Feedback and Improvement in Student Learning Helen Timperley Professor of Education The University of Auckland New Zealand

Auckland Wellington Christchurch

Overview of Presentation Feedback and its power Challenges for teachers An inquiry and knowledge building cycle for improvement Note will leave overview of New Zealand’s education system to the New Zealand speaker later in the programme

Feedback Information provided by someone or something to a learner about aspects of performance or understanding Feedback follows teaching May be seen as new teaching when it fills gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood

Influences on Achievement ? (Hattie, 2009) Decreased Enhanced Zero 7

The typical influence on achievement (Hattie, 2009) The typical effect across 800+ meta-analysis 50,000 studies, and 200+ million students

Effect on Achievement over time? Typical Effect Size .20 .40 1.0 Decreased Enhanced Zero

Where feedback fits (Hattie, 2009) 1 Acceleration (speed up a year) .88 2 Feedback .73 3 Student-teacher relationships .72 Teaching study skills .59 Cooperative learning .41 Homework .29 Mentoring .15 Ability grouping .12 9 Retention (hold back a year) -.16 Acknowledge variability – different studies found different effects because feed back not always beneficial and teachers not necessarily expert in giving effective feedback

The Power of Feedback Comes from being embedded in strategies involving: Student self-report grades (Rank 1) Formative evaluation (Rank 3) Teacher clarity (Rank 8) But not all feedback promotes student learning

What feedback would you give to this student? (Parr & Timperley, 2010) Learning objective: To learn how to structure a recount (an account of some event that has occurred) Intended audience and purpose: Tell your friends in an interesting way about a trip you have been on This student wrote about a trip to Sydney and Brisbane (Australia) Write down two pieces of feedback you would give to this student

Hi I am at home planning my next trip to synedy and Brisbaned for Christmas and New years day I am going to stay in syned for a week and I am going to stay in Brisburnd for a week with my mum’s flat mate. When I went over to synedy las time I met rua hes a dog of chris’s. Chris is one of marys flat mate now last time when I went there I had to count his money. Then there is nan she has 3 children one is around 14 years old the seoncod is 2 years old and the youngst child is nine mothes old. Then I went to Brisbured. When I got to Synedy I am going to go to all this fantsey parks and and I am going to stay in a hotal. Provided with learning aims and success criteria and an overview of the lesson.

Feedback can be detrimental When it does not give information about how to improve, for example: Tentative grades with no comments Feedback associated with extrinsic rewards Personal praise / criticism that distracts from the task My day is boring and I don’t know what this assignment is about. D- You are so clever

Purpose – to reduce discrepancy between current understandings and a desired goal Ways to reduce the discrepancy Increase effort or abandon goal Answers three questions Where am I going? How am I going? Where to next? Self- Regulation Task Task Process Self

Purpose To reduce discrepancies between current understandings / performance and a desired goal Key conditions: Students must have a learning goal Answers the question, “Where am I going? Most effective when goals are specific and challenging but not too difficult

Ways to reduce the discrepancy Increase effort using more effective strategies Abandon, blur or lower the goal Key conditions: Teachers work with students to identify appropriate challenging and specific goals Teachers assist students to reach them through effective learning strategies “Where to next?”

Students Students Answers three questions Where am I going? Goal Where to Next? How am I doing? Where am I going? Students Students Answers three questions Where am I going? Goal How am I going? Feedback Where to next? Feed-forward

Each feedback question works at four levels How well the tasks are understood / performed Task level The main processes needed to understand / perform tasks Process level Self Regulation Self-monitoring, directing and regulation of actions Personal evaluations and affect (usually positive) about the learner Self level

Hi I am at home planning my next trip to synedy and Brisbaned for Christmas and New years day I am going to stay in syned for a week and I am going to stay in Brisburnd for a week with my mum’s flat mate. When I went over to synedy las time I met rua hes a dog of chris’s. Chris is one of marys flat mate now last time when I went there I had to count his money. Then there is nan she has 3 children one is around 14 years old the seoncod is 2 years old and the youngs child is nine mothes old. Then I went to Brisbured. When I got to Synedy I am going to go to all this fantsey parks and and I am going to stay in a hotal. Provided with learning aims and success criteria and an overview of the lesson.

How Would Your Feedback Have Scored? For a high score (on our rubric): Feedback provides an indication of: Extent to which the writer met the learning objective (structuring recounts) Extent to which writing had features associated with audience and purpose for writing (friends about an interesting trip) What action the writer could take to improve 

The Research Results 49 teachers Relationship between the quality of feedback score and gains in student achievement on a nationally normed measure of writing (asTTle) highly significant (r=.685, p<.01)

A second study (Timperley & Parr, 2009) In a professional development project we examined extent to which teachers were explicit about and students understood Learning objectives Success criteria Feedback Feed forward 15 teachers, observed lessons (with microphones), students interviewed

Teachers’ Learning Sequence Clarity of learning objectives and success criteria developed first for teachers (and understood by students) Found personal praise difficult to stop; Feedback about task & process rare; Feed forward almost non-non-existent

Learning How to Give Feedback in Ways that Promote Student Learning Requires that teachers’ professional learning is carefully scaffolded over time (in the same way as student learning) Teachers identify learning goals with students Identify own professional learning goals about feedback practice for themselves (in relation to students’ learning goals) Seek feedback from students and leaders on their progress Readjust their feedback practice And so on ... Why relate it to student learning goals – teachers thought they were giving quality feedback but those who learned most successfully were tuned into students’ responses. Emphasise ‘with” Teaching practices are not inherently good or bad independently of how students respond – feedback that can look good on its own can only be considered effective if students are responding differently. Reject a decontextualised knowledge transmission model for students so we should for teacher learning – must be contextualised in the challenges of teaching and learning

Timperley, H. (2008) Teacher Professional Learning and Development Timperley, H. (2008) Teacher Professional Learning and Development. International Academy of Education. International Bureau of Education. Paris: UNESCO

to promote student outcomes for teachers Teacher inquiry and knowledge-building cycle to promote student outcomes for teachers What knowledge and skills do our students need? What knowledge and skills do we as teachers need? What has been the impact of our changed actions? Deepen professional knowledge and refine skills Engage students in new learning experiences

Re-assess students’ knowledge and skills Deepen student and professional learning focus Relationship between professional and student learning Re-assess students’ knowledge and skills Professionals refine feedback practices Observe how students respond (Prof feedback) Professionals assisted to Identify feedback practices and new skills required Assess students’ knowledge and skills Can’t learn teaching skills out of context – need to be in context. If student learning is to be enhanced, need to learn about feedback practice in relation to promoting student learning. Or just becomes a set of practices that are soon forgotten.

Students Principals Teachers Feedback and Improvement Where to Next? How are we doing? Where are we going? Students Principals Teachers Feedback and Improvement

For Rest of the Day: Think about How Teachers Can Inquire and Build Knowledge High stakes testing and student learning National Monitoring system Criteria development with teachers Macro or micro assessment policy Assessment in Curriculum of Excellence Developing an ‘assessment for learning’ culture I’ve outlined some of the professional learning demands for teacdhers to learn how to give feedback to students. For the rest of the day, think about the professional learning demands so assessment practices can lead to improved student learning so everyone is answering the three questions