Unveiling Learning Intentions and Success Criteria: A Comprehensive Guide

The education landscape is ever-evolving, with terms and concepts constantly being refined. Among these are "learning intentions" and "success criteria," which are essential tools for effective teaching and learning. This article delves into these concepts, providing examples and practical guidance for educators.

Introduction: What are Learning Intentions and Success Criteria?

Learning intentions and success criteria are two sides of the same coin. As Noelle Carter, Studies Weekly Curriculum Director, explains, these terms refer to what you want the students to know and do by the end of a lesson, activity, or another learning opportunity. Learning intention refers to what the students will be learning, and success criteria refer to what the students will be able to do that demonstrates that they learned. They provide clarity and direction for both teachers and students. Learning intentions define the goals of a lesson, while success criteria outline how students can demonstrate their understanding and mastery of those goals.

Synonyms for Learning Intentions

Learning intentions may also be known by the following names:

Learning objectives
Learning targets
Performance indicators
Learning standards
Grade-level indicators

The Importance of Learning Intentions

Learning intentions are statements that summarize the purpose of a lesson in terms of learning. In writing them, it is usually useful to include the terms ‘know’, ‘understand’ or ‘be able to’, which helps communicate that the learning will relate to knowledge, understanding or skills, respectively.

When teachers use learning intentions in lesson planning, they can focus their teaching on these objectives, which makes each lesson clearer and easier for students to understand.

Read also: Understanding PLCs

The Role of Success Criteria

Success criteria relate to the evidence you are looking for to determine if students have learned what you intended. The principal purpose of success criteria is to support assessment and feedback. When assessing learning, it isn’t enough for a teacher to ask, ‘Have you learned this?’ and then just to accept ‘yes’ as an answer. There needs to be evidence of learning; students need to prove it. Success criteria can make clear what that evidence should be. In this way, success criteria become tools to support teacher assessment, peer assessment and self-assessment.

When success criteria are written as ‘I can…’ statements, they include verbs which make clear the evidence required to demonstrate learning. If students can ‘state’, ‘write’, ‘describe’, ‘explain’ or ‘draw’, this can evidence learning. Saying that ‘I know’, ‘I understand’ or ‘I am able to’ doesn’t evidence learning. While it might be true, it isn’t evidence.

Benefits of Using Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

According to the NCCA, when students are aware of the learning intentions and success criteria in a lesson, they are:

Focused for longer periods
Motivated
Active in their learning
Taking ownership of their learning

Practical Steps for Implementing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

Here are some steps teachers can follow when planning lessons around learning objectives:

When planning a lesson, define what you want your students to learn.
Then define how you will know they’ve succeeded in learning.
Plan your lesson to help your students achieve those goals.
Share the learning intentions and success criteria with your students.

Peg Graffwallner also provided some helpful feedback for all teachers by telling them to ask themselves these questions:

Read also: Learning Resources Near You

What do I want my students to learn? Why?
How can they learn this information?

Examples of Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

To provide concrete examples, here are some learning intentions and corresponding success criteria across different subjects:

Reading

Example learning intention: We are learning to summarise a text
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can identify the main idea of a text
  - I can pick out the most important details from a text
  - I can rephrase the text in my own words
  - I can accurately convey the main idea and key details of a text in a summary
Example learning intention: We are learning to make text-to-self connections
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can identify personal experiences that relate to the events or themes in a text
  - I can explain how a character's actions or feelings in a text relate to my own experiences
  - I can make connections between the text and my own life and explain how it has affected me
  - I can use textual evidence to support my personal connections to the text
  - I can reflect on how the text has changed my perspective or understanding of a certain topic
Example learning intention: We are learning to make inferences from a text
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can make inferences about characters thoughts, feelings and motivations
  - I can make inferences about what might happen next in the story
  - I can identify and explain the evidence that supports my inferences
  - I can use information from the text and my own knowledge to make logical inferences
Example learning intention: We are learning to understand the effect of a range of language features
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can identify and explain the purpose and effect of different literary devices, such as metaphor and simile, in a text
  - I can identify and analyse the use of figurative language and its effect on the meaning of a text
  - I can analyse the use of descriptive language and its impact on the reader's understanding of the text
  - I can understand the use of persuasive language and its effects on the audience
  - I can explain how different sentence structures affect the rhythm and tone of a text
Example learning intention: We are learning to identify a range of text features
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can identify and explain the purpose of different text features, such as headings, subheadings, captions and illustrations
  - I can use text features to make predictions about the content of a text
  - I can use text features to locate and extract information from a text
  - I can identify the structure of a text, such as chronological, cause and effect, or problem and solution
  - I can use text features to make connections between different parts of a text and understand the main idea of the text

