Feedback

“Feedback is not about praise or blame, approval or disapproval. That’s what evaluation is – placing value. Feedback is value-neutral. It describes what you did and did not do."

~ Grant Wiggins

Download Our Brief on Feedback

Unpacking Feedback

It is an objective description of a student’s performance intended to guide future performance. Unlike evaluation, which judges performance, feedback is the process of helping our students assess their performance, identify areas where they are right on target and provide them with tips on what they can do in the future to improve in areas that need correcting (Miser). Good Feedback is...

Timely

- “The more delay that occurs in giving feedback, the less improvement there is in achievement.” (Marzano)

Constructive/Corrective

- What students are doing that is correct
- What students are doing that is not correct
- Choose areas of feedback based on those that relate to major learning goals and essential elements of the assignment
- Should be encouraging and help students realize that effort on their part results in more learning (Marzano)

Specific to a Criterion

- Precise language on what to do to improve
- Reference where a student stands in relation to a specific learning target/goal
- Also specific to the learning at hand
- Based on personal observations

Focused on the product/behavior – not on the student

Verified

- Did the student understand the feedback?
- Opportunities are provided to modify assignments, products, etc based on the feedback
- What is my follow up plan to monitor and assist the student in these areas?)

Resources to Learn More

- How Do I Coach for Growth?
- Rick Wormeli's Middle School Fundamentals - Part 1 and Part 2

- Feedback for Learning - How Am I Doing (Chappuis, 2012)

I Noticed & I WonderedStudents in Sherwanda Chism's class critique each other's work by sharing what they noticed and what they wondered. Sherwanda shares how receiving peer feedback motivates students to improve their work and describes what happens when students give critical feedback.

Making Feedback MeaningfulSean McComb uses various methods to give students personalized and customized feedback on their writing. He starts his class with a mini-lesson as a way to provide feedback to all his students. Next, students move into a workshop model where they access feedback through highlights on their papers, voice notes, student models or one-on-one conferences. In addition, Sean provides targeted instruction to a set of students needing help with source integration.

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