Feedback for Student Growth July, 2010

Learning Targets I can use specific, meaningful feedback with students so that they can understand where they are in their learning and what they need to do next. I can construct and communicate feedback with special attention to timing, amount, mode and audience. I can choose effective feedback with special attention to focus, comparison, function, valence, clarity, specificity and tone.

What Is Specific Feedback? Sometimes is helps to define a concept by thinking about what it is not. Specific Feedback in not praise. It can include praise, but goes beyond the familiar “Excellent! Good job!” or “Wrong.” Specific Feedback is one of nine instructional strategies that work to increase student achievement (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001) and provide students with specific information as to how well they are performing.

Why Use Specific Feedback? Specific Feedback has a powerful impact on learning and achievement and is important to help learners assess the degree to which they have accomplished goals (Marzano, Pickering, &Pollock, 2001). Feedback can be provided by the teacher, peers and the learner.

Research Findings When feedback is corrective in nature—that is, it explains where and why students have made errors--significant increases in student learning occur (Lysakowski & Walberg, 1981, 1982; Walberg, 1999; Tennenbaum & Goldring, 1989).   Feedback has been shown to be one of the most significant activities a teacher can engage in to improve student achievement (Hattie, 1992). Asking students to continue working on a task until it is completed and accurate (until the standard is met) enhances student achievement (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).

Research Findings Continued Effective feedback is timely. Delay in providing students feedback diminishes its value for learning (Banger-Drowns, Kulik, Kulik, & Morgan, 1991).   Administer tests to optimize learning. Giving tests a day after a learning experience is better than testing immediately after a learning experience (Bangert-Downs, Kulik, Kulik, & Morgan, 1991). Rubrics provide students with helpful criteria for success, making desired learning outcomes clearer to them. Criterion-referenced feedback provides the right kind of guidance for improving student understanding (Crooks, 1988; Wilburn & Felps, 1983). Effective learning results from students providing their own feedback, monitoring their work against established criteria (Trammel, Schloss, & Alper, 1994; Wiggins, 1993).

Think/Pair/Share What is the role of feedback in classroom formative assessment? What is the role that feedback currently plays in your own classroom?

Feedback Strategies

Feedback Strategies Can Vary In… Recommendations for Good Feedback In These Ways… Recommendations for Good Feedback Timing When Given How Often Providing immediate feedback for knowledge or facts (right/wrong) Delay feedback slightly for more comprehensive reviews of student thinking and processing. Amount How many points made How much about each point Prioritize-pick the most important points Choose points that relate to major learning goals Consider the student’s developmental level. Mode Oral Written Visual/Demonstration Select the best mode for the message Interactive feedback is best when possible. Give written feedback on written work or on assignment cover sheets. Use demonstration if “how to do something” is an issue or if the student needs an example. Audience Individual Group/Class Individual feedback says, “The teacher values my learning.” Group/class feedback works if most of the class missed the same concept and reteaching is needed.

Let’s Look at Some Examples!

Think/Pair/Share Discuss the timing of feedback in your class(es). How often, and how promptly do you return assignments with feedback? Give some examples in your classroom where oral, written, and demonstration feedback are appropriate. Describe the feedback you gave and what effect it had on student learning.

Feedback Content

Feedback Content Can Vary In… Recommendations for Good Feedback In These Ways… Recommendations for Good Feedback Focus On the work itself On the process the student used to do the work On the student personality When possible, describe the work and the process-and their relationship Avoid personal comments Comparison To criteria for good work (criterion-referenced) To other students (norm-referenced) To student’s own past performance (self-referenced) Use criterion-referenced feedback for giving information about the work itself. Use norm-referenced feedback for giving information about student processes or effort. Use self-referenced feedback for unsuccessful learners who need to see the progress they are making, not how far they are from the goal. Function Description Evaluation/judgement Describe Don’t judge Valence Positive Negative Use positive comments that describe what is well done Accompany negative descriptions of the work with positive suggestions for improvement Clarity Clear to the student Unclear Use vocabulary and concepts the student understands Tailor the amount and content of feedback to the student’s developmental level Specificity Nitpicky Just right Overly General Tailor the specificity to the student and task Specific enough so that students know what to do, but not so much that it is done for them. Identify errors or types of errors, but not every one which leaves the students nothing to do.

Feedback Content Can Vary In… Recommendations for Good Feedback In These Ways… Recommendations for Good Feedback Tone Implications What will the student “hear” Choose words that communicate respect for the students and the work. Choose words that position the student as the agent Choose words that cause students to think or wonder

Let’s Look at Some Examples!

Think/Pair/Share Discuss some ways that you are “positive” without being insincere or untruthful when you give feedback to students. How do students respond to feedback in your classes both in their learning and in their motivation? What conclusions can you draw about your classroom environment and the effectiveness of your feedback?

The “Pause-Prompt-Praise” Approach Try “Pause, Prompt and Praise” as a structure for feedback. It provides an example for specific and corrective feedback. When a student or group of students appears to be struggling with a challenging task, take the following steps:

PAUSE Pause- Ask the student to stop working on that task. Briefly discuss why the student is struggling with the task. It might sound like this:   Henry, stop what you are doing and let’s reflect. What is it about the task that you know you understand? Now tell me what it is about the task that is confusing. By asking both questions, the teacher is encouraging reflective thinking and gaining a better understanding of the metacognitive process of the student.

