Feedback A Powerful Tool to Raise

Student Achievement

What do you mean by “ Feedback”?

You know EXACTLY what I mean, you idiot!

Write your ideas on the post it notes.

What do you think is the purpose of feedback?

What is the purpose of feedback?

• To indicate the difference between the attained level and the next level of attainment

• To supply information on how to improve learning and application of knowledge, skills and competencies

Identifying what matters

Hattie’s Table of Effects

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Without feedback, we do not know how much of our message is getting through.

Feedback is a theme of the most productive educational strategies.

Think of one occasion when you have provided feedback…

Allocate your feedback situation to one of these categories:

• Praise• Reward• Punishment• Information

• Task level• Process level• Self-regulation level• Self level

And now allocate your feedback situation to one of these levels:

Four levels of feedbackTask• How well has the task been performed?• Is it correct or incorrect?Process• What are the strategies needed to perform the task?• Are their alternative strategies that can be used?Self-regulation • Self monitoring, directing, monitoring the processes and task.• What is the conditional knowledge and understanding

needed to know what you are doing?Self• Personal evaluation and affect about the learner

Task level: • Whether the work is correct or wrong.• Whether the work covers the topic fully.

Process level:• Does the work communicate well?• Is the topic fully understood?

Self-regulation level:• “Have you followed the correct format?”• “What else needs to be done?”

Self level:• “You are a great student!” • “Well done!”

Four levels of feedback

Feedback at the task level

This level includes feedback about how well the task is being accomplished or performed, such as

• distinguishing correct from incorrect answers• acquiring more or different information• building more surface knowledge –reteach/ multiple

opportunities. The art is knowing when to add in/move to feedback about the

processes.1. When the student has sufficient task knowledge to begin to

strategise.2. Make it simple until confidence in the knowledge begins to

build.

Example of feedback at task level

“Your learning goal was to structure your recount in a way that the first thing you write is the first thing you did.

Then you write about the other things you did in the same order that they happened.

You have written the first thing first but after that it becomes muddled.

You need to go through what you have written and number the order in which things happened and re-write them in that order.”

Feedback at the process level

Feedback needs to be specific to the processes underlying the tasks or relating to or extending the tasks.

Such feedback concerns information about • relationships among ideas• students’ strategies for error detection• explicitly learning from errors• cue the learner to different strategies and errors

Feedback at the process level

“You are stuck on this word and you have looked at me instead of trying to work it out.

Can you work out why you may have got it wrong, and then you try a different strategy?”

“You are asked to compare these ideas –for example you could try to see how they are similar, how they are different –how do they relate together.”

Feedback at the self-regulation level

The way students monitor, direct, and regulate actions towards the learning goal.

The capability to create internal feedback and to self-assess• the willingness to invest effort into seeking and dealing with

feedback information• the place of self-assessment• the degree of confidence in the correctness of the response• the attributions about success or failure• the level of proficiency at help-seeking.

Feedback at the self-regulation level

“I am impressed by how you went back to the beginning of the sentence when you became stuck on this word.

In this case it didn’t help. What else could you do? When you decide on what it means I want you to tell how confident you are and why”

“You checked your answer with the resource book [self-

help] and found you got it wrong. Any ideas of why you got it wrong [error detection]. What strategy did you use? Can you think of another strategy to try and how else could

you work out if you are correct?”

Feedback at the self level

Ever present and almost useless (and can be counter productive)

Praise that directs attention away from the task to the self “Good girl”

-rarely about the task -contains little task-related information Praise directed to the effort, self-regulation,

engagement, or processes relating to task/performance -“You’re really great because you have diligently -completed this task by applying this concept”

What Hattie says about the different types of feedback

Praise • Is ineffective, meaningless• Often is inequitably distributed

Rewards (including stickers, house points)• Undermine intrinsic motivation• Goes with greater surveillance and competition and

less engagement and self-regulation • Has an effect size of -0.34 and is negative

Punishment • Is worse than reward

Information • Is what feedback should be

What Hattie says about the different levels of feedback

The task (corrective feedback, such as % correct)• This leads to trial-and-error strategies, not cognitive effort.

Processing the task • Ideally, teaching and learning moves from the task to the

processes and understandings necessary to learn the task, and then beyond it to more challenging tasks and goals.

Self-regulation/self-correction • This is the goal.

Self as a person • Why mix information with personal praise?

The problem with praise Sincere praise is fine, but praise can have problems in an

instructional setting. Older students think:

Praise after success (or neutral feedback after failure) shows the teacher thinks their ability is low.

Criticism after failure (or neutral feedback after success) shows the teacher thinks their ability is high and their effort is

low.

Younger students think praise after success indicates high ability,

criticism after failure indicates low ability.

Please accept 20 points for providing feedback to your students.

• Add 10 points if the feedback was immediate.• Add 10 if it was clear and precise.• Add 10 if it was given in a systematic way.• Add 10 if it was specific to the task.• Add 10 if it was about correct work.• Add 10 if it supported intrinsic motivation.• Add 10 if it supported student self-esteem.• Add 10 if it indicated what to do next.

