How Do I Know? A Crucial Question for Teachers and Leaders

How do I know? This question sits at the heart of both effective teaching and school leadership. For teachers, it means ensuring that every child is attending to their learning and securing new knowledge. For leaders, it means asking, How do I know that teaching and learning is of high quality? and How do I know staff understand the next steps in our school’s journey?
However, my main focus in this blog is on pupils: How do I know that all children are attending and learning?

Understanding Memory and Attention: The Foundations of Learning

Our exploration began with an in-depth look at Baddeley & Hitch’s working memory model, and the later developed simple model of the mind (Willingham). Understanding this model helped us to refine our approach to lesson design, ensuring that we focus not just on delivering content but on how well children attend to, process, and retain new information.

Baddeley & Hitch’s model (1974) breaks working memory into four components:

• The Phonological Loop – Processes and stores verbal information (e.g., spoken instructions, discussion).
• The Visuospatial Sketchpad – Handles visual and spatial information (e.g., diagrams, illustrations).
• The Episodic Buffer – Integrates information from different sources and connects it to prior knowledge.
• The Central Executive – Directs attention and manages cognitive resources, determining what is stored and processed.

This model is fundamental because it shows that working memory is limited, meaning that if we overload it with too much new information at once, learning suffers.
This links directly to Willingham’s model of memory, which emphasises that learning is a change in long-term memory. His research supports the idea that for learning to occur:

• Working memory must process information effectively before it can be stored in long-term memory.
• Rehearsal, retrieval, and meaningful connections strengthen memory storage.
• Attention is the gatekeeper to learning – if a child isn’t paying attention, nothing enters working memory in the first place.

If we don’t manage cognitive load properly, we risk overwhelming working memory, leading to poor retention and surface-level understanding.

So, We Must Ensure Attention – Dual Coding

This understanding led us to explore Dual Coding Theory (Paivio, 1971), which highlights that learning is more effective when verbal and visual information are processed together. By engaging both the phonological loop (verbal input) and the visuospatial sketchpad (visual input), we maximise the chances of information being encoded into long-term memory.

However, this requires careful design – not all visuals enhance learning. Too much text alongside an image can create split attention, while decorative but irrelevant visuals can add unnecessary cognitive load. Therefore, we must be deliberate in how we present information, ensuring that both channels of attention are activated in a way that supports learning, not distracts from it.

The Key Question: How Do I Know Children Are Attending?

Even with a well-structured lesson that considers cognitive load and dual coding, we cannot assume that all children are fully engaged and processing new knowledge. This leads us to the crucial question:

• How do I know that children are actively attending to the learning?
• How do I know they are not just passively present, but truly engaging with the material in a way that leads to retention?

These questions set the stage for our next discussion – how we ensure that children not only acquire knowledge but also retain it over time – we referred to Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting curve.

Performance vs. Learning: Why Immediate Success Doesn’t Always Mean Long-Term Retention

A key discussion point for our team was knowing the correct information we are out to get. This meant understanding the distinction between performance and learning, a concept highlighted by Bjork and Soderstrom. Often, as educators, we see a child successfully completing a task in a lesson and assume they have learned it. However, Bjork & Soderstrom argues that performance (what a learner can do in the moment) is not the same as learning (what a student retains and can apply over time).

Performance:

• What a child can demonstrate right now in response to instruction.
• Often influenced by short-term memory, familiarity, or surface-level understanding.
• Can be artificially inflated by scaffolding, worked examples, or teacher-led modeling.

Learning:

• A lasting change in long-term memory.
• Takes time and is strengthened through retrieval, spaced practice, and application.
• Can only be truly assessed after a delay – what can the child recall a week or a month later?

If we mistake performance for learning, we may be misled into thinking our teaching is more effective than it truly is. A student who answers a question correctly in class may forget it by the next lesson. Conversely, a student who struggles initially but engages in effortful retrieval may retain the knowledge for longer. This is why retrieval practice, interleaving, and spaced learning are critical – not just teaching to the moment but designing learning experiences that ensure long-term retention.

Poor Proxies for Learning vs. Good Proxies for Learning

To truly evaluate whether learning has taken place, we need to distinguish between poor proxies (superficial indicators of success) and good proxies (deep indicators of genuine learning). This is where Chiles’ work in The CRAFT of Assessment helped us refine our thinking.

