> How do you control for that as a teacher observing the kids? The only solution I ever found was not having more than 3 students at a time, not an option for

> How do you control for that as a teacher observing the kids? The only solution I ever found was not having more than 3 students at a time, not an option for most teachers; I spent most of my career working with 1-3 students as a result. With that few students you can carefully observe the mistakes students are making and ask individual questions about their mental state. Experience will eventually tell you to differentiate students not putting in effort from students who are so lost that they're just flailing and hoping something sticks. With more students, my experience was that both my attention became too split to give students the kind of careful diagnosis to control for effort.