How many of us now have 100 points?

The three questions

Hattie says effective feedback answers three questions:

• Where am I going?

• How am I going?

• Where to next?

The three questions

Where am I going? (“Feed-up”.) • What are my learning goals? • These may be as precise as doing well on an

assessment , or less clear-cut such as improving my appreciation of music.

• Goals can be one-off or continuing but they will involve both challenge and commitment.

• Teacher feedback can help to clarify the criteria of success and sharpen commitment.

The three questionsHow am I going? (“Feed-back”.) • Am I meeting the challenge? • What is the success criteria?• There is considerable evidence that at task level

written comments are more effective than just grades.• Feedback messages in group situations are easily

mistaken as the student does not think this feedback relates to them.

• Effective learners develop good internal feedback systems, other learners need help to do this.

Feedback has its greatest effect when a learner expects a response to be correct and it turns out to be wrong.

Such ‘high-confidence’ errors promote the greatest

study by the student in an attempt to correct the misconception.

Feedback that attributes performance to effort or ability increases engagement and performance on tasks.

Student self-belief about success or failure can have more impact than the reality of that success or failure.”

The three questions

Where to next? (“Feed-forward”.) • What is my next challenge? • What development of my skills is needed?• Do I need better self-regulation of learning? • Do I need greater fluency/automaticity, different

strategies, or deeper understanding?

Why are computers so good at providing feedback?

• The feedback is immediate.• It is delivered systematically.• No reference is made to the personality of the learner.• The feedback is usually clear.• The feedback can occur after success just as

after failure.

How teachers can be better than computers?

• We can influence the students to adopt worthwhile and achievable academic goals.• We can ensure the goals are specific and include reasonable criteria for success.• We can nurture student commitment for those goals.• We can encourage the students to periodically review

and report their attainment of those goals.• We can create assessment tasks that are relevant.

Feedback

1. Feedback should be directed towards the attainment of a goal.You do not become a more creative writer from feedback on your punctuation and spelling.

2. Feedback should be at or just above the level where the student is working, but without introducing a fear of failure.

3. Feedback works best in a classroom climate that fosters peer and self-assessment, where students can make and learn from mistakes.

Feedback

4. For learners who have not reached proficiency, it’s better to elaborate through instruction than to give feedback on poorly understood concepts.

5. Feedback should build on prior knowledge and provide logical connections.

6. 70% of teachers claim they provide detailed feedback often or always, but only 45% of students agree.

7. The most powerful feedback is from the student to the teacher: this makes learning visible.

What do students think?

Climate of the classroom is critical

Students only respond when they are fairly sure that they can respond correctly– which often indicates they have already learned the

answer to the question being asked. – Errors, and learning from them, are rarely welcomed.

Error must not only be tolerated, it must be positively WELCOMED– Reduce the risk for those making/thriving on error– Seeking and accepting the errors– Listen to student questions not teacher questions

Feedback to the teacher

Every time we give an assessment, if the teacher doesn’t learn something, the assessment was a waste of time.

When teachers seek:– what the students know, – what they understand, – where they make errors, – when they have misconceptions, – when they are not engaged

Then teaching and learning can be synchronised and

powerful.

Begin a professional conversation about feedback by asking eight questions:

1. What are our present approaches – formal and informal – to student feedback? Conduct an audit.

2. Are our assessment methods and criteria clear, valid and reliable? Identify the links between assessment and feedback.

3. Do our students understand what is meant by feedback?

4. Is the feedback our students receive infrequent, unfocused, unhelpful, inconsistent or negative?

Steve Dinham ACER

Some Questions to Ask

5. Is the feedback we provide focused, comprehensive, consistent and improvement oriented, addressing the four key questions raised above? (especially How can I do better?)

6. How does the feedback our students receive relate to parental feedback through reports, interviews and parent nights? Is feedback to students and parents consistent?

Some Questions to Ask

Some Questions to Ask

7. How can we provide our students with improved feedback?

8. How will we know if it works? What evidence will we need?

The answers to these questions will provide an important foundation for improving the quality of teaching and student achievement in our schools.

However, feedback is only one part of the equation.

It is not a substitute or remedy for poor teaching.

Conversations to have with staff

• What are your criteria for success in what you do in the classroom?

• Take three students (top, middle, bottom) and their samples of work. Track their improvement and changes that occur across the year.

• Take a ten minute video of your classroom with no volume. Analyse.

• What resources do you use over a period of time? What challenges do you provide?

• How do you discuss your teaching strategies with colleagues?

• What evidence can you provide to show that you are effective and making a difference?

• The quality of evidence you show me will show me what you are doing about making a difference.

Conversations to have with staff

Provide feedback

• Provide correct feedback .43• About previous attempts .55• Related to more difficult goals .51• That does not discourage .33• or threaten their self-esteem .47

Ideas

• Target Setting• Performance and Mastery learning and feedback• The power of error The simplest prescription for improving education must be…

providing information about what a student does and does not understand, and what direction the student must take to improve.

