Effective teachers use two-way feedback to gather information about a student’s understanding,
to assist students to advance their own learning, and to verify the impact of their own practice.
Strategy Overview:
What is it?
Feedback informs a student and/or teacher about the student’s performance relative to learning goals. Its purpose is to improve the student’s learning. Feedback redirects or refocuses the actions of teacher and student so the student can align effort and activity with a clear outcome that leads to achieving a learning goal.
How effective is it?
Research shows appropriate feedback has very high effects on learning. Its effectiveness is evident for students and teachers (Education Endowment Foundation, 2015).
Studies with the highest effect sizes involved students receiving feedback about a task and how to do it more effectively. Feedback in the form of praise, punishment and rewards has lower effect sizes (Hattie & Timperley, 2007).
There is evidence that feedback is more effective if it focuses on the task, not the person, and that feedback on familiar tasks has more impact (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996).
Considerations
Positive feedback is powerful. It can have a negative influence, too, unless close attention is paid to the type of feedback and the way it is given. Feedback is most useful in resolving misconceptions, and less useful in resolving a lack of understanding. Research suggests positive feedback is specific, accurate and clear.
This strategy is demonstrated when the teacher:
provides feedback on tasks that challenges students to review, reflect on and refine their understandings at various points in a learning sequence
gives timely feedback, acknowledging areas well-handled and suggesting areas for improvement
structures feedback to support further learning
organizes a variety of audiences to provide feedback
uses student assessment data as a source of feedback on the effectiveness of their teaching practice
This strategy is not demonstrated when the teacher:
provides feedback that is about the person (such as, ‘you are my best student’) or vague (such as, ‘good job’)
only provides feedback about students’ performance in formal, summative assessment situations, without the opportunity for students to refine and develop understandings on the basis of instructive feedback.
This strategy is demonstrated when students:
understand what they need to do to improve
feel encouraged and supported to achieve the learning goals
use feedback to monitor and self-regulate their learning.
Examples that illustrate the strategy:
Example 1: A group of regional primary teachers working in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) identified the need to make more consistent and effective use of feedback in the classroom. They formulated an objective to deliver richer qualitative feedback to students. They also decided to elicit feedback from students more regularly as a source of data about how to improve their teaching and learning practice.
Collaboratively, they developed two interventions to trial and implement simultaneously during Terms 1 and 2. The first intervention involved using Learning Observations to intervene in student learning, challenge students, and note their approach to set tasks. The second intervention involved using Exit Placemats to gather student feedback.
The teachers recognized that successfully implementing their chosen interventions relied on ensuring all students understood the learning goals and success criteria. They agreed to adopt a lesson structure that would be consistent for all classes.
For the first feedback intervention, the PLC focused on how to deliver meaningful, timely feedback about skills required to complete specific tasks. The teachers concentrated on framing feedback so that students could take specific actions to improve their performance and achievement. Their practice goal was to guide students to either the next area of focus, or to a new learning objective.
The second trial intervention involved Exit Placemats. They encouraged students to reflect on their confidence in a topic, and to self-assess their own learning from the unit. Each teacher analysed the data gathered from student reflection and self-assessment. They then used their findings to inform a classroom discussion in which students offered feedback to the teacher on their teaching practice.
Working in their PLC, the teachers monitored the implementation of their selected interventions, reflected on what worked, and modified practice based on the data they collected. Exit Placemats proved to be an effective way of enabling two-way feedback, supporting teachers to reflect on their practice, and evaluating the impact of their teaching.
Example 2: A graduate teacher at a metropolitan secondary college identifies collecting and providing feedback as a key development area. With a mentor’s help, the teacher designs a protocol for using verbal and digital feedback as an effective two-way information exchange with students.