PROMPT Prompt- Provide a specific suggestion for improving the students performance:   You are right on the mark when you told me you were trying to remember what to do when you could not understand hard reading material. You said you did not remember all the things to do, so let me remind you of one of the tools you can use. Look on our Community Learning Wall. Do you see the section titled “Trouble With Text”? There are seven suggestions. I am going to ask you to use one of them for now. Look at the one that says “Asking Questions”. Review this comprehension strategy with the student, then model using a “Think-Aloud” with the student’s reading assignment. Ask the student to do this, and to write the questions on sticky notes. Let him or her try it before you leave.

PRAISE Praise- Praise the student for his or her effort if the performance improves as a result of using the suggestion. This might sound like:   Your question is a good one. Also, in order for you to understand this material, you have to know the answer to your question. Keep reading for the answer, and also see if you can come up with at least four more questions. I look forward to seeing what your other questions are going to be because the first one was so thought-provoking. I can tell you are thinking! Leave the student to work independently, and continue to monitor the class. Circulate around the entire class, then stop by the student’s desk to see that he or she is on the right track.

How Do You Know If Your Feedback Is Good? Your students do learn – their work does improve. Your students become more motivated – they believe they can learn, they want to learn and they take more control over their own learning. Your classroom becomes a place where feedback , including constructive criticism, is valued and viewed as productive.

Let’s Practice What We’ve Learned!

See “Evaluating Feedback” Handout

Sample Evaluation Feedback Sample: “Each paragraph should have one main idea, and that idea goes in a topic sentence.” Evaluation Sample: Focus: Task Comparison: Criterion-referenced Function: Descriptive Valence: Positive Comments: This is an example of good feedback if the student needs this information about what paragraphs should contain.

Time to Soul Search!

See “Feedback Checklist”

Think/Pair/Share Describe your classroom in terms of feedback. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What “Ah Ha’s” have you had today? What are your top three priorities in relation to feedback for this upcoming school year?

Implementation Fine-tune how you provide feedback by focusing on the details of what you say, as well as when you say it. Research suggests best practices for providing feedback: Increase the value of tests and homework. Providing only a grade or number on a test or homework assignment leaves out critical information for students. Take time to write comments, point out omissions, and explain your thinking when reviewing student work.

Implementation (cont.) Make feedback count. Feedback is best when it is corrective in nature. Help students see their errors and learn how to correct them by providing explicit and informative feedback when returning student work. Make feedback another part of the learning process. Don't delay feedback. The longer students have to wait for feedback, the weaker the connection to their effort becomes, and the less likely they are to benefit.

Implementation (cont.) Help students get it right. If students know you want to see them succeed, and you're willing to help explain how, their learning improves. Give students opportunities to improve, try again, and get it right. Ask students to provide feedback. Students can monitor and provide feedback to other students, as well as compare their work to criteria. Engage students in review of their own work and others.

Implementation (cont.) Give students time to absorb new ideas. Tests are more effective as opportunities for learning if a day has gone by between learning experiences and the test.   Use rubrics. Rubrics provide criteria against which students can compare their learning. Involve students in developing rubrics. Rubrics help students focus their effort.

Strategies to Help Students Learn to Use Feedback Model giving and using feedback yourself Teach students self and peer assessment skills to: Teach students where feedback comes from. Increase students’ interest in feedback because it is “theirs” Answer students’ own questions.

Strategies to Help Students Learn to Use Feedback (cont.) Be clear about the learning target and the criteria for good work. Use assignments with obvious value and interest Explain to the student why an assignment is given-what the work is for. Make directions clear Use clear rubrics Have students develop their own rubrics or translate yours into “kid-friendly” language.

Strategies to Help Students Learn to Use Feedback (cont.) Design lessons in which students use feedback on previous work to produce better work Provide opportunities to redo assignments Give new but similar assignments for the same learning targets Give opportunities for the students to make the connection between the feedback they received and the improvement in their work!

Reviewing a Test Tests are usually full of information that does not get used. An analysis of test results can be a gold mine of information, but only if students know that they will get a chance to use the information and that it isn’t too late to profit from feedback. Teach students to distinguish between wrong answers that don’t indicate a learning problem (typos and careless mistakes) and wrong answers that do.

Summing It Up… Effective Feedback… Describes features of work or performance Relates directly to the learning targets and/or standards for quality Points out strengths and gives specific information on how to improve Occurs during the learning process-while there is still time to act on it Limits correctives to the amount of advice the student can act on at one time.

A Final Thought…. Feedback says to a student, "Somebody cared enough about my work to read it and think about it!" Most teachers want to be that "somebody." Feedback matches specific descriptions and suggestions with a particular student's work. It is just-in-time, just-for-me information delivered when and where it can do the most good.

Resources Brookhart, Susan, M. How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students, ASCD, 2008. ETS ATI, Portland, Oregon, 2008.