Process over Performance

A leadership approach to
Process over Performance
through the use of effective effort
Stephanie Miller
BIS Hanoi

The aim
Minh Anh’s art teacher has asked the class to create a response to an artist of their choice, following their research on Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) 4- Quality Education.
To plan this, Minh Anh reflects on how she learned best when she was last asked to plan an artist response. She revisits her feedback
from that piece of work to ensure that she is clear on what she should prioritise in her learning. She is reminded that she wanted to use a
more challenging media this time, so decided to work with lino printing. She then reviews her research into SDG 4, she considers the most
appropriate sources by ranking them and uses a mind map to refine the key message she wishes to portray.
She starts to plan out her layers for lino printing using a four-step process and sets to work on practicing how to cut into the lino. Minh
Anh starts to worry as the lines she wants to create aren’t easily achievable. She thinks back to when her Mum was talking about making
pastry recently and how difficult it is but with practice she has begun to master it. Minh Anh uses this as motivation to spend more time
practicing, she knows this important as all of her teachers talk about the learning journey in her lessons and she often receives positive
feedback in her reports about the time she spends in the ‘stretch zone’.
As Minh Anh comes towards the end of the making process she realises that her outcome isn’t quite the way she imagines it to be.
Unprompted, she reflects on why that might be and uses a ‘reflexagon’ activity to help her determine what she would do if she had more
time to complete the task. She is clear about what she would do next time and knows that ultimately this is the most important part for
her learning. Minh Anh is aware that ‘performance’ is a small part of the journey, the learning really happens during the process. She is
comfortable with that and knows that many of the older students have talked to her about this.

3
Comfort zone
Panic zone
Learning zone

Students Leaders Parents
Teachers
Live and breathe it
Not yet
In order to create an
environment where
every student maximises
their potential. Schools
need to shift the
“success-focus” away
from achievement
alone, onto more
nurturing and
motivational indicators
such as effort and
incremental
achievement.
(Nagy, 2016).
What does the temperature look like for each of these stakeholder
groups with supporting a school culture of process over
performance?

The ability to monitor and regulate learning, to deliberately select
the most effective strategy to approach a learning task,
and to adapt that strategy based on
feedback regarding the effectiveness of the learning engaged with.
Mujis & Bokhove, 2020

Developing metacognition age 3, directly impacted mathematics performance at age 6 (Aunola
et al, 2004).
Clear evidence that metacognition increases academic achievement (Muijs et al., 2014).
Closer correlation between school success and metacognition than there is between school
success and intelligence (De Bruyckere, 2018).
4
+7
Education Endowment Fund- Toolkit

PROCESS
Naïve
Practice
Virtuous
Practice
Poorly Developed Habits of
Mind
Well Developed Habits
of Mind
BEHAVIOURS
Low Effort
Taking the easy road.
Ineffective
Effort
Trying Hard. Going
Nowhere.
One of the reasons we may not
improve at a skill despite hard work,
is that we spend too much time in
the performance zone, focusing on
the final outcome
Briceno, 2017
Performance
Effort
Doing your best.
Anderson, 2017

PROCESS
Naïve
Practice
Virtuous
Practice
Poorly Developed Habits of
Mind
Well Developed Habits
of Mind
BEHAVIOURS
Low Effort
Taking the easy road.
Ineffective
Effort
Trying Hard. Going
Nowhere.
Effective
Effort
Growth and Learning.
Performance
Effort
Doing your best.
Anderson, 2017
Effective Effort is the missing link
between effort and efficacy. It shifts
our focus from ‘how much’ time and
energy students spend on a task, to
‘how well’ that time and energy is
spent
Anderson, 2017

Communications and marketing
Academic reports
Rewards policy
Professional development
School environment
Curriculum and strategies
Teacher appraisal
Resources
Assessment & feedback policy
Leadership structure
If teachers are focusing on classroom practice, which areas are you
focusing on at a whole-school level?
Teaching & learning

Interventions
Assessment
& Feedback
Parental engagement
Academic reports
Marketing &
Communications
Environment
1. Consider where each of
these areas within your
school currently places in
terms of being ‘process’
focused
2. Mark a cross towards the
centre of the circle if you are
at the beginning of your
journey in that area and
further out if you feel it is
becoming accomplished.
3. Join them up .

- Do your academic reports provide balance between
performance and process?
- Do they pull the levers on conversations you want to
happen?
- Does your school intervention system use effort as an
informative tool?
Student name
Student name
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Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name
Student name

- Do parents know how to talk to students
about process?
- Do they truly value process?
- Do they understand what optimal learning
really looks like?

Are there any areas of your process focus that need to be standardised?
Are all teachers speaking common language?
Is effort assessment truly moving a process approach forward?

ESPRIT**
Post results day stories
Is your school marketing team aware of your intentions?
Do the success stories highlight students who achieved the
‘perfect’ scores for them?
How are you celebrating a ‘process’ driven approach through
formal and informal student recognition?

What does metacognition look like within your teachers?
Can effective effort be a PL tool?
Do your PL/PM models encourage our teachers to spend time in their
‘stretch zone’?

Reference List
Anderson, James (2017) Effective Effort Matrix. Available at: https://mindfulbydesign.com/not-all-effort-is-created-equal/effective-effort-matrix-
11/
Briceño, Eduardo (2017). “How to Get Better at the Things You Care About.” www.ted.com,
www.ted.com/talks/eduardo_briceno_how_to_get_better_at_the_things_you_care_about?language=en.
De Bruyckere P, and Willingham D T (2018). The Ingredients for Great Teaching. London ; Los Angeles, Sage, 2018.
Dignath, C, and G Büttner (2008) “Components of Fostering Self-Regulated Learning among Students. A Meta-Analysis on Intervention Studies at
Primary and Secondary School Level.” Metacognition and Learning, vol. 3, no. 3, 1 Nov. 2008, pp. 231–264, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-008-
9029-x.
Muijs, D, et al (2014). “State of the Art – Teacher Effectiveness and Professional Learning.” School Effectiveness and School Improvement, vol. 25,
no. 2, 27 Feb. 2014, pp. 231–256, https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2014.885451.
Muijs, D. and Bokhove, C. (2020). Metacognition and Self Regulation: Evidence Review. London: Education Endowment Foundation. The report is
available from: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/evidence-reviews/
metacognition-and-self-regulation-review
Nagy, R (2016). “Tracking and Visualizing Student Effort: Evolution of a Practical Analytics Tool for Staff and Student Engagement.” Journal of
Learning Analytics, vol. 3, no. 2, Sept. 2016, pp. 165–193, https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2016.32.8.
Quigley, A., Muijs, D., & Stringer, E. (2018). Metacognition and self-regulated learning: guidance report

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