Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom

" I love the book! It was a quick read and super useful. As an educational leader on the ground, I found the clarity of the spoken feedback chapter a "for sure we need to study" at my site. Teachers love to give verbal feedback, but meaningful feedback that acknowledges the work, gives specifics, and pushes for students to continue to grow is a hard balance. I also find the chapter on nonverbal feedback extremely useful, especially when we think of students new to the country where English may be a second or third language. When I think about newcomers, they are on constant overload. They are listening to a language they do not fully understand, reading a language that may be very odd, and trying to understand what someone is saying. The combinations of spoken, nonverbal, and written feedback suggested in this book can make a tangible difference. Regardless of what levels of language learners are in your classroom, everyone wants to be better and grow. Can't wait to grab Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom for my staff when it comes out! -- Amber Andrade I enjoyed this book, and if you are an educator keen to provide feedback that is effective and equitable for your students, so will you. The book covers some territory that may initially be familiar, with formative assessment practices as its backdrop, but it does so from new vantage points and with connections to a slew of different strategies that can deepen those practices so teachers provide feedback to advance student learning or to facilitate their students in providing feedback to one another or engaging in self-driven formative feedback. The power of this book stems from the different ways the authors support the reader's own learning-they use some of the very techniques they are promoting with our students. Using guiding questions and the SOLO taxonomy, the reader is invited to gauge their own learning about formative assessment and feedback along the way. "Scaffolds and Guided Practice" sections, discussion starters, and activities for lesson study and professional learning communities as well as "Try It Tomorrow" ideas that include useful tips for using technology to efficiently record and share feedback provide opportunities for educators to try out suggestions. A "Ticket Out the Door" section at the close of each chapter prompts both further practice and reflection. All this adds up to skillfully answering the central question of the book: How can we use feedback effectively and equitably to ensure all of our students are ready for college and the workplace because they know how to and are able to use feedback for continuous improvement?" -- Alison Bailey "This book couldn't be more timely. As the world heals from a pandemic and school leaders and teachers are expected to accelerate student learning and address their social-emotional needs, the commitment to feedback for all can help us feel and be more connected. I appreciate the focus on equity and excellence that lies at the heart of each chapter. Duckor and Holmberg understand that formative assessment and continuous feedback are critical to engaging, eliciting, and extending student learning. This book provides concrete research-based tools with videos, reflective questions, vignettes, and self-assessments to help us engage students in their learning through formative feedback. If your staff engage in these practices, your students are sure to benefit!" -- Blanca Baltazar-Sabbah "Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities is an absolute must-have for educators energized to close existing opportunity gaps by putting student work back at the center of learning. By using formative feedback as a tool to create schools that "work for all students," Duckor and Holmberg weave authentic stories, practical strategies, and evidence-based practices that capitalize on their extensive partnerships with PreK-12 schools. Targeted for pre-service and in-service teachers, school administrators, and teacher educators, this book is essential for any educator searching for how to enact transformational practices. I loved it and I am confident my teacher candidates will, too!" -- Nicole Barnes "Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg's Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities is a "must-read" for educators at every level. It is chock-full of practical examples and guiding questions and is the perfect guide for improving assessment practices in classrooms. I intend to use it in a book study with educators in my work this year." -- Carrie Bosco "The authors' commitment to every child having the right to learn as part of democratic education shines through the book, as does their commitment to feedback as the exchange of information that serves as the link between equity and excellence. Throughout the text, research evidence is interleaved with practical examples and prompts for reflection and self-assessment. The classroom examples in particular resonated with me. Throughout, the nature of and possibilities for student participation are outlined with sensitivity and respect for student ideas and agency. I can readily imagine that Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom could anchor productive and provocative individual and collective learning aligned with the authors' vision of education as an opportunity for students and teachers to learn, care, and experience joy." -- Bronwen Cowie "Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom is a deft, accomplished guide to an important but seldom examined feature of teaching. While reforms come and go, feedback will remain an enduring feature of teachers' work in our schools. Both novice and mid-career teachers will benefit from this book." -- Larry Cuban "Busy practitioners want to know what to do tomorrow. Duckor and Holmberg's Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom delivers the try it tomorrow and tech tips to get feedback happening now in