HOW TO GIVE P

D
FEE BA

Feedback should
feed teacher learning
forward, identifying
next steps in a
teachers learning
journey.
Susan M. Brookhart
and Connie M. Moss

24

eople get feedback all the

time. When you serve a new
dish at supper and your
5-year-old makes a face,
thats feedback. When you
ask a friend if the outfit you just tried
on looks good and she says, Yes, you
should buy it! thats feedback. When
the little league team you coach wins a
game and the team takes you to the ice
cream store, thats feedback.
Were going to tackle professional
feedback here, by which we dont
mean a simple thumbs-up, thumbsdown review, but rather the kind of
feedback that teaching colleagues,
supervisors, or principals give fellow
educators to improve instruction and
student learning. Feedback of this
sort should be done in the context of
a collegial conversation and should
supportindeed, help causeprofessional growth.1 Our focus is on collegial feedback to teachers in formative

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP / APRIL 2015

situations, meaning situations in which

teachers are trying to learn and grow,
not situations in which teachers are
being evaluated to provide a score for a
teacher evaluation system.

LearningIts Supposed toBeFun

The purpose for giving formative
feedback to teachers is to support their
development as effective educators
(Marzano, 2012; Mielke & Frontier,
2012). This only makes sense in schools
in which a climate of learning and continual improvement holds sway.
Typically in schools, the learning
climate that students experience mirrors
the learning climate that teachers experience. On one extreme, theres the evaluation or grading-oriented classroom
climate, in which students believe their
main goal is to be right or score well.
On the other, theres the learningfocused or mastery-oriented classroom
climate, in which students understand

E PROFESSIONAL

that making mistakes is necessary for

learning and that learning is their main
goal. Most classroomsand schools
are somewhere in between these two
extremes (Brookhart & Moss, 2013).
In schools that focus more on
learning, teachers and other educators
set professional learning goals. A good
way to approach a professional learning
goal is to break it down into a trajectory
of learning targetsknowledge and
skills that can serve as mile markers
toward the larger goal but are attainable
in shorter periods of time; are smaller
in scope; and provide opportunities
for focused, descriptive, actionable
feedback that will help the teacher hit
the target and reach the professional
goal (Moss & Brookhart, 2015).
For example, suppose a teacher
wanted to expand her use of student
self-assessment and peer assessment
in her middle school social studies
classes. That would be her professional

learning goal, which would comprise

a trajectory of several learning targets.
She might plan, for example, to have
students use several different self- and
peer assessment methods during a
project theyre working on in class and
ask her principal to observe. After the
teacher tries one strategy, the principal
might notice that she managed it well
by pairing students appropriately, by
assigning one color of sticky note for
peer comments and a different color
for student responses, and by giving
students a chance to revise their work.
But the principal might also notice that
the strategy didnt result in improved
student work.
Both observations would form part
of the evidence that the principal and
teacher might review in a collegial
feedback conversation. The principal
might suggest that unclear rubrics are
part of the problem. This suggestion
would be based on evidence, including

JOZSEF BAGOTA/SHUTTERSTOCK

C
BA K

In schools that
focus on learning,
teachers and
other educators
set professional
learning goals.
his or her observation of the students
puzzling over a portion of the rubric
and of some vague language in the
rubric. If the teacher concurs with
this suggestion, the next target in her
professional learning trajectory might
be to improve her rubrics. Then she
would try the strategy again before
moving on to other strategies. If the
teacher doesnt concur with the suggestion, the teacher and principal
would discuss alternative explanations
for why the peer assessment strategy
didnt lead to improved student work.
Professional learning targets provide
a focus for professional feedback. That
feedback is best delivered in professional conversations between the
teacher and the principal. And just as
in the example of the teacher whose
focus on self- and peer-assessment led
to a decision to improve her rubrics,
the feedback should feed teacher
learning forward, identifying next
stepsnext targetsin a journey
toward the goal the teacher has
selected.
This whole process should be a joy,
not an affliction. The process should
be intentional, systematic, evidencebased, and professionalbut it should
also be fun. Developing competence is
motivating. Working with colleagues
26

to learn something is motivating.

Conversely, feeling like someone else
is controlling you isnt motivational
(Bruner, 1966; Deci & Ryan, 2013).
Evaluation should only happen after
the learning has taken place, to certify
it. Evaluation activities can inhibit the
formative process.
Three Ways to Look at Feedback
Feedback can be very effective, but
often it isnt. Part of the reason is
that researchers often focus on characteristics of the feedback message
itselffor example, the wording or the
timingand dont situate feedback in
a larger learning context.
You can look at feedback through
three lenses. Use a microscope lens
to examine the feedback itself to see
whether it has the desired characteristics. Use a camera lens to take
a snapshot of the feedback episode
to see whether it was an episode of
learning. Use a telescope lens for the
long view, to see whether the feedback
resulted in improvement. Heres how
these lenses work.

