by Susan M. Brookhart
“feedback can be very powerful if done well. The power of formative feedback lies in it’s double barreled approach, addressing both cognitive and motivational factors at the same time. Good feedback gives students information they need so they can understand where they are in their learning and what to do next-the cognitive factor. Once they feel they understand what to do do and why, most students develop a feeling that they have control over their own learning-the motivational factor.” (pg. 1)
“The most effective learning occurs when students know that it is they are trying to learn, use criteria to actively compare their current work to the goal, and take action to improve” (pg. 3)
“Formative feedback is a part of this process. It is not giving comments on final work at the end of a lesson. There is no ongoing learning process there; the work either goes home or gets thrown away, and the student may or may not remember the comments the next time she does similar work. formative feedback involves giving comments (or arranging for self- or peer assessment), then giving a student additional performance opportunities within the same learning cycle.” (pg. 3)
“Going back 50 years, several studies have investigated the effects of grades versus comments on student performance. In one class study, Page (1958) found that student achievement was higher for a group receiving respecified comments instead of letter grades and higher for students still receiving free comments written by the teacher. Writing comments was more effective for learning than giving grades.” (pg. 4-6)
“Students who received descriptive comments as feedback on their first session’s work performed better on both tasks in the final session and reported feeling more motivated about their work.” (pg. 6)
“If a paper is returned with both a grade and a comment, many students will pay attention to the grade and ignore the comment. The grade “trumps” the comment; the student will read a comment that the teacher intended to be descriptive as an explanation of the grade” (pg. 6)
“Effective feedback is a part of a classroom assessment environment in which students see constructive criticism as a good thing and understand that learning cannot occur without practice” (pg. 9)
“Suggest what to think about-not what to think” (Farris, pg. 19)
“Descriptive comments have the best chance of being read as descriptive if they are not accompanied by a grade” (pg. 6)
“feedback about the task-misconception. Feedback about the processing of the task.” (pg. 24)
“Clarity is important; students need to understand the feedback information as you intend it. Students have different vocabularies and different backgrounds and experiences. The criteria for clarity is whether the writing or speech would be clear to the individual student.” (pg. 37)
“As much as we would like to believe it, students will not memorize our feedback and call it to mind the next time it is relevant. We have to structure those opportunities for students by planning immediate opportunities for students to use the feedback.” (pg. 77)
“One way to help students organize self-assessment and use it as feedback is to have them keep records of their performance and reflect on it.” (pg. 81)