your classroom. Putting aside the dysfunctional detail and stale ideas about the role of rubrics, the authors open up new possibilities with progress guides for student, peer, and teacher-led assessment that deepen learning. All teacher educators can use this book as a resource to teach the how and the why while getting new feedback processes and routines up and running with novices and more seasoned instructors at your school. Both practical and philosophically grounded, this book is a worthy addition to the playbook of any progressive, equity-minded educator." -- Ben Daley "Duckor and Holmberg's latest book, Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom, challenges society's obsession with grades, turning our attention toward ways in which specific, timely formative feedback invites TK-12 students to reflect upon, deepen, and stretch their thinking, shedding light on understanding and possibilities. This is the real work of teaching and learning. Going beyond the research findings, this book proposes actionable ways teachers might better embed formative feedback into their curriculum, creating a feedback-rich school culture-one classroom, one student at a time." -- Annamarie M. Francois "There are many books on feedback, but hardly any have sticking power. Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg's Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom is a deep winner. It is comprehensive yet specific and powerful in all respects. The chapter formats are well-designed for garnering author insights, using guiding questions, identifying purpose-driven feedback goals, and accessing a plethora of tools, organizers, videos, and touchpoints to advance schools and systems from inside the classroom. The core of their action-oriented formative feedback framework is crystal clear and well-aligned with other reform efforts across California and beyond. The book is based on the premise of teacher-driven, teacher-led change that enables leaders in the building as well as peers to join as guides on the side in the promise of effective feedback for all children. I especially liked the chapter on peer-driven feedback with its guiding questions and other tools to promote focused collaboration in the classroom. The authors provide very clear distinctions about what peer-driven formative feedback is and isn't and they consistently offer practical tips and to-do's to bring everyone toward deeper learning and consensus on what matters. All in all, Duckor and Holmberg's latest book is a treasure trove of ideas, insights, and schemas that benefit individuals as well as teams and groups of teachers. It covers the gamut of feedback exchanges from individuals to small groups to the whole class and back to oneself. This is a true accomplishment, in large part, based on their deep experiences with middle and high school assessment reform for many decades." -- Michael Fullan "Duckor and Holmberg's Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom fills an important gap between the general knowledge that formative feedback is critical for supporting student learning and the knowledge of how to actually provide students the feedback that will support them best. The power of the book lies in the balance between a framework that provides a comprehensive view of the different contexts and types of feedback and the specific details of how those factors shape what the most effective feedback structures and approaches look like in practice. This work will be critical to policymakers looking to better connect systems of support to the daily work of equity-driven teaching and learning in California schools. -- H. Alix Gallagher "In Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom, Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg combine important scholarly insights from past and current reforms with deep knowledge from their work as expert educators to produce a blueprint for building equitable schools that enable all students to learn and grow continuously. The book's focus on classroom teaching with rich tasks and real-world projects aptly re-centers the need for authentic assessment in the 21st century. By bringing forth a vision of the future that builds firmly on past reform, Brent and Carrie's work offers policymakers and practitioners a solid foundation for progress in supporting success for all." -- Linda Darling Hammond "In their compelling book, Duckor and Holmberg make a powerful, nuanced case for the necessity of feedback for a democratic education. They spell out why and how both teacher-driven and student-driven feedback works, offer lots of practical advice (including many examples of feedback as well as advice from teachers), and provide structured opportunities for readers' reflection and self-assessment. Anyone who wants to understand the value of feedback and how to put it into practice to benefit learning should definitely read this book." -- Margaret Heritage "Teachers in different types of schools, regions, and cultural contexts will all find this book very relevant and helpful to their work. As formative assessment has become an important ingredient in classroom instruction, the question of how to give formative feedback follows naturally. Yet, limited resources are available on feedback. This book provides a framework to understand formative feedback as well as many concrete suggestions on how to take action in various classroom settings. With guiding questions, definition boxes, and well-selected examples, the chapters are easy to read and the tips from the authors are easy to implement. In summary, Duckor and Holmberg's Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom is a wonderful reference on formative feedback. It will be worthwhile to have different language versions of this book so that teachers in other countries and regions can benefit from it, too." -- Xiaoting Huang "Feedback has been argued to be an important and powerful tool in a teacher's pedagogical repertoire, and yet it often remains fleeting