❌ Poor Proxies for Learning (Misleading Indicators)

These are things that might look like learning but don’t guarantee retention or understanding:

• ❌ Engagement – A lively, interactive classroom is great, but participation doesn’t mean pupils are encoding information into long-term memory. Enthusiasm doesn’t equal retention.
• ❌ Task Completion – Just because a child completes a worksheet or a written task doesn’t mean they’ve understood or remembered the content. They may have copied, guessed, or relied on short-term recall.
• ❌ High Scores in Immediate Tests – A pupil who scores well in a test immediately after teaching may not retain the knowledge weeks later. This is why delayed assessments and retrieval are essential.
• ❌ Classroom Compliance – A well-behaved pupil who looks attentive might not be actively processing the learning. Attention must be measured through responses, questioning, and recall – not just focus.

✅ Good Proxies for Learning (Reliable Indicators)

These are evidence-based ways of knowing whether learning has truly taken place:

• ✅ Retrieval Practice Success Over Time – If children can recall and apply knowledge in different contexts after a delay, it’s a strong indicator of learning. Techniques like low-stakes quizzes, spaced questioning, and interleaving help assess this.
• ✅ Application to New Contexts – If children can take knowledge and use it in a new problem or scenario (transfer of learning), it suggests deeper understanding rather than rote memorisation.
• ✅ Mistakes Followed by Improvement – A child who initially struggles but improves through retrieval and feedback is more likely to have learned than one who got it right immediately but forgets soon after.
• ✅ Explanation and Justification – If a child can explain why an answer is correct, make connections to prior learning, or teach it to someone else, this indicates secure understanding.
• ✅ Delayed Recall & Spaced Learning – If a child remembers a concept after days or weeks, rather than just in the lesson, it suggests true retention.

Building a Culture That Values Learning Over Performance

By embedding this understanding into our assessment practices, we are fostering a culture that values deep learning, risk-taking, and feedback. We want students to feel safe making mistakes and recognising struggle as part of the learning process. For more information on this, see Feedback Culture That Needs Feeding blog.

This is why our focus on Rosenshine’s questioning principles, WalkThrus strategies, and TLAC 3.0 techniques is so important. Cold Calling, No Opt Out, Think-Pair-Share, and Show Me Boards all provide real-time insights into whether children are truly attending and processing new knowledge.

Ultimately, our role as educators isn’t just to deliver information—it’s to ensure that information is deeply learned, securely retained, and meaningfully applied. By continually asking, How do I know?, we move beyond surface-level indicators and create a school culture built on genuine, lasting learning.

Practical Strategies for Ensuring High Participation Ratio

A key focus of our discussion was on ensuring that every child is actively participating in their learning, not just a select few. A helpful 2 minute video of Pritesh Raichura demonstrated a predominantly High-Participation Ratio (a link to the three phases of questioning outlined in BunsenBlue blog) where as many children as possible were engaged in cognitive work at any given moment. To achieve this for ourselves, we looked at strategies drawn from Complete the Circuit blog, Rosenshine’s Principles, WalkThrus, and TLAC 3.0 (Teach Like a Champion, Lemov), can decided on these 4 strategies:

• Cold Calling
• No Opt Out
• Think, Pair, Share
• Show Me Boards

Each of these strategies ensures that all students are attending to the learning and that we have real-time insight into their understanding.

1. Cold Calling: Eliminating Passive Learning

What it is:

Cold Calling is a structured questioning technique where teachers pose a question before selecting a student to answer, ensuring that all students remain engaged and ready to contribute. It removes the issue of only confident students raising their hands and prevents passive learning.

Why it ensures High Participation Ratio:

• Learners know they could be asked at any time, which increases attention.
• No child can opt out of the cognitive work; everyone must be thinking.
• It reduces the over-reliance on a handful of ‘keen’ pupils.

How it links to “How Do I Know?”

• Cold Calling makes attention visible. If students are struggling to answer, it highlights gaps in understanding that we might otherwise miss. It also provides instant formative assessment—are they engaging with the material, or are they coasting?

Practical tip:

• Use a pause before calling on a student to ensure all are thinking first.
• Vary who is called on – ensure it’s not always the same children.
• Normalise mistakes – so pupils don’t fear being wrong.

2. No Opt Out: Holding Every Student Accountable

What it is:

No Opt Out ensures that when a student initially struggles to answer a question, they don’t get to avoid it. Instead, they are guided towards the right answer and then required to repeat the correct response.

Why it ensures High Participation Ratio:

• Children can’t disengage or ‘check out’ – they remain accountable for learning.
• It creates a culture where struggling is okay, but effort is expected.
• Encourages learners to actively listen to their peers’ answers.

How it links to “How Do I Know?”

