education department. The department funded training sessions in DoL for 300 school leaders around the state, he says, and many of them have in turn conducted additional training for teachers and administrators in their districts. The state also approved workshop credits for teachers trained in the program. Of Maryland's 24 school districts, McTighe estimates that 8 are probably using parts of the DoL program, and another 6 to 8 have adopted the program as their central framework. "It has had a substantial impact on many school systems in Maryland," says McTighe.
One of those systems is Garrett County, a small district in northern Maryland. Because the district sees principals as instructional leaders, principals at all 16 of its schools received training in DoL and then trained their staffs in the program, says McCartney, the district's director of elementary education. Since then, McCartney says she's seen evidence that DoL has influenced several aspects of the schools.
For example, McCartney has observed "some major changes in our instructional delivery in the past two years, and I believe that it's because of our emphasis on Dimensions of Learning." Teachers more frequently use graphic organizers, concept attainment, and cooperative learning—three strategies for fostering student learning outcomes that are included in the DoL program. School improvement plans, which are required by the state, often include references to DoL strategies. And the district also plans to use DoL when educators meet together this summer to write performance tasks for students. "We'll definitely be looking at how they incorporate the various dimensions," McCartney says.
Holly Diehl, a Chapter 1 resource teacher at the district's Friendsville Elementary School, says that DoL has been very useful to her in planning units and lessons and choosing instructional strategies. Before being trained in the DoL framework, "I think we hit upon the thinking skills by chance," she says, but now she's more likely to specify in advance precisely which thinking skills and knowledge she will try to elicit and how she'll help students display them. She also cites how the program aids the design of performance tasks. She was part of a group that attempted to create performance tasks, "and we struggled and struggled." But using the DoL framework, they were better equipped to design meaningful tasks. "It has made performance task writing manageable for us," she says.
Other districts report similar experiences. The South Portland, Maine, public schools, for example, are using DoL to revamp their curriculum so that it reflects seven broad learner outcomes (e.g., each student will be a "collaborative worker" and an "effective communicator"), says Beatrice McGarvey, the district's director of curriculum. Recently, the district revised its K-8 social studies curriculum, and the review committee members all received some training in DoL. The new framework contains unit planning guides and performance rubrics that draw heavily from the program, says McGarvey.
Ongoing Support
The districts where DoL appears to be most influencing curriculum and instruction provide substantive initial training and ongoing support to teachers.
DoL "requires more than just a one-shot training," says McTighe. "It takes some commitment, but I think the payoffs are well worth it."
The Central Bucks school district in Doylestown, Penn., for example, provides teachers with four-day training sessions, which they attend with a peer partner. In those sessions, teachers hear about DoL and, with their partners, develop or refine a unit of study based on the model, says Jacquelynn Fife, a staff development facilitator. This gives teachers hands-on experience with the model, as well as yielding a product they can use in the classroom. In addition, the district organizes study groups where teachers share resources and discuss how they're using DoL. Participation in the training is voluntary, but Fife says 40 percent of all teachers and administrators have received the full four-day training. "It's the only program we've ever had that's gotten virtually no negative reviews" from teachers, she adds.
Although the DoL model is complex, teachers are finding that once they've had a chance to learn about it and apply it to their classrooms, it can be an invaluable resource for reshaping teaching and learning. Says Diehl, the Friendsville Elementary School teacher: "I don't know how we ever lived without it."
Resources
Resources
ASCD has numerous resources available to support Dimensions of Learning (DoL). For a detailed description of print publications and a videotape program on DoL, contact ASCD Order Processing, 1250 N. Pitt St., Alexandria, VA 22314. TEL (703) 549-9110. FAX (703) 549-3891. For information on ASCD professional development opportunities regarding DoL, including locations, dates, and cost, contact ASCD's Professional Development Dept. at the same address and phone number.
In addition, the Dimensions of Learning Network, one of ASCD's 45 networks, offers members the chance to share ideas on using DoL. Copies of integrated units based on the five dimensions also are available to network members. The annual fee of $8 includes a subscription to the Dimensions of Learning Newsletter. Contact: Frances Jones, Executive Director, Piedmont Triad Horizons Education Consortium, School of Education, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412. TEL (919) 334-5100; FAX (919) 334-4093.
