Susan M. Brookhart

From the student's point ofview, lhe ideal "script" forfonnative assessment readssomething like, "Here is howclose you are to the knowl-

edge or skills you are trying to develop,and here's what you need to do next."The feedback teachers give students isat the heart of that script. But feedbackis only effective when it translates into aclear, positive message that studentsc:in hear.

Student Understandingand ControlThe power of formative assessment liesin its double-ban'eled approach,addressing both cognitive and motiva-tional factors. Good formative assess-ment gives students information theyneed to understand where they are intheir learning (the cognitive factor) and

Feedbackdevelops students' feelings of controlover their leaming (the motivationalfactor).

Precisely because students' feelings ofself-efflcacy are involved, however, evenwell-intentioned feedback can be verydestructive if the student reads thescript in an unintended way ("See, Iknew 1 was stupid!"). Research on feed-back shows its Jekyll-and-Hyde char-acter. Nol all studies of feedback showpositive effects; the nature of thecommunication matters a great deal.

Recently, researchers have tried totease out what makes some feedbackeffective, some ineffective, and some

downright harmful (Butler & Winne,1995; Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Kluger&r DeNisi, 1996). Other researchershave described the characteristics ofeffective feedback (Johnston. 2004;Tunstall & Gipps, 1996). From parsingthis research and reflecting on my ownexperience as an educational consultantworking with elementary and secondaryteachers on assessment issues, particu-larly the difference between lonnativeassessment and grading, 1 have identi-fied what makes for powerful feed-back—m terms of how teachers deliverit and the content it contains.

Good feedback contains information

54 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/DECEMBER 2007/JANUARY 2008

a student can use. That means, first, thatthe student has to be able to hear andunderstand it. A student can't hearsomething that's beyond his comprehen-sion, nor can a studeni hear somethingif she's not listening or if she feels likeits useless to listen. The most usefulfeedback focuses on the qualities ofstudent work or the processes or strate-gies used to do the work. Feedback thatdraws students' attention to their self-regulation strategies or their abilities asleamers is potent if students hear it in away that makes them realize they willget results by expending effort andattention.

Following are suggestions for themost effective ways to deliver feedbackand the most effective content of feed-back. Notice that all these suggestions

are based on knowing your studentswell. There is no magic bullet thai willbe just right for all siudents at all times.

Effective Waysto Deliver FeedbackWhen to Give FeedbackIf a studeni is 5iud)ing facts or simpleconcepts—like basic math—he or sheneeds immediate information aboutwhether an answer is right or wrong-such as the kind of feedback flash cardsgive. For leaming targets that developover time, like writing or problemsolving, wait until you have observedpatterns in student work that provideinsights inio how they are doing thework, which will help you make sugges-tions about next steps. A general prin-ciple for gauging ihe timing of feedback

is to put yourself in the student's place.When would a student want to hearfeedback? When he or she is stillthinking about the work, of coui se. It'salso a good idea to give feedback asoften as is practical, especially for majorassignments.

How Much Feedhack?Probably the hardest decision concernsthe amount of feedback. A natural incli-nation is to want to "fix" everything yousee. That's the teacher's-eye view, wherethe target is perfect achievement of alllearning goals. Try lo see things fromthe student's-eye view. On which aspectsof the learning target has the studentdone good work? Which aspects of thelearning goals need improvement andshould be addressed next? Are any

That Fits To craft teacher feedhack thatleads to learning, put yourselfin the student's shoes.

assignments coming up that wouldmake it wiser to emphasize one pointover another? Consider also students'developmental level.

What Mode Is Best?Some kinds of assignments lend them-selves better to written feedback (forexample, reviewing written work); someto oral feedback (observing as studentsdo math problems); and some todemonstrations (helping a kindergartenstudent hold a pencil correctly). Someot the besi feedback results from conver-sations with the student. Peter Johnston's(2004) book Choice Worch disctisseshow to ask questions that help students

ND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 55

help you provide feedback. Forexample, rather than telling the studentall the things you notice about his orher work, start by asking, "What areyou noticing about this? Does anythingsurprise you?" or "Why did you decideto do it this way?"

You should also decide whether indi-\idual or group feedback is best. Indi-vidual leedback lells a student that youvalue his or her learning, whereas groupfeedback provides opportunities forwider reteaching. These choices are notmutually exclusive. For example, saymany sludems used bland or vaguelerms in a writing assignment. Youmight choose lo give the whole classfeedback on their word choices, withexamples of how to use precise or vividwords, and follow up wtth thought-provoking questions for individualstudents, such as, "What other wordscould you use instead oihigT or "Howcould you describe this event sosomeone else would see how terrible iiwas for you?"

The Best Content for FeedbackC-omposmg feedback is a skill in itsell.The choices you make on whal you sayto a student will, of course, have a biginfluence on how the student interpretsyour feedback. Again, the main prin-ciple is considering the student'sperspective.