The Micro View: Describe

We can begin by putting the feedback
message under the microscope to see
whether it has the qualities that will

maximize its usefulness for learning.

Research has shown certain characteristics of feedback to be generally
effective (Brookhart, 2008; Hattie &
Timperley, 2007). Notice that all are
characteristics of the feedback message.
Is the feedback descriptive?
Descriptive feedback depicts what
the observer saw. Heres an example:
Most of your students got busy right
away with the peer feedback task.
I saw you visit one pair of students
who seemed to be struggling. On the
other hand, Your lesson had excellent
student engagement is evaluative.
Descriptive feedback contains more
concrete information on which to
make decisions about how to proceed.
Is the feedback timely? Many people
think feedback should be immediate,
but thats not always true. Immediate
feedback works well for knowledge
of facts (like spelling words), but for
complex performances like teaching
a lesson, its more useful to give
feedback after the teacher has had
some time to reflect on the lesson
(Shute, 2008). Of course, feedback
should still be timely. A professional
conversation should occur while
both the teacher and the principal
remember what happened and are
interested in using that information as
a springboard for further professional
growth.
Does the feedback contain the right
amount of information? When feedback
wanders over a lot of different topics,
its difficult to focus on the main issues
and figure out next steps. Feedback
should focus on the major strengths
of the observed teaching and on one
or two key areas for improvement. For
example, if a kindergartner is drawing
circles to represent numbers (five
circles to show five), the teacher
might tell him that he has the right
number of circles (a strength) and
that they might be easier to count if he

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3/2/15 3:41 PM

drew them in a line (a suggestion for

improvement). The teacher could say
lots of other things, such as comment
on the colors he used or the fact that
one of his circles was more of an oval,
but that would distract the student
from understanding where he is now
with his number concepts and what he
should do next.
Does it compare the work to criteria?
People see what theyre looking for
and miss what theyre not looking for,
even if those details are right under
their noses. Thats why its important
to know what youre looking for when
you observe. For collegial feedback,
its best to look for something that
the teacher and principal agreed on

the statement, She wore an attractive

outfit. How can one respond to that?
Is the feedback positive and clear?
Feedback should name something the
teacher did in a particularly skillful,
effective, or interesting manner
and make at least one suggestion
for improvement. Even in the most
wonderful classroom, teachers can
improve. In fact, when we worked
with a group of administrators on
formative feedback, their approach
to giving feedback to their excellent
teachers changed (Brookhart & Moss,
2013; Moss, Brookhart, & Long,
2013). Before, one principal noted
that the only thing he could think to
say after observing an excellent lesson

Is its tone collegial, and does it imply

that the teacher is a professional?
Feedback that sounds like finger
wagging or bossing wont be heard
or will cause anger and defensiveness
rather than improvement. Choose
your words carefully, and carry on
your feedback conversations professionally and respectfully.
The Snapshot View: Learn
The feedback message can meet all
or most of the criteria listed above
and still not lead to learning. For the
feedback message to land on fertile
groundthat is, for it to lead to
learningboth the teacher and the
supervisor need to listen to each other

Many people think feedback

should be immediate, but
thats not always true.
during a pre-observation professional
conversation. For example, a high
school English teacher might ask the
principal to look at the quality of
student discussion because she wants
to see whether students can really
engage with the themes in Shakespeares Macbeth, not just prove they
read the assignment.
Does it focus on the work or the
process? Feedback can include looking
at finished work (such as student
papers) as well as processes (such as
how the teacher used questions to
help her students interpret the pictures in their storybook). Feedback
should not focus on the person. While
we were still in the classroom, one
of us was observed by an assistant
principal whose feedback included

was to ask whether the teacher would

mind if colleagues observed her. After
learning about formative feedback,
he was able to more clearly describe
the strengths he observed and suggest
improvements.
Is the feedback specific, but not too
specific? Feedback should be specific
enough to define a growing edge for
learningfor example, Your groups
seemed pretty big. Some students
didnt get a chance to talk during the
group work. Then the teacher and
principal can discuss ways to solve this
problem. But feedback shouldnt be
so specific that it prevents the teacher
from having to actually think about
next steps. Next time you do this
activity, use groups of three leaves
nothing for the teacher to consider.