No Opt Out reveals who truly understands the learning and who is guessing or disengaging. It also reinforces retrieval practice—students are required to recall and articulate key knowledge, strengthening long-term retention.

Practical tip:

• When someone doesn’t know an answer, guide them through small scaffolding steps to reach the correct response.
• Always return to them to restate the correct answer to reinforce retrieval.
• Use partners strategically – if one struggles, let another help, then return to the original student to ensure understanding.

3. Think, Pair, Share: Structured Discussion for Deeper Thinking

What it is:

Think, Pair, Share structures classroom discussions to ensure all students actively process and articulate their thinking. Instead of calling on one student immediately, students first think individually, then discuss with a partner, before finally sharing with the class.

Why it ensures High Participation Ratio:

• Every learner must engage with the question, rather than just a few.
• Talking through ideas with a peer enhances clarity and retention.
• It builds confidence – children rehearse their thinking before speaking in front of the whole class.

How it links to “How Do I Know?”

It allows us to assess understanding in stages:

• Individual thinking – Are they able to formulate an idea?
• Paired discussion – Can they articulate their thoughts clearly?
• Whole-class share – How well do they communicate and justify their understanding?

Practical tip:

• Set a clear thinking time before discussion starts.
• Rotate who shares to ensure variety of voices.
• Model strong responses so childdren know what high-quality explanations sound like.

4. Show Me Boards: Instant Whole-Class Feedback

What it is:

Show Me Boards (mini whiteboards) allow everyone to visibly demonstrate their thinking at the same time, giving teachers immediate insight into class understanding.

Why it ensures High Participation Ratio:

• Every child must write an answer, preventing passive learning.
• Teachers see every response at once, rather than relying on one or two volunteers.
• Immediate feedback means misconceptions are caught instantly.

How it links to “How Do I Know?”

With one quick scan of the room, teachers can instantly assess learning across the entire class. If a significant number of students have incorrect answers, it signals the need for reteaching before moving on.

Practical tip:

• Use Show Me Boards for quick checks on retrieval, problem-solving, or written responses.
• Give children thinking time before revealing their answers to avoid rushed responses.
• Use follow-up questioning to explore why certain answers were correct or incorrect.

Bringing it Together: High Thinking Ratio and High Participation Ratio

By embedding high participation ratio (HPR) strategies into daily teaching, we significantly increase the likelihood that all pupils are actively attending to their learning. When every child is consistently engaged—whether through Cold Calling, No Opt Out, Think, Pair, Share, or Show Me Boards—we move beyond passive compliance and ensure that each student is cognitively working with new material.

This high level of engagement is crucial because it maximises the chance that students are obtaining 100% of new learning, rather than just skimming the surface. If students are actively processing, discussing, and retrieving knowledge in multiple ways, they are far more likely to encode it into their long-term memory. At the same time, these strategies allow us to quickly identify those who need extra support, ensuring that no child is left behind.

Moreover, ensuring high participation ratio directly supports the process of retrieval and remembering. By constantly checking for understanding, reinforcing knowledge through discussion, and embedding regular retrieval opportunities, we strengthen memory and reduce the likelihood of forgetting, in line with Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve and Bjork’s Theory of Disuse.

Ultimately, when participation is high, thinking becomes visible, giving us the best possible insight into who is attending, who is learning, and who needs more support. This enables us to respond in the moment, adapt our teaching, and build a school culture where deep, meaningful, and retained learning is the norm.

Leaders – the delivery to your team

The way we explored and delivered these concepts with staff mirrored the principles of effective teaching and learning that we expect to see in classrooms. To model best practice, we used live modelling under the visualiser, demonstrating how to break down the above ideas into structured, clear explanations. Alongside this, staff received a carefully prepared A4 knowledge guide (image at the top), designed not just as a static handout but as an actively constructed tool for learning.

More importantly, we built the guide with staff, ensuring that each section became an anchor point and retrieval cue, reinforcing their understanding through active engagement rather than passive reception. As we discussed each aspect – from Baddeley & Hitch’s model to High Participation Ratio strategies – teachers contributed, questioned, and applied their thinking. This mirrored the way we want our children to learn, embedding retrieval opportunities into the session itself so that knowledge was not just delivered but actively processed.

The knowledge guide now serves as a retrieval tool long after the meeting, supporting staff in their ongoing reflections and practice. By using it as a reference point in our subsequent coaching and feedback sessions, we ensure that key principles remain live, continually revisited, discussed, and refined—just as we expect retrieval and practice to strengthen pupil learning over time.