Knowing the importance of linking data with feedback, the mentor demonstrates how to use centralised tests to extract individual achievement data. This data becomes the foundation for meetings with individual students. Together, the teacher and mentor establish a meeting structure. During the meetings, feedback focuses on the task, what needs improvement, and how to go about it. Drawing on the learning intentions and success criteria, the teacher provides feedback on specific aspects of the student’s work, and offers specific advice on how to improve performance.
It proves incredibly powerful to assist students to review results in structured meetings. By centering discussion on clear feedback that encourages reflection, students deepen awareness of their learning. In monitoring the effect of this practice, the graduate teacher makes two observations. First, students are motivated to understand why they made a specific mistake. Second, they have data to help map a pathway for developing the required skills in preparation for next time.
As a second area of professional learning, and leveraging on digital technology skills, mentor and mentee trial Plickers (https://plickers.com/) to track student understanding of, and confidence in, lesson content. Building on traditional mini-whiteboard questioning techniques, each student is assigned a unique QR code. The code is photographed at key lesson stages and used to generate and share polls. This allows students to instantly and confidentially disclose how they think they are progressing. This provides data that captures the extent to which content is understood. As it is recorded automatically, feedback collected using Plickers is not only easy to track it is more accurate as students can answer honestly without being concerned that their peers might judge their responses adversely.
Continuum of Practice:
Emerging
Teachers provide students with
feedback on strengths and areas
for improvement.
Evolving
To progress learning, teachers
provide students with targeted
feedback based on informed and
timely judgements of each student’s achievement, relative to their learning goals and their needs.
Embedding
All teachers use formative and
summative assessment strategies,
and provide students with
timely feedback that supports
individualized learning.
Teachers use assessment data as
a source of feedback on their
teaching practice, implementing
changes and interventions where
and when required.
Excelling
A range of comprehensive
assessment data provides the basis for regular feedback to students and parents.
Teachers strategically gather and
analyze assessment data to reflect on their practice. Student feedback is actively used to inform teaching.
Resources:
Effective Assessment: www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/Pages/insight-effective.aspx
Assessment in principle: www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/Pages/insight-principle.aspx
Infographic, Things to Remember About Feedback: www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el201209_takeaways.pdf
AITSL Feedback resources: www.aitsl.edu.au/feedback
Providing feedback: www.youtube.com/watch?v=APvBYYV2I9A
Learning through feedback: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOeF7FTYlIo
Using ICT to teach Languages: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2BxsdgPLmQ
Practice Principle 3: Student voice, agency and leadership empower students and build school pride, and Practice Principle 6: Rigorous assessment practices and feedback inform teaching and learning: www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/improve/Pages/principlesexcellence.aspx
Pedagogical Model: Evaluate: www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/improve/Pages/pedagogical-model.aspx
Evidence Base:
Evidence for Learning: Teaching and Learning Toolkit – Australia. http://evidenceforlearning.org.au/the-toolkit/
Bangert-Drowns, R. L., Kulik, C. L. C., Kulik, J. A. & Morgan, M. (1991). ‘The instructional effect of feedback in test-like events.’ Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 213-238: http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/00346543061002213
Bennett, R.E. (2011). ‘Formative assessment: A critical review.’ Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 18(1), 5-25.
Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (2005). ‘Lessons from around the world: how policies, politics and cultures constrain and afford assessment practices.’ Curriculum Journal, 16, 249-261: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585170500136218
Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (2009). ‘Developing the theory of formative assessment.’ Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5-31: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5
Dinham, S. (2008). ‘Feedback on Feedback’, The National Education Magazine, 20(23).
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Milton Park, UK: Routledge.
Kluger, A.N. & DeNisi, A. (1996). ‘The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis and a preliminary feedback intervention theory.’ Psychological Bulletin, 119, 254-284.
Lemov, D. (2015). Teach like a champion 2.0: 62 techniques that put students on the path to college. San Francisco, USA: Jossey-Bass.
Marzano, R. J. (2007). The art and science of teaching: a comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Alexandria, USA: ASCD.
Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded formative assessment. Melbourne, Australia: Hawker Brownlow.