and value whats said. They need to

trust each other and be convinced that
theyre both acting in the best interests
of students.
Perhaps it sounds strange to claim
that both the teacher and the principal or supervisor should learn
from a feedback episode. But this is
important. The principal needs to
be the leading learner (Brookhart
& Moss, 2013; Moss, Brookhart,
& Long, 2013), not the dispenser
of all education wisdom. Plus, in
reality, whenever principals observe
instruction going on in their schools,
if their eyes and minds are open, they
will learn something. Perhaps theyll
learn how students in their school
respond to certain instructional or
assessment moves. Perhaps theyll
ASCD /

WWW.ASCD.ORG

27

learn something about principles of

teaching and learning. But they should
learn something. The teacher shouldnt
be the only one edified by feedback.
Here are some questions for
principals to consider during a
feedback episode. Remember that
a good feedback episode includes
a pre-observation conversation;
an observation (or several); and a
post-observation briefing. The postobservation conversation is the part
were used to calling feedback, but
good feedback includes knowing what
to look for and clarifying relevant
evidence.
Principals should ask themselves
these questions:
What did I learn from the lesson I
observed, from both what the teacher
was doing and what the students were
doing?
What did I learn from my conversations with the teacher?
What did the teacher learn from
his or her conversations with me?
The answers to those questions
should be substantive and contain
within them the seeds of next steps for
both teacher and principal. Teachers
should ask themselves the corollary
questions: What did I learn? What did
my principal learn?
The Long View: Decide on Next Steps
Ultimately, all of this should lead
to improvements in instruction and
in student learning. At the end of
feedback conversations, the teacher
should have a clear sense of what
to try next, on the basis of joint
understandings. Both the teacher
28

and principal should understand

the reasons for deciding on these
next steps and what they expect to
see happen as a result. They should
identify what evidence of effectiveness
or improvement would be relevant and
how theyre going to get that evidence.
They should follow through and
actually do these things.
An Example from Practice
A 9th grade social studies teacher was
interested in adding more opportunities for students to use higher-order
thinking in his classes. His instructional materials seemed to focus on
covering facts and concepts quickly,
and the curriculum did a poor job of
getting students to learn the why or
how of various concepts. He wasnt
sure how to proceed. The principal
suggested that, together, they look
over an example of what he meant and
brainstorm some possibilities.
The teacher brought to the conference part of his plan for a unit on
westward expansionspecifically,
for one or two lessons he intended
to devote to the transcontinental
railroad. The students were to learn
that (1)building a railroad across the
United States enabled people to move
west, (2)cattle ranching and mining
gold were two reasons people in the
east wanted to go west, (3)American
Indians were removed from lands to
make way for the transcontinental
railroad, and (4)western land was
made available inexpensively or for
free to entice people to travel west.
Students were expected to be able to
recall this information and draw an

accurate map of the transcontinental

railroad, which entailed mostly
copying from the textbook. None
of this work included higher-order
thinking.
The principal and teacher talked
about the kinds of higher-level
thinking students should be able to do
with this material. They thought that
students should be able to envision
the effects these aspects of westward
expansion would have on the ways
western towns and cities developed
as well as on the developing concerns
of American Indians in the western
United States. The teacher considered,
and then ultimately rejected, the idea
of assigning a project or report specifically on the transcontinental railroad.
Instead, he decided that after several
units, he would ask students to do
a culminating project in which they
would state a thesis about the effects
of geography and economics on the
population of the United States and
analyze information from several units,
including this one, to support their
conclusions.
For the transcontinental railroad
lesson, the teacher decided to write
some open-ended questions for the
students to discuss, such as the following: How is the development
of Omaha, Nebraska, related to the
development of the transcontinental
railroad? What might Omaha be like
today if the railroad had been routed
from present-day Kansas instead of
from Nebraska? On the basis of his
conversation with the principal, the
teacher set the professional learning
goal of developing a larger repertoire

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of strategies to teach and assess students use of higher-order thinking.

The first professional learning target
would be to successfully implement
open-ended questions in a formerly
didactic lesson.
The principal agreed to observe that
lesson. After she did, she had a second
professional conversation with the
teacher:
The micro view: The principal
described what she saw in the lesson.
Students enjoyed the more challenging discussion questions and
were interested in answering them,
but some students seemed reticent to
express their own thoughts because
they werent sure their answers
were right. Several students who
usually raised their hands quickly
when it came to more straightforward
responses flipped instead through
their textbooks to see what they could
find. Others answered but sounded
tentative, without the confidence they
usually exhibited when speaking in
class.
The snapshot view: After discussion
with the principal and reflection on
how students typically responded in
his class, the teacher came to the conclusion that his students were more
focused on correct recall of facts than
he had realized. This insight spurred
his resolve to help students do more
higher-order thinking and confirmed
for him that he had chosen a worthwhile goal. The principal learned
that some students in her school
were focused on right answers and
wondered whether that evaluative
atmosphere pervaded more classes
than this one, something she resolved
to find out and, if necessary, address
schoolwide.
The long view: On the basis of
this post-observation conversation,
the teacher decided to continue to
use open-ended questions so students