Focus on Worh and ProcessEffective feedback describes thestudent's work, comments on theprocess the student used to do thework, and makes specific suggestionsfor what to do next. General praise("Good job!") or personal commentsdon't help. The student might bepleased you approve, but not sure whatwas good about the work, and sounable to replicate its quality. Process-focused comments, on the other hand,give suggestions that move the work

Make as manyopportunities asyou can to talkwith your studentsabout their work.

closer to the target, such as, "Can yourewrite that sentence so it goes betterwith the one before it?"

Relate Feedback to the GoalPor feedback to drive the lormaliveassessment cycle, it needs to describewhere the student is in relation to theleaming goal. In so doing, it helps eachstudent decide what his or her next goalshould be. Feedback that helps astudent see his or her own progressgives you a chance to point oui theprocesses or methods that successfulstudents use. {"I see you checked your

work this lime. Your computations wereall correct, too! See how well thatworks?") Self-re fere need feedback aboutthe work Itself ("Did you notice youhave ali the names capitalized thistime?") is helpful for strugglingsiudents, who need to understand thatthey can make progress as niuch as theyneed lo understand how far they arefrom the ultimate goal.

Try for Description, Not judgmentGertain students are less likely to payattention to descriptive feedback if it isaccompanied by a formal judgment, likea grade or an evaluative comtneni. Somestudents will even hear judgment whereyou intend description. Unsuccessfullearners have sometimes been so frus-trated by their school experiences thatthey might see every attempt to helpthem as just another declaration thaithey are "stupid." For these learners,point out improvements over theirprevious performance, even if thoseimprovements don't amount to overallsuccess on the assignment. Then selectone or two small, doable next steps.

56 EDUCATLONAL LEADERSHIP/DnCEMUtR 200 7/J AN U.\KV 2 0 0 8

After the next round of work, give thestudent feedback on his or her successwith those sieps, and so on.

Be Positive and SpecificBeing positive doesn't mean being artifi-cially happy or saying work is goodwhen It isn't. It means describing howthe strengths in a student's work matchthe criteria lor good work and how theyshow what that student is learning. Andit means choosing words thai communi-cate respect for the studeni and thework. Your tone should indicate ihatyou are making helpful suggestions andgiving the student a chance to take theinitiative. ("This paper needs moredetail. You could add more explanationabout lhe benefits of recycling, or youcould add more description of whatshould be done in your neighborhood.Which suggestion do you plan to tryfirst?") If feedback comes across as alecture or suggestions come across asorders, students will not understandthat they are in charge of their ownlearning.

Feedback should be specific enoughthat the student knows what to do next,but not so specific that you do thework. Identifying errors or types oferrors is a good idea, but correcting

The power of formative assessment lies inits double-barreled approach, addressingboth cognitive and motivational factors.

every error doesn't leave the studentanything to do.

These feedback principles apply toboth simple and complex assignments,and to all subjects and grade levels. Thefollowing example ol ineffective and,especially, effective feedback on awriting assignment reflects these princi-ples m practice.

ATale ofTwo Feedback ChoicesAs pan ot a unit on how to write effec-tive paragraphs, a 4th grade teacherassigned her students to write a para-graph answering the question, "Do dogsor cats make beilcr pels?" They wereasked to have a clear topic sentence, aclear concluding sentence, and at leastthree supporting details. Figure 1 showswhat a student named Anna wrote andwhat inefjcctivf teacher feedback onAnnas paragraph might look like.

To provide leedback, this teacherdecided to make written comments on

FIGURE 1. Ineffective Feedback on Anna's Writing Assignment

ihlz, ^s wkbj I Lt-fee dogs better thav\, cats,, i thli^\z doQ^ are

refllLy pUyfuL T ietj cav\. also be strot^ to full uou or

LiA- dii:^^evU: sizes Llfee a

). Ttoeuj c«iA/ also be iv^ iorcolors,. 3oM e are just

are cutelot better tha\^ cats.

are pec(Lgree. B-est ofcuddlu, ihat Is whu i Llfee doQs a

each student's paper and retum thepapers to students the day after theyturned them in. So far, so good.However, the feedback in Figure 1 is allabout the mechanics of writing. Thisdoesn't match the learning target for thisassignment, which was to structure aparagraph to make a point and to havethat point contained m a topic sentence.Because the mechanical corrections arethe only comments, the message seemsto be that Anna's next slep is to fix choseerrors. However, this teacher has alreadyfixed the errors for her. All Anna has todo is recopy tbis paragraph. Moreover,there is no guai'antee she would under-stand why some words and punctuationmarks were changed. Recopying by rotecould result in a "perfect" paragraphwith no learning involved!

The worst part about this feedback,however, is that it doesn't communicatelo Anna that sbe did, in fact, demon-strate the main paragraphing skills tbatwere the learning target. Anna success-fully fashioned a topic sentence and aconcluding sentence and providedsupporting details. Sbe needs to under-stand tbat sbe has accomplished tbis.Once sbe knows that, suggestions aboutbow to make ber good work even bettermake sense.

