The Benefits of Soliciting Our Students' Feedback

My View

I was observing the classroom of a 6th-grade teacher in her first year in our district as students were presenting what they had learned about ancient Egypt. The presentations were great, but what really caught my attention was what I saw on the front wall of the classroom. Ms. Ferguson had written out her personal mid-year goals:

1. I will incorporate more challenging work and provide an extra challenge activity for students who have finished their work early.
2. I will make sure that each homework assignment is related to what we are working on in class and put a system into place to ensure students work on no more than 25 minutes of ELA homework each night, or that they have some nights without homework to work on projects.
3. I will work to implement activities where students will be accountable for each other’s success — not just their own.
4. I will work to integrate some elements of student choice and allow students to show their work in different ways when possible.
5. I will use a variety of ways to teach my lesson: drawing, talking out loud, slides, writing on the board, games and discussions.
   

Sharing Results

I realized the language in these goals came directly from the questions contained in the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Model Student Feedback Surveys that are aligned with the evaluation rubric for the state’s indicators of effective teaching practice. We administer these surveys districtwide to every student in grades three through eight in February to allow time for the teacher to respond to the feedback before the end of the school year.

When I asked Ms. Ferguson about the goals, she became flustered and self-conscious. She told me that receiving the survey results from her students had been very difficult. The results were not as positive as she expected, and she reflected deeply on the comments provided by her students. She talked with colleagues about how to respond to the results and what she should do.

In a training session early in the school year for faculty about how to use their student survey results, I strongly encouraged each teacher to talk with his or her students about the results. I asked them to express appreciation to their students for providing feedback to help them learn and grow. I implored teachers, at a minimum, to share the results of one survey question with their students and to have a conversation about the results.

Ms. Ferguson did much more than this. She shared all of the survey results with her students and together they created these mid-year goals. During the discussion, her students agreed to help keep her accountable for the changes she wanted to make and the goals she set. As a result, Ms. Ferguson reported her relationships with her students were strengthened, and not only was she working harder, but her students were as well. The student feedback survey had provided students with a voice but only because their teacher’s response made them feel heard.

Non-Evaluative Uses

As is the case with all of the data we collect in our district, whether it is assessment data, observational and interview data or survey data, the findings are useful only if we use them in purposeful, meaningful ways. Teachers care immensely about what their students think of them as educators. Seeing the written comments of their students immediately drives home the impact educators are having on their students’ experiences.

If the results of student surveys are directly tied to professional evaluation ratings, educators will strongly resist the process. They will contest the validity of the results and never will be open to the incredible positive potential student feedback holds to improve classroom culture and instruction and to increase student engagement and ownership of their learning. But the real benefits of student feedback can be achieved only if teachers feel safe to acknowledge their areas of needed growth and feel free to communicate with students and take risks with their instruction.

It is not the survey, however well designed and administered, that creates positive change. It is the response of the teacher to the results that improves instruction and increases student ownership, engagement and motivation. Focusing on student feedback for reflection and growth, not evaluation, is essential if the potential benefits are to be realized.