would become used to them. The principal agreed to continue to watch this
process, especially focusing on student
responses. The teacher also decided to
change how he led class discussions
so more students responded to one
anothers comments rather than just
responding to him for his approval. He
sought more information about how

in the process, work to increase her

skills in using rubrics and helping
students understand the criteria for
good work. This professional learning
goal is just thatits for the teachers
learningbut improvement in that
area is certainly relevant to using
assessment in instruction. Formative
professional learning goals that lead

Whenever principals observe

instruction, if their eyes and mind
are open, they will learn something.
to do that, and his subsequent learning
targets focused on improving his skills
in this area. Thus, the teachers first
professional learning targetusing
more open-ended questionsled to
two subsequent learning targets: to
increase his skills in both helping
students respond to those questions
and helping students respond to one
another and build on one anothers
ideas.
Enter Teacher Evaluation
Collegial formative feedback is related
to teacher evaluation through the professional learning goals that teachers
choose to work on. Many teacher
evaluation instruments have broad
categories of performance into which
many professional learning goals can
fit. For example, the Framework for
Teaching Evaluation Instrument
(Danielson, 2011) has a category called
Using Assessment in Instruction.
Within that broad category are many
possible professional learning goals
teachers may want to pursue.
As weve shown, a teacher might
work on increasing her skills at using
student peer and self-assessment and,

to improvement should appear in

the results of summative teacher
evaluation.
Seeing the benefits of professional
growth in the results of standardsbased accountability can actually be a
good thing. Without standards, funny
things can happen. Years ago, one of
us was working in an inner-city high
school. The teachers were required
to state a professional learning goal,
explain what they would do to achieve
it, and describe how they wanted to
be evaluated. This teacher-directed
evaluation system predated the more
complex teacher accountability systems
in place today. One teacher selected as
his goal to be more professional. And
how would he evaluate his newfound
professionalism? By whether he wore a
tie four days a week!
Although this is a true story, we
hope its a rare occurrence. It just
goes to show that having a set of
broad categories that function almost
like standards, into which important
professional learning goals fit, can be
useful for professional development
if a school handles the process with
care.
ASCD /

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Learning Together
What makes feedback collegial is dialogue in the context of a relationship
that, ideally, isnt broken down into
the separate roles of supervisor and
employee, but instead involves joint
work in the service of student learning.
This joint work should be an episode
of learning for both the teacher and
principal, leading to improvement in
instructional leadership, in teaching,
and, ultimately, in student learning. EL
1
For a more complete discussion of
these ideas, see our new book Formative
Classroom Walkthroughs: How Principals
and Teachers Collaborate to Raise Student
Achievement (ASCD, 2015).

References
Brookhart, S. M. (2008). How to give
effective feedback to your students. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Brookhart, S. M., & Moss, C. M. (2013).

Leading by learning. Phi Delta Kappan,
94(8), 1317.
Bruner, J. S. (1966). Towards a theory of
instruction. Cambridge, MA: Belknap
Press.
Danielson, C. (2011). The framework
for teaching evaluation instrument.
Princeton, NJ: The Danielson Group.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (Eds.). (2013).
Handbook of self-determination research.
New York: University of Rochester Press.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The
power of feedback. Review of Educational
Research, 77(1), 81112.
Marzano, R. J. (2012). The two purposes
of teacher evaluation. Educational
Leadership, 70(3), 1419.
Mielke, P., & Frontier, T. (2012). Keeping
improvement in mind. Educational
Leadership, 70(3), 1013.
Moss, C. M., & Brookhart, S. M. (2015).
Formative classroom walkthroughs: How
principals and teachers collaborate to
raise student achievement. Alexandria,
VA: ASCD.

Moss, C. M., Brookhart, S. M., & Long,

B. A. (2013). Administrators roles
in helping teachers use formative
assessment information. Applied
Measurement in Education, 26(3),
205218.
Shute, V. J. (2008). Focus on formative
feedback. Review of Educational
Research, 78(1), 153189.

Susan M. Brookhart (susanbrookhart@

bresnan.net) is an independent education consultant based in Helena,
Montana, and is a senior research
associate in the School of Education at
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Connie M. Moss (moss@duq
.edu) is associate professor in the School
of Education at Duquesne University.
Their most recent book is Formative
Classroom Walkthroughs: How Principals and Teachers Collaborate to Raise
Student Achievement (ASCD, 2015).

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