How to Provide Actionable Feedback

Every day, principals invest their precious time performing the crucial task of observing classrooms and providing feedback to teachers. But do those moments produce results?

They can, if principals take the next step: generating action. As research shows, high-performing schools are led by principals who follow their observations consistently with specific, actionable feedback.

Actionable feedback also fuels a schoolwide culture of continuous improvement. At Love Creek Elementary School in Lewes, Delaware, a self-reflective approach to performance inspired teachers to hold a funeral for the outdated notion that students stumble due to some fault of their own. “We are no longer going to blame kids,” says Love Creek principal Equetta Jones. “We buried the excuse [that] it’s their fault.”

Getting Started

Effective principals engage in instructionally focused interactions with teachers, build a productive school climate, and facilitate productive collaboration and professional learning communities. All three behaviors—which you probably recognize from the four practices of effective principals in the Wallace-commissioned research synthesis “How Principals Affect Students and Schools” by Jason A. Grissom, Anna J. Egalite, and Constance A. Lindsay—practically shout “actionable feedback.”

The first step in turning feedback into action is systematizing the practice through keen-eyed observation and meticulous fact-finding. Research shows that effective principals often ground feedback, coaching, and other practices targeting instructional improvement in a firm foundation of observation and data that pinpoints the issues classroom by classroom.

“Just like we need to differentiate for our students, we need to differentiate for our teachers’ needs,” says Matthew Moyer, principal of Rupert Elementary School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

Veteran principals offer the following tips to get started:

• Be clinical and prescriptive with new teachers. Help poor performers with clinical supervision. In time, guide teachers toward higher-level cognitive reflection by exploring creative ways to exceed baseline standards and skills.
• Gather multiple perspectives. Compare notes with assistant principals andinclude coaches in walk-throughs. Through the lens of their expertise, they can spot subtle signs of excellence or shortfalls.
• Deliver immediate and pointed feedback. Say it while your observations are fresh. Don’t hesitate to discuss weaknesses; putting off conversations can lead principals to overemphasize the positives and avoid discussing areas of improvement.
• Be explicit. Tell teachers what you want to see—it might be as simple as having children add writing to their pictures—and provide the tools needed to meet expectations.
• Be encouraging. Tell teachers you notice the good things they’re doing.
• Build layers of feedback. Mine walkthrough feedback at the peer, specialist, and administrative levels. Plow your findings into regular cycles of improvement.

Creating Ownership

As individual teachers learn to harness actionable feedback for classroom progress, principals can also use the tools at hand to make it a cultural touchstone of the school. Ownership will arise from little moments and systemic change alike as teachers and staff witness the differences their efforts are making.

Begin by deformalizing feedback. Inject it into every available moment and space; informal chats in the hallway or lunchroom can just as easily jump-start a creative solution as a sit-down evaluation.

Learn to flip feedback from judgment to curiosity. Ask “I wonder why …” about a classroom problem, such as why the teacher calls on the same few students regularly. Inspired to reflect on the challenge, the teacher might continue the cycle of feedback by inviting the principal back to observe the solutions they devise.

From there, don’t let anyone rest on their laurels—including yourself. Constant adjustments make viable solutions more effective. Maybe this is the time to build a teacher’s capacity and confidence by inviting their peers to see them in action.

As a culture of improvement builds, equip teachers to give feedback to one another. Make professional learning communities (PLCs) a space for sharing progress and instilling consistency across classrooms. In one veteran principal’s school, PLC members graded the same essay and discussed how to eliminate their scoring differences.

Effective principals also watch for patterns across classrooms. They make corrective steps universal by grouping teachers according to skills gaps and scheduling professional development that targets their shared challenges.

Finally, principals should prompt teachers to get to the heart of a problem by keeping it simple. Encourage them to discard entrenched habits and clarify their expectations for students.

“I’m not here to bust teachers about doing something wrong,” says Kirstie Solano Mullins, principal of John Barnes Elementary School in Flat Rock, Michigan. “I just want what they want, which is to make better students and better human beings.”

M. Diane McCormick is a Pennsylvania-based writer and author.