In a classroom, the programming statement translates as “If a student is successful in demonstrating a particular  learning goal, Then the student  proceeds forward, Else the student learns a new way of thinking or performing to be successful in this present learning goal.”  The teachers break a large learning goal into many smaller subgoals and then makes sure that each  student can do each subgoal. The instructors create one or more embedded assessments for each  learning goal that quickly reveal the progress of the students.  For example, a high school English teacher divides the writing process into prewriting, writing, revising and publishing and then creates subgoals for each part of the process.  This teacher subdivides  prewriting into narrowed topic, thesis statement,  idea generation, and idea organization. The students,  peers or the teacher verify success at each subdivision of learning through a mini-assessment; if the authors lack achievement, they  receive formative feedback that helps them to directly improve.  Specifically, if a student is proficient at narrowing a topic, then the student moves on to creating a thesis statement; else, the student has to develop his or her skill at narrowing topics  before doing the next aspect of writing. Students do not move onto the writing phase until they have been demonstrated their proficiency at this level.  Their small wins build on each other to become  bigger wins. 

However, if the pupils do not have these small wins,  their losses build onto bigger losses until their learning completely collapses. Failure to learn happens when  teachers modify the “If ...Then... Else” into  a statement that does not differentiate between the “Then” and the “Else suchas  “If the students know it, then good, else they still move forward.” When teachers remove this  concept that when students are not successful something different happens that enables  the students to achieve the skill, then failure happens.  If instructors do not use an “Else” way of thinking, then  they leave their students stuck in some learning gap where these learners hopelessly spin their wheels; the stuck students may never progress. The pupils will not move students forward until they have obtained the necessary knowledge or skill.  When  the  instructors  use the  “Else” statement they transform the learning process from  failure built upon failure into failure changed into success. The tool to move the students forward centers on the “Else” statement. As soon as the students' learning gap is diagnosed, the teachers implement an “Else” through formative learning.

“Else” learning resembles differentiated learning. Students receive instruction based on their specific learning gap. They do a new learning activity with a different group, different material, and different approach, and possibly a different learning style. The teachers do not simply reteach the material in the same way that  originally lead to the students' unsuccessful learning; for example, math  educators do not merely tell the students to reread the probability chapter. Likewise, they do not urge the students to “study harder” or other vague terms. The teachers provide students with a specific “else” or “other” activity that scaffolds the learning so that the students progress from being unsuccessful to being successful in the learning. This new learning incorporates an embedded assessment so that the learners can ascertain they success.

When teachers think of each learning as “If...Then...Else”, they modify their classroom to one based on achievement, rather than failure. Since they realize that much of students' learning is skill and information based, they move into the “Else” mode whenever students display a lack of a certain skill or knowledge.  Teachers become more than curriculum delivers, they become delivers of successful student learning.

Dr. Harry Grover Tuttle focuses on assessing and improving student learning through low- and high-tech tools.

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