Smart Feedback, Pt. 1: Why it Matters
Takeaway:
Feedback plays a massive role in student learning and achievement, both positively and negatively. It is the classroom climate and type of feedback that determines whether or not it is successful, so deliver it smartly and timely.
Guiding Questions:
How does this article’s definition of feedback differ from yours?
What role does feedback play with instruction?
What are the helps and harms of smart or poor feedback?
Just how big is the impact of feedback on student learning and achievement?
Summary:
Proper feedback is best explained as someone providing information about a student’s performance or understanding in regard to the class goals. These goals are typically set by the teacher, but a student can set personal goals both with and without self-awareness. Meaning, a student may have a goal of an 80% on a test or to not flub up their presentation, both of which would not be examples of class goals, but personal goals. Class goals are typically tied to learning objectives, skill acquisition, or student attitudes.
The person providing the feedback to a student can be a teacher, peer, parent, or self. Feedback is not meant to replace instruction, so it must be designed to be used after instruction as well as after a student performance has been observed (think presentation, quiz, test, homework, etc.).
Feedback and instruction can be combined when used for correction (i.e. clearing up misconceptions, errors, etc.). In order for feedback to be instructive, it must provide information related to either the task assigned or the process of learning (or both). This ought to take a student from where they currently are to where they should be. Done thoughtfully, this type of feedback can increase student motivation, effort, and engagement.
Providing feedback allows students to increase or modify what they have learned. This should be done in the context of what is being taught. Feedback can have its biggest influence when it clears up misconceptions, not teachIng something novel. To do so otherwise can actually cause a harm to the student, who may recoil from another’s feedback. This can lead to demotivation, a reduction in effort, and disengagement, all things that teachers want to avoid.
Smart feedback, which is effective feedback, will provide the positive effects desired. To do so, a teacher must first create a classroom climate conducive to corrective and critical feedback. This requires a skilled educator to make sure the classroom is a psychologically safe place, where the focus is on the individual needs of each student, socially, emotionally, and academically, as well as the class as a whole. On top of this, said feedback must be delivered in a timely fashion. Failing to do so is to lose significant relevance in connecting the feedback to a student's performance or knowledge.
So, just how effective is feedback? Dr. Hattie set out with his team to answer this exact question. He found that out of his large range of student achievement influences (250+ presently), the average effect size is 0.40. Providing feedback in classrooms is nearly double as impactful as the average effect size, at 0.70. This pushed the ranking of feedback into the top 10% of all influences on student learning, making it more impactful than direct instruction (0.60), prior achievement (0.55), socio-economic status (0.52), principals and school leaders (0.32), and homework (0.29)
This begs the question, if smart feedback can have such a giant impact on student learning and achievement, how can we do it the right way? This series of posts will answer this question with the following questions that should drive student feedback:
Where am I going?
How am I going?
Where to next?
Leadership Thoughts:
Teachers certainly need training, support, and opportunities to improve their student feedback. Working within their PLC's where teachers can practice and role play giving feedback can help facilitate the transfer of the ability from our more skilled teachers to the rest of the team. Perhaps, the best place to start is by modeling our feedback as leaders to our staff to match the type of feedback our students should be receiving as well as creating a safe environment for our teachers to receive this feedback.