and practiced without deep considerations of the complex suite of curricular ideas and instructional and assessment strategies that can empower learners and learning. Duckor and Holmberg's Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom is a research-informed, authentic, and easy-to-read book that provides practitioners with a comprehensive understanding of formative feedback that can improve their practices and increase student engagement and learning. The book beautifully weaves together theory, research, evidence, examples, and practical ideas in a highly accessible manner to help teachers effectively mobilize feedback in constructive and powerful ways in their classrooms. Through their formative feedback framework, Duckor and Holmberg have produced a fantastic resource for teachers in any educational setting to reflect on their own practice; engage deeply with fundamental ideas on feedback, rich tasks, learning goals, learning contexts, configurations, modalities, and directionalities of feedback; and ultimately bring their feedback practices to the next level." -- Dennis Kwek "Huge kudos to Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg for offering our communities Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities. The depth, breadth, and practicality of this book will be a great tool for teachers and those who support teachers in improving teaching, learning, and assessment. Our own gold standards for project-based learning design and teaching elements are highly aligned with the tools and processes detailed in Duckor and Holmberg's book. Their unique focus on long-cycle projects, utilizing different lenses on feedback with shared progress guides, is a welcome innovation. There are many synergies, including elements of reflection, critique, and revision and student voice and choice in our design elements, and assessment and scaffolding of student learning in our teaching elements at PBL Works. Our curriculum and teacher consulting teams at the Buck Institute for Education (PBL Works and PBL Now) look forward to sharing Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities and its strategies with the teachers and education leaders we work with across the United States and the world." -- Bob Lenz "There is a general consensus in the field that instructional feedback has great potential to improve a range of student outcomes. However, questions of how it works, for whom, and under what instructional circumstances still stand. Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities will help you to get answers to these-and many other-questions. If you want to understand the nature, purpose, applications, processing, and caveats of feedback, this book is for you. It is a terrific resource for teacher candidates, in-service teachers, and researchers who want a quick yet thorough introduction to the field of feedback. Thank you for this terrific volume!" -- Anastasiya Lipnevich "Duckor and Holmberg have given us a roadmap to deepen feedback with concrete tools to deepen assessment for learning in our district. The introduction of progress guides to our teachers' classroom assessment repertoire led to a shift in a group of educators, immediately appearing in math and science classrooms of participating teachers. These guides opened up new possibilities for self and peer-led assessments; we'd been waiting to provide that purposeful feedback that moves student learning forward. The teachers, staff, and instructional coaches jumped on board. Practical and innovative, this book is different. It is equity in action for all our kids." -- Elida MacArthur "This impressive, scholarly book is destined to become a seminal text on formative feedback, primarily because it puts myriad feedback practices at the epicenter of student achievement in a systematic way. In ten clearly written chapters, the authors present feedback practices that are based on contemporary research as well as classroom constraints and realities, with an emphasis on how feedback connects with ambitious teaching and equity. It is unique in providing an in-depth, comprehensive, engaging, and research-based treatment of all aspects of providing formative feedback that enhances student learning, including spoken, nonverbal, written, peer-based, individual, and small-group feedback. Notably, each chapter contains numerous learning aides, including teacher reflections and quotes, videos, author insights, guiding questions, examples, templates, and chapter recaps that will enhance practitioner applications to unique contexts." -- James McMillan "Every part of this book points at the purpose of public investment in education in any democracy. Feedback is not a luxury or afterthought. It must be practiced in every classroom and experienced in our schools. The power of formative feedback in the classroom-by all and with all-is on display in Duckor and Holmberg's work. This timely book focuses on the habits of feedback that true democracy-with a small d-requires of us all!" -- Deborah Meier "Providing students with effective feedback is an important aspect of teaching, as it can significantly contribute to their learning and, ultimately, their achievement. By providing frequent, constructive, and instructive feedback to students, teachers can begin to bridge the gap between a student's current state and the desired student outcomes. Duckor and Holmberg's Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities provides a well-conceived and accessible framework for teachers, instructional coaches, and professional developers for considering how to better incorporate student feedback on a more consistent basis throughout the learning cycle. The text will be a useful resource for all educators." -- Tonya R. Moon "It is no secret that improving student learning requires deep collaboration and problem solving, which requires specific purpose-driven feedback guided by the desire to improve. Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom provides educators a road map with specific processes and structures that enhance effective feedback for the purposes of improving learning goals that are supported by rich learning tasks.<" -- Matt Navo "Acclaimed African American educator and civil rights activist who was a national advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mary McCloud Bethune, had a motto for school: Enter to learn, depart to serve. Highly skilled, equity-minded teachers are vital to the success of all students and the future of our country. To reach every child, we need teachers who see formative feedback as one of the core missions of school. Duckor and Holmberg's latest book, Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom equips the reader with a dynamic repertoire of teacher moves and strategies necessary to serve students effectively so that they will not only learn but thrive. It's something the profession has needed for a long time and it's well worth the read." -- Jacquelyn Ollison "Duckor and Holmberg's newest book lays out an important challenge for policymakers; one that is worth taking up as we rethink systems of support to address inequity. They start with the subtle yet obvious idea: Feedback for our students is the foundation of public education in a democracy. Then with the hard-earned wisdom of practice, they show how accessible this vision is. State accountability frameworks and support systems need to find room for the formative feedback framework presented here; this is our future. In the meantime, teachers, staff, and administrative leaders can use this book to initiate change for how students and educators experience education today." -- Glen Price "In China, we have a long history with the concept of feedback. Every master and apprentice relied on feedback to communicate. Sadly, in modern Chinese culture, "face is bigger than sky;" therefore, too often, it is not as easy to receive sincere and constructive feedback. We refrain from giving honest feedback not because we don't want to but because we don't know how. That's why I was so excited when I found out that Duckor and Holmberg are putting together a book on such a crucial but neglected topic. With innovative insights and practical tips like this, I hope feedback in China may evolve to become the upgrade and substitute of "traditional" assessment, as it is more effective and more useful to the apprentice, especially in student-centered and project-based learning environments." -- Terry Qian "New teachers want resources to help them build relationships with children and young people-from day one. Advice and support from expert educators can help them grow their capacity to connect their passion for subject matter with good feedback practices to support student learning. Brent and Carrie's latest book, Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom, is a remarkable resource for our new teachers and their mentors. Every chapter captures a dimension of formative feedback in the classroom and provides strategies to use and reflect upon. Rooted in research on what works, the book provides a blueprint for building teacher capacity to lead equitable and equity-focused classrooms and schools. It empowers all of us who support the teaching profession to envision what a focus on growth, care, and connection with our students truly means. Teachers are deeply respected in these pages and all are invited to improve continuously." -- Mary Vixie Sandy "This is a major piece of work on feedback, one that is teacher-friendly and caring. Teachers and teacher educators will have a major source of information on formative feedback in all its variations at their fingertips." -- Rich Shavelson "In their latest book, Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom, Duckor and Holmberg have done a beautiful job of attending to the relational and collaborative aspects of meaningful feedback. Once again, ambitious teaching is seamlessly interwoven with research-based formative assessment strategies. By emphasizing a focus on long-cycle projects, rich tasks, and other meaningful assignments-those that offer opportunities for deeper feedback exchanges in the classroom-they successfully demonstrate why feedback is what makes the difference in supporting and improving student learning. I appreciate that the book offers practical prompts, tools, and routines that help students internalize criteria for quality work and supports them in developing agency as they engage with teachers and peers to learn and improve. There are lots of examples that bring to life research on what makes feedback essential to deeper learning, and it is clear these authors speak from hard-won experience in assessment reform." -- Lorrie A. Shepard "Like a chocolate lava cake, this book is rich with new insights and can be consumed slowly, but in the end, you'll be fully satisfied with a new perspective on feedback. Duckor and Holmberg have done a great job making their formative feedback framework accessible to a wide range of readers, but most importantly, it is written with teachers in mind. I enjoyed the logical array of the chapters, each one containing advance organizers, periodic calls for self-reflection, practical examples provided by real teachers, and takeaways at the end. As noted in the opening, it is "formative feedback that matters most to continuous improvement." Duckor and Holmberg's book has delivered a recipe to help students and teachers achieve this goal in today's classrooms." -- Valerie Shute "Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities is the perfect book for educators at all levels who want to be absolutely current with the research, thinking, and practice on instructional feedback. Duckor and Holmberg present readers with a thorough and accessible introduction to the field and bring them right up to the minute on current thinking in this rapidly evolving and increasingly complex field. It would be great as a text for teacher education or individual chapters could be "starters" for in-service