This document discusses providing descriptive feedback to students to improve achievement. Research shows feedback should be corrective, timely, and specific to criteria. Feedback is most effective when it explains what students are doing correctly or incorrectly, is provided promptly, and describes students' performance based on specific skills rather than relative to other students. The document also provides suggestions for using rubrics to facilitate feedback and having teachers examine student work to generate descriptive instead of evaluative feedback. It prompts reflection on current feedback practices and goals for improvement.

1. Providing Specific, Descriptive
Feedback
Moving Toward a Balanced Assessment
Model

2. Guiding Questions
 How does descriptive feedback
improve student achievement?
 How can I give more timely, specific
feedback to my students?
 What current practices and resources
exist that can assist the teacher?

3. The Effect of Feedback
Consider the following statement, reflecting on the
extent
to which you agree with the statement and
considering
the reasoning behind your decision.
 “The most powerful single modification that
enhances achievement is feedback. The simplest
prescription for improving education must be
‘dollops of feedback’ (p.9).”
As quoted in Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction
that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

4. What the Research Says…
To enhance achievement, feedback should be
1. corrective in nature.
◦ Effective feedback should beyond correct vs. incorrect. It
should offer students an explanation of what they are or are
not doing correct.
2. timely.
◦ The greater the delay in providing feedback often results in
the greater the negative effect on achievement.
3. specific to a criterion.
◦ Criterion-referenced feedback describes where students are
relative to a specific skill or set of knowledge. However,
norm-referenced feedback describes where students are in
relation to other students. This type of feedback does not
offer students understanding about their learning.
As quoted in Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom
instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student
achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.

5. Implications for the
Classroom
“…this means that providing students with
feedback in terms of specific levels of
knowledge or skills is better than simply
providing students with a percentage
score.”
As quoted in Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom
instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student
achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
 Rubrics, or scoring guides, are
recommended as a tool to facilitate

6. Feedback that Fits
How does what you have read
 “mesh” with your current practice,
 inspire future practice, and
 raise questions for further study?
http://www.ascd.org/publications/education
al-
leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/Feedback-
That-

7. Application of Ideas
Working with a partner or in a small group of three to
four
participants, select one piece of student work to
examine and
generate feedback. Consider the following ideas as the
group
DESCRIBES the student work. Monitor the discussion
for
the tendency to EVALUATE the work.
What Student is Working On
 Elements that seems apparent
 Tasks student is trying to accomplish
 How the student is visible in the work
 What does the student appear to value
 What does s/he know how to do re: skills
 What does the student seem on the verge of understanding
 “I wonder”

8. Feedback Discussion
Consider the Implications for Feedback
 What are the strengths of the work?
 What are the weak areas within the work?
 What misconceptions does the student hold?
Based on the analysis, consider the following questions.
 What feedback should be offered to the student?
 How will the rubric or scoring guide help the student respond to
the feedback?
 To what extent have we planned for how to model the
expectations so that students may react positively to the
feedback?
 How must we adjust our language to ensure that the feedback
is constructive and not overtly critical?
How does examining student work with colleagues help in
providing specific, descriptive feedback?

9. Individual Reflection
1. What assessment tools and resources do
you currently use that guide (would guide)
feedback for students?
2. How do you (will you) provide an
opportunity for students to respond to or
revise their work based on the feedback?
3. How do you imagine feedback changing
your instruction and student learning?
4. Based on the readings and activities, what
goals will you set with regard to giving
feedback to students?

10. Next Steps: I am interested in …
the quality of comments and the language
choices I make when offering feedback.
 Accountable Talk (link to article)
 Johnston, P. H. (2004). Choice words: How
our language affects children's learning.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
 Brookhart, S. M. (2008). How to give
effective feedback to your students.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

11. Next Steps: I am interested in …
how to develop rubrics that can lead to more
effective feedback.
 Link to Rubric Module
the relationship between assessment tasks and
feedback
 http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/
wiggins.htm (Assessment as Feedback)
how I can move my students from feedback
to self-assessment and goal setting.
 Link to Self-Assessment Module