The question of which comes first—culture or learning—is worth considering. Does culture drive learning, or does the approach to learning drive culture? The short answer is both because teachers and students must all actively contribute. Learning is a social activity and requires social interaction, which means effective teachers respond to the intellectual and emotional needs of students in real time. Since time is always limited, being instructionally agile allows for both efficiency (streamlining efforts to gather sufficient and accurate information) and effectiveness (using the gathered information in productive and meaningful ways that promote continued learning) throughout any instructional sequence.
Though both students and teachers contribute, teachers primarily drive culture because how they design and execute instruction, and respond throughout instruction, says the most about what they value in their classrooms. Both the overt and subtle messages teachers send through their choices create the social context in which students learn. And while being cordial and friendly is desirable, how teachers handle assessment is at the core of what students experience; collegiality on the edges won’t compensate for an assessment process built on completion and compliance. The integrity of classrooms (where actions match words) depends on assessment processes and practices that elevate learning to an unrivaled priority; otherwise, students won’t believe their teachers when they say, “We’re all about the learning.”
The good news is that most teachers understand that sound assessment practices seamlessly feed a culture of learning. Clarifying learning goals, establishing transparent learning progressions, assessing for learning, giving effective feedback, and making corresponding instructional adjustments all make learning the clear priority. As teachers establish or reinforce these learning-centered routines, the message to students couldn’t be louder or clearer—you’re here to learn! Even the slightest adjustments, such as beginning each lesson by defining what students will learn rather than what they’ll do, can have a significant effect in defining activities and tasks by the ends rather than the means.
Being or becoming instructionally agile is essential to establishing a new kind of learning culture. Nothing sends a stronger message than when the teacher is prepared to respond—often in real time—to assessment results that reveal where the student is compared to where he or she is going. Teachers can match their words to their actions by giving classroom assessments that result in student-responsive instructional adjustments. By planning for these potential adjustments, teachers establish a new normal in which their verbal and nonverbal responses communicate that learning is fluid, ongoing, and even non-negotiable.
Learning Creates Culture
At the same time, students themselves can and do contribute greatly to the culture of any classroom, so they solidify the classroom culture through their learning. Students aren’t widgets, so seeking a singularly prescribed culture of learning is nearly impossible, even though some principles and practices are associated with the most favorable courses of action. Teachers can set up opportunities to learn, but it’s up to the students to follow through, since culture emerges from the sum of their collective experiences. When students do not follow through, an instructionally agile teacher makes another move to influence them. Teachers must set up these opportunities to learn and continually try new instructional maneuvers to impact learning and confidence.
Every learning theory includes some form of regulation by the student (Brookhart, 2013a). The true test of a positive classroom culture is students’ ability to become instructionally agile and regulate their own learning. When students believe they can control the outcome of the learning process, they are more likely to learn. This might seem obvious, but students can—and do—often attribute their success to that which is external, unstable, and uncontrollable (Weiner, 1979).
For example, students who believe an assessment was easy are attributing their success to something beyond their control both in the moment and going forward. They think they are only successful if and when the teacher randomly adjusts the assessment experience. When students realize that they owe their success to internal, stable, and controlled factors (that they had everything to do with succeeding), teachers create an environment in which students expect to succeed. When they expect to succeed—when they expect to learn—a culture of learning begins to override other perspectives (for example, they got lucky or the teacher is easy) that too often dominate the classroom experience.
A culture of learning focuses on the process of learning, not just the final summative assessment score. A culture of learning, therefore, is also a culture of thinking. Teachers have the power to implement various forces to shape that kind of culture.
Forces That Shape a Culture of Thinking
In Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools, Ron Ritchhart (2015) outlines the eight cultural forces that impact how teachers create environments of thinking. According to Ritchhart (2015), each of these forces can, if teachers intentionally implement them, shape a classroom culture that encourages thinking and deeper levels of engagement. Eliciting evidence of thinking is assessment at its best. A culture of thinking is an environment in which assessment maximizes the process of learning by allowing teachers to be agile in developing the opportunities for students to think more deeply.
Table 1.1 outlines Ritchhart’s eight cultural forces that imbue every classroom with a culture of thinking (Ritchhart, 2015).
Table 1.1: Eight Cultural Forces
| Force | Brief Explanation |
| Time | Allocate time for thinking by providing chances to explore topics in more depth as well as to formulate thoughtful responses. |
| Opportunities | Provide purposeful activities that require students to engage in thinking and developing understanding as part of their ongoing classroom experience. |
| Routines and Structures | Scaffold students’ thinking in the moment as well as provide tools and teach patterns of thinking students can use independently. |
| Language | Use a language of thinking that provides students with the vocabulary for describing and reflecting on thinking. |
| Modeling | Model who you are as thinkers and students so you discuss, share, and make visible the process of thinking. |
| Interactions and Relationships | Show respect for and value one another’s contributions of ideas and thinking in a spirit of ongoing collaborative inquiry. |
| Physical Environment | Make thinking visible by displaying the process of thinking and development of ideas. Arrange the space to facilitate thoughtful interactions. |
| Expectations | Set an agenda of understanding and convey clear expectations. Focus on the value of thinking and learning as outcomes as opposed to mere completion of work. |
Each of these forces has very real assessment implications that can impact how instructionally agile teachers can be as they respond to the emerging evidence of students’ thinking. Creating a culture of learning by examining assessment through the lens of these eight forces fosters an environment in which students can potentially come to see themselves as partners in the learning process. Table