7 Things to Remember About Feedback

Source: The collective wisdom of authors in the September 2012 issue of Educational Leadership: "Feedback for Learning." (Volume 70, Issue 1)

1. Feedback is not advice, praise, or evaluation.  Feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal.  Grant Wiggins, p. 10

2. If students know the classroom is a safe place to make mistakes, they are more likely to use feedback for learning.  Dylan Wiliam, p. 30

3. The feedback students give teachers can be more powerful than the feedback teachers give students.  Cris Tovani, p. 48

4. When we give a grade as part of our feedback, students routinely read only as far as the grade.  Peter Johnston, p. 64

5. Effective Feedback occurs during the learning, while there is still time to act on it.  Jan Chappuis, p.36

6. Most of the feedback that students receive about their classroom work is from other students - and much of that feedback is wrong.  John Hattie, p. 18

7. Students need to know their learning goal/target - the specific skill they're supposed to learn - or else "feedback" is just someone telling them what to do.  Susan Brookhart, p. 24

In latest issue of Educational Leadership this summary really 'framed' feedback for me.  Using the above 'teasers', choose one article to start with and focus on the strategies.  I believe the key to having effective feedback is stated very well by Brookhart.  The students need to know their Learning Goal/Target in order to 'hear' and use the feedback.

Learning Goals/Targets - Teacher created in student friendly language which they can communicate.  Use the Specific Expectations from the Curriculum to generate 'targets' or 'goals' for students to aim for during the Learning Cycle.

Success Criteria - Co-created by teacher & student.  These are steps students take to meet their learning goals.

Formative Assessment - Ongoing throughout the learning cycle.  Students are given feedback and opportunity to practice/perfect the Goal/Target.  No 'marks/grades' attached.  Student Self-Assessment is a major factor during this stage.

Summative Assessment - Completed at the end of the Learning Cycle.  An opportunity for Students to demonstrate their learning and be assigned a 'mark/grade'.  When a Reporting Period (i.e. Report Card) occurs, the teacher accumulates the numerous examples of the students Summative & Formative Assessments from the students portfolio of learning (i.e. examples) and makes a 'Judgement' to produce a grade.

In the coming weeks we will dive deeper into each of these areas but this gives a concise overview of the Learning Cycle.