workshops. My feedback is simple: Congratulations on an excellent job!" -- Jeffrey K. Smith "We can argue whether or not humans are the only teachers in the animal kingdom, but there is no question that our species alone provides feedback on performance. We might therefore consider feedback on learning as the pinnacle of pedagogy. Do we gain our capacity for assessing learners and offering guidance by instinct or extensive practice? This outstanding book obviates the question because it shows in careful detail and in the use of extensive examples how to learn what learners know (and have yet to learn) and offer directions for the next steps. I can think of no educator, at any level of expertise, who would not benefit from reading this book and using the ideas herein." -- Kip Tellez "What Duckor and Holmberg have accomplished is to craft a reading experience that, while grounded in solid scholarship, feels very much like a learning journey. The combination of the big ideas with the very practical "Try It Tomorrow" recommendations and authentic "Teacher Reflections" center practice in a way that feels deeply respectful and not overwhelming. I also appreciate explicit guidance to the individual adult learner as well as scaffolding for collective learning by grade-level teams or whole schools. This is a book that delivers on one of those rarest of promises-translating research knowledge into practicable knowledge. Quality feedback is key to accelerating learning; this book will accelerate your learning about feedback." -- Christopher Thorn "Our university focuses on teaching college-level students 21st century skills with a focus on entrepreneurial thinking and design. Duckor and Holmberg's latest book, Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities is a total winner. By unpacking the practical skills needed to develop entrepreneurial thinking (which is project-based, collaborative, and communication driven), our undergraduates will be ready to give and take feedback to the next level. Well researched and full of hands-on examples, global-minded business schools will benefit from this comprehensive handbook." -- Diah Wihardini "Duckor and Holmberg provide a passionate yet realistic approach to providing feedback to students to fulfill their civil right to learn. It is unconscionable to teach students without providing daily and in-the-moment feedback and leveraging students' own voices in the process of their learning. These authors lay out a framework and a series of action steps to help all teachers, novice through expert, reflect on their classroom practice and consider their own professional growth through the lens of understanding how students are thinking and developing while they are teaching them. This is a must-read for all soon-to-be-teachers who seek real engagement with the next generation of students in our public schools. Reading this user-friendly book, teachers will feel empowered to guide students and learn with them as they each grow to better understand students' cognitive processes and as students grow in their understanding of the learning standards." -- Diana Wilmot "This book is a wonderful resource for teachers and other educational professionals who want to know more about formative feedback. The chapters capture all the most important aspects, and some you probably did not know about. Each chapter has a useful general orientation to one aspect of formative feedback, including guiding questions, definitions, and a very clarifying "What It Is and What It Isn't" table. The chapter helps the individual reader understand what they can readily learn through a self-assessment that also defines for the reader the different levels of sophistication in that aspect of formative feedback. This is followed by brief and very readable sections on planning, the research background, personal reflections from teachers who are well-accomplished at formative feedback, and practice tips. This is all woven together with brief summaries of important concepts and instructional tactics; together, these provide the reader with a masterly overview of the topic. Altogether, this is the authoritative account of formative feedback available today-and a great resource for the practicing teacher." -- Mark R. Wilson "Duckor and Holmberg's latest book, Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices, and Possibilities, is an important resource for teachers, school leaders, teacher educators, and curriculum developers alike. This well-written book explores formative feedback in secondary school contexts through a new, innovative framework by looking at its directionalities, configurations, and modalities. This book brings together research-based evidence from across the globe, real-life examples in U.S. schools, and practical suggestions and tips for teachers across the world. With this book, readers from different contexts and countries will find much to stimulate their thinking about formative feedback and improve their feedback practices in the classrooms." -- Hwei-Ming Wong "Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg's new book seamlessly weaves together research on formative feedback with issues of equity and pedagogical content knowledge, all while illustrating key ideas with student and teacher voices. There are so many practical tools embedded throughout the chapters that this book will be a go-to resource to support teacher learning communities find meaningful entry points into this critical work. It is a book that I know I will return to repeatedly." -- Caroline E. Wylie "If you are looking for a comprehensive resource for maximizing the depth and effectiveness of feedback in your setting, this is it. Duckor and Holmberg have written a well-researched and highly practical book that will become a cornerstone for improving the overall learning and growth of all students in your classroom and school. The concern for differentiated feedback and academic language support is timely and needed for the field.<" -- Jeff Zwiers