A Feedback Quiz

The Challenge:

Take this one-question quiz on giving academic feedback to your students.  (See if you do better than I did.)

Which approach to giving feedback to students has the greatest impact on learning?

1. Giving students a score;
2. Giving students constructive feedback – specific comments on errors, suggestions on how to improve, and at least one positive remark;
3. Giving students constructive feedback and a score.

Background: Not All Students Learn at the Same Pace

Earlier this year I wrote about Dylan Wiliam (the guy with two first names) and used his statement, “Students don’t learn what we teach them.”  This describes a phenomenon you almost certainly have experienced.  You check for understanding and realize that students are all over the place with their learning of key concepts or skills.  Some get it; some don’t.  Others are everywhere in between.

I also told you that in Embedded Formative Assessment, Wiliam gives specific information on what increases the probability of students learning what we teach.  You can probably guess from the title of the book that he is a huge proponent of formative assessments, which give low-stakes feedback to both the teacher and the students and allow both to make adjustments in the learning process.  William says if we believe that students learn in different ways and in different timeframes, formative assessments are not just good instruction, they are essential.

And the Answer Is….

The answer to the quiz may surprise you.  According to the research, Wiliam says that students in the second group learned twice as fast as students in the first. That may not be surprising, but keep reading! The students in the third group (comments and a score) made little progress.  I had to double-check to make sure I was reading correctly.   In fact, giving students a score and feedback was less effective than a score alone, and not nearly as effective as feedback alone.

The reason according to Wiliam: Those with the highest scores felt no need to read the comments and those with the lowest scores didn't want to read the comments. The score was all they remembered.

If you want a research-based argument in favor of formative assessments, this is it.  Formative assessments allow students to make mistakes and learn from their mistakes.  They allow teachers to adjust instruction, and they increase student learning when they include:  

• Specific comments on errors,
• Suggestions to improve, and
• At least one positive remark.

If you don’t believe it, I encourage you to try it for yourself.  Experiment with feedback using the three steps bulleted above and hold the score until students have worked through the comments and suggestions.     

I would love to hear your feedback on this experiment.  I promise to give you a positive comment, and I promise not to give you a score.

Have a great week.

Phil

Kudos this week to all of you who rolled with the punches.  PLAN and PSAT causes weird schedule issues.  If you said, “It is what it is” and kept on keeping on, this one is for you!  Thanks for staying positive and supportive of school-wide initiatives.