Providing feedback that moves learners forward

Student work is not given a grade, level, or score on the work (although teacher records a grade in assessment records). Comments should address the quality of work and give guidance to the student on how to improve. Students read comments and, after some time the teacher talks with students individually to discuss the work and the grade or mark given to it.

Mark student work in relation to previous work. If the latest work is of the same quality as the last, it receives an ‘=’, if it is better than the last it receives a ‘+’, and if it is not as good as the last it receives a ‘-‘.

Teacher feedback is written at the start of the exercise book, signed and dated. Student then make an appropriate response below the teacher feedback, including where to find any redrafting. The next piece of work will not be marked until the student has responded to the last feedback provided. This also works effectively as a Google doc shared between the teacher and young person.

Instead of marking answers as correct or incorrect, tell the students the number of answers that were wrong. Give them time in class to find and correct their mistakes either individually or in groups.

Instead of marking each spelling or grammar mistake on essays, place a mark in the margin. Students then find their own mistakes, and correct them.

Students are given a RED, AMBER or GREEN mark for a piece of work, and all RED and AMBER work can be redrafted in an attempt to achieve a GREEN mark. The final grade is calculated from the number of GREEN and AMBER marks.

This is when you only accept student work when it is of a specific quality. You might on give one grade, an A. Students are expected to continue to re-draft and submit their work as many times as necessary to achieve an A. The overall grade is then determined by the number of A’s. Or you could award a √+, √ or √-, A√ or √+ means that the student has mastered the necessary skills for the current concept, a √- is accompanied by comments on how to improve, and the student is expected to re-draft and submit their work.

Marking student work for only one or two specific criteria, even though there may be many criteria that could be marked. This allows the teacher to provide more focussed and detailed feedback on these criteria than if everything was marked. The markbook contains the skill marked rather than the title of the work set.

Students identify areas for improvement by comparing their work to examples at the next level of achievement. Students realise that they need to set themselves higher standards. Able students find that they can improve a good piece of work.