Writing

Example learning intention: We are learning to organise our ideas
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can use graphic organisers to categorise and organise my ideas
  - I can identify the main idea and supporting details in my writing
  - I can use transitions effectively to connect my ideas
  - I can use a clear and logical structure to present my ideas
  - I can revise my work to ensure that my ideas are organised and easy to follow
Example learning intention: We are learning to use a range of sentence types
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can use simple, compound and complex sentences in my writing
  - I can use a variety of sentence openers to add interest to my writing
  - I can use a range of punctuation, including full stops, exclamation marks and question marks, correctly
  - I can vary my sentence length to create rhythm and pace in my writing
Example learning intention: We are learning to write a hook
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can use an engaging opening sentence to draw readers in and make them want to read more
  - I can use an interesting question, quote or statement to start my writing
  - I can use descriptive language and imagery to create a strong opening
  - I can use a hook that is relevant to the topic of my writing
Example learning intention: We are learning to proof-read our writing
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can identify and correct errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling in my writing
  - I can use CUPS (Capitals, Usage, Punctuation, makes Sense) to guide my proofreading process
  - I can read my writing out loud to identify errors
  - I can use a dictionary to check the spelling of words
Example learning intention: We are learning to craft our writing to engage our audience
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can use language and tone that is appropriate for my intended audience
  - I can use descriptive language and imagery to immerse my audience in an experience
  - I can use persuasive techniques to engage my audience and influence their opinion
  - I can use a clear and logical structure to present my ideas in a way that is easy for my audience to understand
  - I can use a variety of sentence types to create rhythm and pace, and keep my audience engaged

Maths

Example learning intention: We are learning to use the "counting on" strategy to solve addition to 20 equations
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can count to 20 in 1s
  - I can identify the bigger number
  - I can count on from the bigger number
  - I can stop counting when I have added the second addend
  - I know that the last number I said is the total
Example learning intention: We are learning to use our place value knowledge to add two-digit numbers
- Possible success criteria:
  - I can identify how many ones and tens are in the addends
  - I can add the ones together
  - I can add the tens together
  - I can add these two answers together to find the total
Example learning intention: We are learning to convert mixed numbers into improper fractions
- Possible success criteria:
  - Knowledge:
    - I know that a mixed number is a number made up of a whole number and a proper fraction
    - I know that an improper fraction is a fraction where the numerator is greater than or equal to the denominator
    - I know that the value of a whole number can be expressed as a fraction
    - I know that to add fractions, the fractions must have a common denominator
    - I know multiplication facts for all times tables up to 12x12
  - To solve:
    - I can record the whole number (of the mixed number) as an improper fraction with a denominator of 1
    - I can multiply the numerator and denominator of this fraction by the same number so that the denominator is the same as the denominator of the proper fraction (of the mixed number)
    - I can add the fractions together by finding the sum of the numerators and the sum of the denominators
Example learning intention: We are learning to use the C.U.B.E.S.

Algebra

A learning intention might be “I can understand the structure of a coordinate grid and relate the procedure of plotting points in quadrants to the structure of a coordinate grid.”
- The success criteria for this intention could be that students can talk and write about that procedure, using the correct vocabulary; that they can plot and label points in each quadrant on a coordinate grid; and that they can create a rule about coordinates for each quadrant.

Environmental Science

If the learning intention is “I can recognize the history, interactions, and trends of climate change,”
- the success criteria could be that students are able to locate credible research about the history of climate change and share their research with their peers, that they can demonstrate the interactions of climate change and explain the value of those interactions, and that they can show the trends of climate change utilizing a graph and explain the value of the trends.

Overcoming Challenges in Implementation

Teachers may face challenges when implementing learning intentions and success criteria. Tonia Gibson, a senior consultant at McREL International, notes two main challenges:

Time Constraints: It takes time for teachers to shift from traditional methods and fully embrace a new strategy. The most common misstep I see at both district and school levels is that leaders expect too much too soon from teachers.
Difficulty in Developing Learning-Focused Success Criteria: Teachers can find it challenging to develop success criteria that are learning focused rather than doing The good news here is that in any state (and in most countries), the academic standards provide teachers with clear descriptions of what students need to learn, not just do.

Tips for Building Leaders

Another tip, especially for building leaders, is to get into as many classrooms as you can each day. Observe how teachers are approaching their real-time implementation and observe how students are responding to the different ways teachers are using the strategy. Lastly, let your measure of effective implementation be focused on students rather than teachers.

The Secret Sauce for Effectiveness

Getting good at writing out and planning your learning objectives and success criteria is an important step. But the secret sauce for effectiveness really boils down to whether and how you truly use them in class with your students. Simply having them visible or accessible for students will not move the needle.

High-Quality Professional Learning

To get where we want to be, teachers need high-quality professional learning to demystify strategies for learning objectives and success criteria, and they also need time and encouragement to use their expertise and creativity to experiment with using the strategies.

Read also: Learning Civil Procedure

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A common mistake I see teachers make is that they confuse learning intentions and success criteria.
Repeating the Learning Intention in the Success Criteria.
Describing the task as the Learning Intention or Success Criteria.
Naming the end product as the Learning Intention or Success Criteria.
Giving the specific number of right answers you want.
Having more than one Learning Intention with every Success Criteria.

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria in Remote Learning

The shift to remote learning has highlighted the importance of clear learning intentions and success criteria. Teachers have found that lessons with clarity and deeper-level connections have the most significant impact. These lessons include elements such as:

Teachers reminding students about their prior knowledge and understandings.
Students being able to see what success looked like with visible Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, moving from surface level to deeper levels of learning.
Purposeful dialogue relating to the intention of the lesson and series of lessons.

The Power of Teacher Clarity

To start, we need to think about teacher clarity. A major part of teacher clarity is understanding what students need to learn and identifying how they’ll know that they learned it (p. xv). To do this we need to analyze standards, plan meaningful instruction and assessments with impact, and clarify expectations (p.xv).

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