What strategy has the greatest effect on student performance?

John Hattey studies educational innovations and their influence on student learning. The following description is from the website http://visible-learning.org/glossary/. "Self reported grades comes out at the top of all influences. Children are the most accurate when predicting how they will perform. In a video Hattie explains that if he could write his book Visible Learning for Teachers again, he would re-name this learning strategy “Student Expectations” to express more clearly that this strategy involves the teacher finding out what are the student’s expectations and pushing the learner to exceed these expectations. Once a student has performed at a level that is beyond their own expectations, he or she gains confidence in his or her learning ability. Example for Self-reported grades: Before an exam, ask your class to write down what mark the student expects to achieve. Use this information to engage the student to try to perform even better." Student motivation is the key to student learning. Hattey identified student goal setting as the most effective strategy for motivating students to learn. The MAP test (Measures of Academic Performance) can also be used to motivate students if students keep track of where they scored previously and then set a goal for where they will be at the next test date. Hattey has listed the effect size for over 200 educational strategies/innovations. His book Visible Learning or his new book Visible Learning For Teachers are both excellent sources of information for what works in education.