Providing feedback that moves learners forward is another of Dylan Wiliam’s 5 key strategies. Research has shown that feedback in the form of comments only, motivates students to learn more and ultimately improves their grades. Feedback in the form of a grade actually de-motivates students and has no effect on their performance. (Butler, 1988)
In math class, the only things my students get back with grades on them are summative assessments. I have significantly reduced the number of summative assessments I use in high school math classes. Most courses are adequately covered with 5 to 10 well constructed summative assessments. Everything else goes back to the students with comments only.
The feedback I provide instead of a grade varies by student needs. Some students simply need me to circle the place in a problem where they started to go wrong. Those students can take it from there and correct their work with little direction from me. Others need some comment on what the next step might be. I try to provide as little scaffolding as I can get away with, while still letting them have enough to move forward. It’s a fine line. I want them to take ownership without me giving them everything. I don’t spend a lot of time on written comments. Most of the time I look at things quickly and arrange my class so I can talk to the students personally, as I described in the previous post. Those kind of groupings also allow students to get feedback from each other instead of just from me.
John
I LOVE this idea and you may help me become brave enough to move in this direction. When I was a grad student I had a professor whose attitude was that everything we wrote WOULD be rewritten – not that it could be. His first round of feedback often consisted of little more than checks next to lines or passages that needed restructuring. Not directions on HOW to, just a note that we needed to examine there. With high school students often in high stakes classes, I don’t think that would work. However, I can move more toward low stakes, focused assessments that don’t get letters or numbers on them at the end. Just thoughtful feedback with corrective hints.
Question for you – What kind of school and what classes do you teach? I teach at an independent prep school and spend most of my day with AP math kids. Trying to figure out how to make this work…
mrdardy, It’s kind of funny how I feel like I need to apologize for this next statement. I’m not teaching right now. I am currently engaged in a research project exploring the effects of formative assessment on high school math completion rates. I am in lots of different classrooms across the province, trying lots of different things.
You bring up an interesting point. Does it matter what grade, level, and course you are teaching? My last school was diverse by all measures. I taught everything from 10th grade non-academic remedial to 12th grade IB. My processes tended to be different based on levels. The remedial kids got incredibly small chunks of material, and we changed up activities 4 or 5 times a class. They never, ever, had homework. They weren’t allowed to take anything out of the classroom. That way all they had to remember to bring was themselves. Their pencils, books, calculators, etc… were all there for them. Feedback for them had a lot to do with completeness and correctness. They tend to want to do the bare minimum they have to to pass.
My academic kids got feedback that was more directed towards extending thinking and moving them forward. Most of them are correct most of the time. It’s how we extend and challenge them that is important.