Increase student success by applying the Effort Equation: E = ES x TV (Cummings, 1992). Student effort is influenced by an aptitude and persistence ratio. Lower aptitude requires more persistence. Learn how to regulate students’ aptitude/persistence ratios and increase effort by modifying students’ expectations of success and task values. Presenter(s): Rachel Porter and Adrian Mack

1. The Centers for
Quality Teaching and Learning™
Multiples of Effort
A practical approach to increasing student success
Rachel Porter, PhD
Executive Director
(919) 368-7029
rporter@qtlcenters.org
DO NOW:
Please respond to the prompts on p. 2 of the handouts.

2. 1. Understand the student effort equation:
E = ES x V
2. Connect the elements of the equation to
student outcomes and teaching practices.
3. Apply strategies for increasing student effort by
altering the variables within the equation.

3. E = ES x V
Effort
Expectation of
Success
Value
Student effort is affected by the student’s expectation
for success and the degree to which students see
value in that which they are learning.
(Feather, 1982)

4. E = ES x V
Effort
Expectation of
Success
Value

5. Motivation: A psychological state of sustained
energy to perform certain actionsthe reason for the
action; that which gives purpose and direction to
behavior
Effort: The overt behavior through which
motivation is translated into accomplished work.
Effort ≠ Motivation

6. What motivates effort?
SuccessEffort
Success feeds effort. Failure starves effort.

7. Effort = Expectation of Success x Value
Aptitude and Persistence

8. Aptitude Persistence
• Ability
• Skill
• Talent
• “Fit” to the task
• Stick-to-itness
• Continuing in the
face of challenge or
difficulty
High Aptitude =
“SMART KID”
High Persistence =
“HARD WORKER”

9. Aptitude and Persistence
HAHP
High Aptitude
High Persistence
HALP
High Aptitude
Low Persistence
LAHP
Low Aptitude
High Persistence
LALP
Low Aptitude
Low Persistence
How do classroom/school feedback loops
impact each type of student?

10. Connect your experiences
• Revisit your opening
reflection.
• How did aptitude impact
your persistence in each
case?
• What other factors
influenced your
persistence?

11. Effort
Aptitude Persistence
 Clarify learning goals and steps to
reach them
 Identify chunks/mini-goals
 Address multiple learning
styles/modalities
 Model tasks & strategies
 Encourage self-assessment
 Provide the space and time for
practice
 Share tips and tricks for
overcoming weaknesses
 Adjust the length of work time
 Provide effective feedback
 Reward persistence
 Frame mistakes as valuable
parts of the process
Aptitude and Persistence
Good news: Neither one is “fixed”!

12. E = ES x V
Effort
Expectation of
Success
Value

13. “When students perceive that they cannot
succeed, they typically seek power in less
responsible ways, such as assuming an I don’t
care attitude or becoming disruptive.”
Sullo, B. (2009) The motivated student: Unlocking the enthusiasm for learning

14. E = Expectation of Success x V
Perception
of Difficulty
Prior
Experience

15. • Past history of little success after efforts to sustain at
challenging classwork cause children's brains to
automatically resist putting mental effort into
subsequent similar activities. (LeDoux, 1994)
• School negativity is often the result of an
accumulation of failed efforts which eventually
cause the brain to preserve energy in response to
unsuccessful prior efforts. (Judy Willis)
Prior Experience

16. Beliefs can = Prior Experiences
"My parents said they were never good
at math, so they don't expect me to be
any different.“

17. Connect your experiences
• Revisit your opening
reflection.
• How did past experience
impact your
success/failure?
• How did the way you
perceived the challenge
impact your effort?

18. • All students come to a learning event with some
type of ‘baggage’.
• Whether positive or negative, this ‘baggage’ will
affect the students’ dispositions to a learning
event.
• Effective teachers intentionally design instruction
to manage students’ dispositions.

19. Perception of Difficulty
If the US population was 200,000,000
and the cost of gasoline was $2.00 per
gallon and gas mileage is 20 mi/gal and
you buy every single person in the US a
$2,000 car and enough gas to run it
nonstop at 20 mph for a year: How
much money would you spend.

