Evaluation involves a rating or a ranking against a learning progression where the learner is able to monitor their growth.

Comparisons against other students or standards are often not helpful for supporting the learner's growth.

The main purpose of evaluative  feedback is to let the learner know where they are with their learning progress and how 

When a learner knows where they stand and have clear expectations about what what they should strive for, they can set their own goals, and feel reassured and safe about the efforts they are making in their learning. 

As a result, they are more likely to receive the feedback positively and work with their teacher towards improved performance and better results.

When providing evaluative feedback, aim to:

• Set clear expectations or goals with the learner.

• Be clear about the purpose of the feedback.

• Involve the learner in reflecting on the results of their learning processes and outcomes.

• Prioritise key areas of student progress you are going to record and monitor - it is time consuming to try and track it all.

• Where possible, focus on real-time feedback and keep it specific and simple. 

• Try to give follow up evaluative feedback for larger assessments within a two week period - it can become more difficult for the student to reflect on your feedback and connect it to  to their learning experience.

Appreciative feedback is what you give when you want to show appreciation or thank the learner for their contribution and achievements. 

It is important to notice and acknowledge the learner's effort to help build trust in your relationship with them.

Encourage the learner to celebrate their success and achievements, no matter how small, to motivate them to continue with their progress and growth.

Highlight when students push through or persist with a challenge, appreciate their learning behaviours and ways of thinking as well as the products of their learning.

Great appreciative feedback is specific, connected to the learner's values around their learning, and it is authentic. It needs to be specific so the learner knows what exactly he or she did that you are appreciating. This helps the learner identify what else they need to do to improve or what they need to keep doing.

Linking the appreciative feedback to the learner's values and identity as a learner makes it more effective and personal. It helps the learner more easily accept the feedback as genuine and to understand the purpose of feedback.

Appreciative feedback can also help the student learn more about their responsibilities in terms of their role as a student and a member of the class when we actively use it to build a classroom culture and climate - shine a light on the learning behaviours and attributes that will help you build a positive and productive climate for learning.

Coaching can be a formal and informal process and it relies on a positive and trusting relationship between the coach and the person or team being coached.

The way you provide evaluative and appreciative feedback can help build the right conditions for coaching.

Coaching feedback is different from evaluation and appreciation, although it will often also draw on these elements. The primary purpose of coaching feedback is to inspire the learner or the team to lead them towards continued growth and improvement - to value learning as a way of life and an ongoing experience.

Some of the benefits of coaching feedback include:

• Increasing learner effectiveness.

• Preventing them from using behaviours that may hinder their growth.

• Encouraging them to maintain effective behaviours.

• Promoting commitment within learners, their learning and the learning community.

Coaching feedback draws on knowledge about the learner or team's goals and attributes.

It uses questioning to provoke reflection on how these goals are being pursued, and which attributes are most effective in helping pursue this goal.

Regardless of the time and place when feedback is delivered, it should always aim to help students recognise the learning behaviours, mindsets and specific actions they can take to help them achieve their learning goals, connect them with their learning community and achieve positive outcomes.

Learning Progressions

It is the way of thinking that learning progressions promote that is of value, as much as the tools themselves.

Unfortunately, the use of learning progressions can become mechanical and procedural, rather than being positioned as a tool that can guide conversations with students about where they are, and where they could go next.

Ultimately, it is about showing students where they were, where they are, and where they could go next. You don't always need a learning progression in front of you to do that!

Micro-progressions are powerful for targeting a specific learning goal in a sequence of lessons.

Unit-progressions are useful for helping learners see what skills and knowledge they are expected to develop over a longer period.

Developing learning progressions is time consuming! Express gratitude to those who create them, and support the paneling process in helping to refine them.

Encouraging students to think about where they were, where they are and what they could do next and how is the great value of learning progressions.

Sentence Frames for Appreciative feedback

When providing appreciative feedback keep your purpose in mind, and make sure you are connecting affirmations to specific observable behaviours, or learning products.

Elements of appreciative feedback statements:

• Observe and highlight a specific learning behaviour or attribute.

• Affirm what has been observed with a statement of gratitude.

• Explain the value of what has been observed with a focus on your purpose. For example, to highlight the impact of a behaviour on a learning outcome, or to highlight the effect on the learning environment.

Example Sentence Frames

I noticed you ________ that is a really great example of ___________.

Thank-you for _____________ that has helped us to ________________.

When I reflect on our work together today, I'm really impressed with the way _______________.

I was listening to the way you _________, that was a great way to _________.

Coaching Conversations

The purpose of coaching conversations is to create a space for learners to explore their own goals, thinking and behaviours.

Some Basic Elements of coaching conversations:

• Clarify the goal or aim you are coaching toward

Can I clarify what it is that you are would like to achieve?

What would you like to focus on?

By ___________ what would you like to be able to do?

What I'm hearing is _________ how does that fit with your thinking?

• Use questioning to elicit the learner's thinking.

Why do you think _________?

What happened to make you think/feel that way?

What specific action or behaviour do you think contributed to that outcome? What could you modify or change?

• Reflect on the conversation to identify next steps or key points.

What are your 3 main take-aways from this conversation?

Thinking about what we've discussed, what will your next steps be? Why?