• Ask a student to tell you what they think you are trying to say to them

• When giving written feedback teachers should highlight three successes in the student’s work and one area where some improvement is needed

Learning Intentions-Success Criteria

© PMB 2007

Benefits for Pupils (Findings from N.I. Teacher Researchers)

‘Children are more focused and interested, creating a positive learning culture. Their self-esteem is improving also.’

‘We have given children the vocabulary to discuss their own work.’

‘Success can now be achieved by all, even the weakest children!’

‘Pupils are beginning to talk more about how they are learning rather than what they are learning.’

Learning Intentions-Success Criteria

© PMB 2007

Benefits for Teachers (Findings from N.I. Teacher Researchers)

‘Sharing learning intentions and success criteria at the beginning of the lessons has resulted in teacher and pupils working more in partnership towards a common goal.’

‘I’m more sensitive to individuals’ needs/achievements.’

‘Relationships between teacher and pupils are warmer and more positive.’

‘My planning is moreeffective/focused/thoughtful.’

Learning Intentions-Success Criteria

Visible Teaching – Visible Learning

When teachers become learners of their own teaching

Make a list

What does feedback look like in a classroom?

What does feedback sound like in a classroom?

What does Feedback look like?

Success criteria/ learning intentions visible

Teachers giving individualised feedback at appropriate level

Student involved in self regulation: checklists, rubrics

Students reflecting on “Where to next?”

Peers giving each other feedback

Prompts such as feedback starters

What does Feedback sound like?

Teachers giving feedback related to the task

Feedback about learning rather than behaviour

Not just praise

Students engaged in reflecting on learning eg “What did I do well? “How did I work out this problem?”

Teachers and students deconstructing examples of quality work

What is good?Spend time ensuring that there is consensus between yourself and the pupils over what makes a piece of work ‘good’, and how they are expected to achieve it. Use questions such as –

‘Can you tell me what makes a piece of work good?’

‘How do you feel about comments?’

‘Do you always know what you need to do next / think about?’

‘Do you know when you have done a ‘good’ piece of work?’

Peer Marking

Students mark each others’ work according to assessment criteria.

Encourages reflection and thought about the learning as well as allowing students to see model work and reason past misconceptions.

Opportunities to do this throughout individual lessons and schemes of work.

Feedback SandwichFeedback can be delivered in different ways, two feedback ‘sandwiches’ are –

i) Positive commentConstructive criticism with explanation of how to improvePositive comment

ii) Contextual statement – I liked….because….Now/Next time…Interactive statement e.g. a question based on the work

Group feedback

Group feedback to a teacher concerning peer-assessment of work can help make the teacher aware of learning needs in a manageable way.

If a group feeds back then it draws more attention and presents information that has already been ordered and sorted (meaning less repetition for the teacher).

Comment Follow-up

Give students opportunities to follow up comments -

- Create time in the lesson to talk to individual students.

- Have a written dialogue in the students’ book.

- Use a comment tracker or targets sheet to formalise the dialogue in a workbook

Improvement Guidance

When making comments on pupils’ work, treat them like guidance showing how the pupil can improve.

Develop this by asking students to write in the same way when peer assessing work.

Discuss the notion of guidance and how it differs from other types of behaviour (i.e. prescription,

admonishment etc.)

2 stars and a wish

For peer assessment, ask students to give two stars and a wish.

Two stars = 2 things that are good about the piece of work

A wish = something they can improve to make it even better

Plus, minus and what's next?

When students comment on the positive aspects of a peer's work, they are said to be giving warm feedback, and when they identify areas that need improvement, they are providing cool feedback.

They provide hints on 'how to raise the temperature' when they give advice about how their peer could improve their work.

Traffic lightsStudents green-light (using a green highlighter on the margin of the work) the work of their peer to indicate where the success criteria have been achieved, or amber-light where improvement is needed.

This strategy is best used on a work-in-progress, although it could also be used, with coloured sticky notes, to provide feedback on a final piece of work. The suggestions for improvement would then relate to the next occasion on which the students undertook work which required similar skills - writing or number skills, for example.

Exemplar Work

When setting students a piece of work, show them examples that make it clear what it is they are being asked to do – and what they need to do in order to meet the assessment criteria.

Students could mark exemplar work using the assessment criteria. This will help model what is being asked for and how it relates to the process of assessment.

Comment-only markingComment-only marking provides students with a focus for progression instead of a reward or punishment for their ego (as a grade does).Comments could be made in books, in a table at the front of books, in a learning diary or journal. The latter are helpful for teacher and student to track the progression of comments and see improvement. Comments should make it clear how the student can improve. Plan activities and work with feedback in mind – let the design assist the process.

Feedback-Praise, Prompt, Leave

• Praise on task behavior by describing specifically what the student has done correctly so far

• Prompt by telling the student what is to be done.

• Leave the student to work independently