20. Change the Perception
If the US population was
200,000,000 and the cost of
gasoline was $2.00 per gallon and
gas mileage is 20 mi/gal and you
buy every single person in the US
a $2,000 car and enough gas to
run it nonstop at 20 mph for a
year: How much money would you
spend.
200,000,000 people/cars
Gas per person =
$2 x (365 x 24)
hours in a year
= $17520
1 car per person = $2000
200,000,000 x $19520
= $3,904,000,000,000

21. Expectation of Success
Prior Experience Perception of Difficulty
 Identify/consider “learning
baggage”
 Recognize and connect prior
and/or recent successes
 Start with activities that give
small wins to build success
 Sequence learning to build
challenge
 Develop growth mindsets
Present tasks in smaller chunks
Provide specific guidance to
move from step to step
Avoid performance ambiguity
Think aloud through/discuss
common mistakes and how to
avoid them
Provide opportunities for “talk-
learning”
Experience and Perception

22. E = ES x V
Effort
Expectation of
Success
Value

23. Inherent
(internal)
Consequential
(external)
Impacts motivation
E = ES x Value

24. Value – Motivation of the Learner (Based on Knowles and Dilts)
AttitudetowardUsefulnessofContent/Task
PerceivedUseful
Resistance
- Neutral attitude
- Low effort
External Motivation
may have some impact on
Consequential Value
Persistence
- Good attitude
- High effort
Internal Motivation
generated from
Inherent Value
NotPerceiveduseful
Refusal
- Poor attitude
- No effort
External Motivation
has little impact on
Consequential Value
Toil
- Poor attitude
- Willing effort
External Motivation
may impact
Inherent Value
No Connection Connection
Effort from Personal Connection to Content/Task

25. Connect your experiences
• Revisit your opening
reflection.
• What value did each
goal hold for you?
• How did value motivate
(or demotivate) your
effort?

26. Value
Inherent Consequential
 Promote self-awareness of
brain functions and the
chemical interactions related
to effort-success cycle
 Highlight connections to
students’ lives
 Provide specific, timely, and
abundant feedback
 Consider personal relevance
 Recognize effort connected to
achievement level
 Recognize effort, not just the
“score”
 Use for routine, unchallenging
and highly controlled tasks
 Match consequence with task
Increasing Value

27. http://www.androidfreeware.net/img2/toss_it_android_2.gif5
E = ES x V in action

28. E = ES x V
Effort
Expectation of
Success
Value
Aptitude Persistence
Prior
Experience
Perception
of Difficulty
Inherent Consequential
How did feedback influence the equation?

29. Performance Feedback
When the brain receives immediate, specific, and abundant
feedback there are chemical changes in the brain that help
it to maintain focus, effort, and persistence.
• TIMELY
• SPECIFIC
•ABUNDANT

30. Powerful activators of the brain’s dopamine reward
system are:
• making an accurate prediction in response to
feedback , and
• achieving at a challenge.
Video games increase the brain’s
internal dopamine-reward system.
Boosted levels of dopamine increase pleasure,
reduce stress, and sustain effort.

31. A note about “Constructive” Feedback
“After having a successful experience that
induces positive mood and expectancy,
students are more open to learning about
areas of weakness; more so than students
who experience failure right from the start.”
(Trope and Pomerantz – 1998 - Styling added)

32. Differentiated Feedback
HAHP
• Chopped judging
LAHP
• Chopped kids judging
*With LP even MORE important to accentuate the positive and reward small successes

33. The Feedback Loop
SuccessEffort
Success feeds effort. Failure starves effort.

34. Unconditional Positive Regard - UPR
The term “unconditional positive regard” is generally
attributed to Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist
who believed that, during counseling, people
experienced more growth in an environment of
genuineness, acceptance, and empathy.
McLeod, 2007

35. E = ES x V
Effort
Expectation of
Success
Value
Aptitude Persistence
Prior
Experience
Perception
of Difficulty
Inherent Consequential
6 Pathways to Increase Student Success
Student effort is affected by the student’s expectation
for success and the degree to which students see
value in that which they are learning.
(Feather, 1982)

36. 1. Understand the student effort equation:
E = ES x V
2. Connect the elements of the equation to
student outcomes and teaching practices.
3. Apply strategies for increasing student effort by
altering the variables within the equation.

37. The Centers for
Quality Teaching and Learning™
Thank you!
Rachel Porter, PhD
Executive Director
(919) 368-7029
rporter@qtlcenters.org
Please provide feedback on this session:
www.qtlcenters.org/feedback
Session: Multiples of Effort
Location: NCMLE 2015