How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students

by Susan M. Brookhart

Design assignments so they have certain characteristics. Each assignment should do the following: Require students to use the content knowledge or skills specified in the lesson's learning target or longer-term learning goal Require students to use the cognitive process (such as recall or higher-order thinking) specified by the learning target Specify the criteria for good work (which will be the criteria for both feedback and final evaluation) Provide students with complete and clear directions Design your criteria so that they, too, match the learning target or goal. Your rubrics (or other statements of criteria) should do the following: Require student work to demonstrate the content knowledge or skills specified in the learning target or goal Require students to demonstrate the cognitive process (such as recall or higher-order thinking) specified by the learning target or goal Be clear to students