Figure 2 hsts effective comments ateacher migbt write on Anna's paper or,preferably {because there is more to saythan a teacber might want to write or a4th grader might want to read), discusswith her in a brief conference. A teacberwould probably use a few—but notall—of these comments, depending oncircumstances.

A S S O C I A T I O N I = O R S U P E R V I S I O N A N D C U R R K U L D M D t v E L O P M t i N T 5 7

Notice that these comments firstcompare the studerit's work with thecriteria for the assignment, which werealigned with the learning goal. Theyacknowledge that Anna's paragraphshows that she understands how toproduce a topic sentence, supportingdetails, and a concluding sentence.

The rest of the feedback choicesdepends on the context. How muchtime is available to discuss this paper?Which other feedback comments would

Composing feedbackis a skill in itself.

align with learning targets ihat havepreviously been emphasized in class?Which of the possible next steps wouldbe most beneficial for ihis particularstudent, given her previous writing? Forexample, if Anna is a successful writer

who likes writing, she probably alreadyknows that describing traits she hasohser\'ed in her own dog was a goodstrategy. If she has previously been anunsuccessful writer but has produced aparagraph better than her usual work—because the assignment finally asked aquestion about which she has somethingto say—it would be worth communi-cating to her that you noticed andnaming "write about what you know" asa good strategy for future writing.

FIGURE 2. Examples of Effective Feedback on Anna's Writing Assignment

PossibleTeacher Comments

Your topic sentence and concluding sentence are clear andgo together well.

You used a lot of details. 1 count seven different things youlike about dogs.

Your paragraph makes me wonder if you have a dog who isplayful, strong, cute, and cuddly. Did you think about yourown dog to write your paragraph? When you write aboutthings you know, the writing often sounds real like this.

Your reasons are all about dogs, Readers would already haveto know what cats are like. They wouldn't know from yourparagraph whether cats are playful, for instance. When youcompare two things, write about both of the things youare comparing.

Did you check your spelling? See if you can find twomisspelled words.

Feedback about making the topic sentence a stronger leadmight best be done as a demonstration. In conference, showthe student the topic sentence with and without "This iswhy" and ask which sentence she thinks reads moresmoothly and why. Ask whether "This is why" adds anythingthat the sentence needs. You might point out that thesewords read better in the concluding sentence.

What's Best About This Feedback

These comments describe achievement in terms of thecriteria for the assignment. They show the student that younoticed these specific features and connected them to thecriteria for good work.

This comment would be especially useful for a student whohad not previously been successful with the writing process.The comment identifies the strategy the student has usedfor writing and affirms that it was a good one. Note that "thewriting often sounds genuine" might be better English, but"real" is probably clearer for this 4th grader.

This constructive feedback criticizes a specific feature of thework, explains the reason for the criticism, and suggestswhat to do about it.

These comments about style and mechanics do not directlyreflect the learning target, which was about paragraphing.However, they concern important writing skills. Their appro-priateness would depend on how strongly spelling,styte/usage, and word choice figure info the longer-termlearning targets.

58 E D U C A T I O N A L L E A D E R S H I p / D t c E M f l t R 2 0 0 7 / J ANLIARY 2 0 0 8

Assessment & Accountability in Language EducationPrograms: A Guide for Administrators and Teachers

tN 0-9727507-7-0

Feedback Practice Makes PerfectFeedback choices present themselvescontinually in teaching. You haveopportunities to give feedback as youobserve students do their work in classand again as you look at the finishedwork. Take as many opportunities asyou can to give students positivemessages about how they are doingrelative to the learning targets and whaimight be useful to do next. Make asmany opportunities as you can to talkwith your students about their work.As you do, you will develop a reper-toire of feedback strategies that workfor your subject area and students.The main ihing to keep in mind whenusing any strategy is how students willhear, feel, and understand the feed-back. [3!

ReferencesBulicr, D. L, & Winne, P H. (1995). Feed-

back and self-regulated learning; A theo-retical synthesis. Review of EducationalResearch, 65. 245-281.

Haitie..].. &-Timperley, H. (2007). Thepower of ieedback. Review of EducationalResearch, 77,81-112.

Johnston. R H. (2004). Choice words: Howour lanffiage affects children's karning. Pon-land, ME: Stenhouse.

Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996), Theeffects of feedback interventions onperlormance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedbackinter\'ention theory, Piycholo^cal UuUctin.119,254-284.

Tunsiall, f, &r Gipps, C. (1996). Teacherfeedback to young children in formaiiveassessment: A typology. British EducationalResearch fournal 22, 389-404.

Susan M. Brookhart is an educationalconsultant and Senior Research Asso-ciate at the Center for Advancing theStudy of Teaching and Learning (CASTL)at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. She is the author of theupcoming (Fall 2008) ASCD book, Howto Give Good Feedback; susanbrookhart@bresnan.net.

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