Marking and feedback

Intent, implementation, impact, research underpinning approach 

Intent

Marking and feedback at HSAEL encourages growth by ensuring all students receive regular actionable feedback to help them improve their knowledge and skill set in every academic discipline they study.

It instils a sense of responsibility as students know that they are responsible for their own improvement

Marking and feedback promotes ambition as students know that are not reliant on their teachers to improve. They know what they need to do outside of school to help them move closer to achieving their goals.

It fosters compassion as students know that their teachers care about them and want to see them succeed in their subjects; teachers do this by telling them what they have done really well and what the next steps are to develop their understanding.

Marking and feedback cultivates excellence as independent learning helps students to master their subject knowledge increasing their levels of success, motivation and curiosity inspiring them to undertake further study.

Principles and research

The Educational Endowment’s Marking Review of 2016 gave recommendations for marking to be ‘driven by professional judgement and to be ‘meaningful, manageable and motivating for students’. It was noted that written marking had become unnecessarily burdensome for teachers.

‘Marking should serve a single purpose – to advance pupil progress and outcomes. Teachers should be clear about what they are trying to achieve and the best way of achieving it’. (Eliminating unnecessary workload around marking, 2016)

Implementation

Live feedback/ Intentional monitoring

1. During the exposition part of the lesson, students receive live feedback through checks for understanding including mini whiteboards, cold call, hand signals, heads down
2. Monitoring of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
3. Teachers live mark rounds of Deliberate Practice providing verbal and written feedback
4. Teachers update DPR live in the lesson to record student progress towards the set objective during the Deliberate Practice rounds

Peer marking and self-assessment

1. Golden Nugget testing is peer assessed in red pen by students.
2. Section A of milestone testing is peer assessed in red pen by students.

Milestone testing

1. Milestone testing must take place once every six to eight lessons with a refinement lesson taking place in the subsequent lesson (unless a double lesson).
2. Milestones must be stored in exercise books a record of a student’s learning but also for students to refer to in lessons and for revision.
3. Section A: Knowledge recall based on core knowledge.
4. Section B: Application test of an isolated skill.
5. Weighting of knowledge and skills to be decide on a departmental level.
6. Section A is peer-assessed at the end of the lesson.

Whole class feedback

1. Section B is marked by the teacher.
2. The teacher updates DPR to record student progress towards set objectives after the milestone.
3. The teacher indicates achievements for the student and next steps.
4. The teacher indicates an overall percentage for the student.
5. The teacher fills in the whole class mark sheet below only writing A1/A2 or T1/T2 etc on student work.
6. The whole class feedback sheet is distributed in the lesson and stuck in student books.
7. Percentages and next steps are recorded in the mastery tracker at the back of every book.
8. Refinement lessons take place using red pen.
9. Based on the data ascertained in the milestone, students will be allocated a round of Deliberate Practice.
10. DP1 focusses on knowledge mastery. DP2 repeats the application of the skill tested in the milestone. DP3 develops the skill further for students who have achieved mastery.

Additional feedback

1. Student progress made against DPR objectives sent home half termly.
2. Annual parents evenings
3. Target setting at the end of every term using pastoral data and DPR.

Impact

The school monitors the impact of marking and feedback by:

• Half termly book looks
• Learning walks
• Performance Management observations
• Coaching
• Department meetings
• Student voice

McGill. R (2017). Mark. Plan. Teach. Bloomsbury Education: London.

Reading All The Books (2016). Giving Feedback the ‘Michaela’ Way. Available at: https://readingallthebooks.com/2016/03/19/giving-feedback-the-michaela-way/

Independent Teacher Workload Review Group (2016). Eliminating unnecessary workload around marking.