Peer Assessment & Feedback

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Why it works

Peer assessment and feedback can improve learning, and the act of evaluating work against criteria benefits the giver by deepening their grasp of quality. But the research is clear it only works with structure: clear success criteria or a rubric, explicit teaching of how to give specific, kind, useful feedback, and a safe classroom culture. Without these, peer feedback is unreliable or harmful.

The research: Research on peer assessment and feedback (Black and Wiliam; Topping).

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

The core activity: structure peer feedback for one task

Teachers leave with a structured, taught peer-feedback routine for one task.

Pick a task with clear success criteria or a rubric.
Plan how you teach students to give specific, kind, useful feedback: sentence starters, model it.
Structure the peer exchange: what they look for, how they respond.
Plan how students act on the feedback they receive.

Structure makes peer feedback workClear criteria plus taught feedback skills turn peer assessment from vague or unkind into a real learning boost, for both students.

Facilitator notes

Use clear criteria, and teach and model feedback.
Provide sentence starters and build a safe culture.
Have students act on the feedback.

Unstructured peer feedback is vague or unkindJust telling students to give feedback produces it-is-good or hurtful comments. Teach the skill and give them criteria.

Adapt it

Elementary: simple criteria, sentence stems, two stars and a wish.
Secondary: rubric-based peer review and structured protocols.
All settings: criteria, taught skills, safe culture.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Peer Feedback: structure it, teach it

Powerful for both: clear criteria, taught feedback skills, a structured exchange, and acting on it.

The task and its criteria:
How I teach specific, kind, useful feedback:
The structure for the peer exchange:
How students act on the feedback:
How I keep the culture safe:

Make it stick

Criteria plus taught skills:

Structure peer feedback.
Teach the feedback skill.
Bring peer feedback that improved work to the next PLC.

Common questions

Can students really assess each other usefully?

Yes, with clear criteria and taught feedback skills. The structure is what makes it reliable and kind; without it, peer feedback is vague or hurtful.

What does the student giving feedback get out of it?

A lot. Evaluating work against criteria sharpens their own understanding of what quality looks like, which improves their own work.

How do I keep it kind and useful?

Teach specific, criteria-based feedback (what works, one thing to improve), model it, use sentence starters, and build a safe culture where feedback is help, not judgment.