Overview

Teacher professional development in the knowledge and practice of effective feedback and the use of the SOLO taxonomy was followed by the development of purpose-built tools and then of writing interventions in every class. The inquiry team found that this resulted in teachers offering students more explicit, useful feedback and students appearing to be, overall, more engaged with their learning and more agentic. While the primary focus for the investigation was enhancing student agency, teachers also reported a positive change in the students’ writing achievement when relating their work back to the learning intentions of the writing lessons. There was no evidence for a change in overall curriculum achievement levels in writing. However, this was unsurprising given the nature of the TLIF intervention and the limited and interrupted time period available.

The SOLO rubrics have told me where I could improve, what I need to do to make my work better and reach the next level.

Student feedback

The inquiry reinforced the importance of clarity in feedback and of students and teachers being able to clearly see what learning progression looks like. Use of the SOLO taxonomy is a valuable tool in this process.

The inquiry story

This was a whole school inquiry, led by the two deputy principals. Students in years 0–4 are team taught by two teachers each, and those in years 5–8 are taught in single-cell rooms. Students in years 0–4 are team taught by two teachers each, and those in years 5–8 are taught in single-cell rooms.

What was the focus?

This inquiry emerged from earlier professional learning and in particular, results from implementing the NZCER’s Me and My School Student Survey. Some of the survey results were significantly below the New Zealand norms, with the most concerning areas being around student agency and self-efficacy. The school recognised the need to empower students to take greater responsibility for their learning and appropriate action to improve outcomes. Writing was chosen as the curriculum focus, as this is an area where many students had performed below expected curriculum levels. The focus on teacher feedback was a response to the messages from the Visible Learning research highlighting the critical role of feedback. This was honed down to a focus on student use of feedback from teachers.

The inquiry question became: How might we enhance students’ use of teacher feedback so that they take greater agency in their own learning?

The inquiry team chose to use the SOLO Taxonomy (structure of observed learning outcomes) as its central model for understanding student learning in relationship to specific intentions. The team hypothesised that the use of SOLO Taxonomy to guide and direct feedback between teachers and students would:

• improve the clarity and usefulness of teacher feedback to students
• in the longer term, increase students’ agency, engagement, and motivation around writing
• ultimately, lead to improved writing achievement.

What did the teachers try?

In the first cycle of the inquiry, the teachers were provided with professional learning experiences on effective feedback practices and the SOLO taxonomy, including workshops and team discussions about professional literature. They learned how SOLO maps and rubrics can work as tools for providing students with specific feedback and having learning conversations that increase student agency and engagement. As they developed their knowledge, the teachers moved to using what they had learned to develop SOLO maps and rubrics that provide a scaffold for understanding students’ writing achievement and planning their next learning steps.

In the second cycle of the inquiry, the teachers worked in their teams to develop writing tasks that introduced the students to the SOLO taxonomy and the new tools. They continued to develop their tools as they used them in a series of collaboratively designed units of learning within which the taxonomy tools were used to guide student progress and teacher feedback. The effects of feedback were monitored and evaluated.

What happened as a result of this innovation?

There was significant reliable qualitative and/or quantitative evidence of increase in the use of SOLO taxonomy levels and rubrics to guide teacher feedback and develop shared learning goals and agreements about next steps. There was also ample evidence of improvements in:

• the quality of teacher feedback, in terms of consistency, purpose, explicitness, and focus
• student use of teacher feedback to improve their work
• student engagement as indicated by the responses of years 7 and 8 students to the Me and My School survey
• student agency, as observed in changes in students’ attitude towards and use of teacher feedback and the SOLO rubrics
• student understanding of their next learning steps
• student understanding of the relationship between the SOLO rubrics and the feedback from their teacher.

Positive changes in student writing outcomes were noted at the learning activity level. There was insufficient time for these to be reflected in significant change in student curriculum achievement levels in writing.

What did they learn?

The project team says they learned the following:

• The SOLO taxonomy provides a ‘no surprises’ approach to feedback. It lets students know what they are supposed to achieve and helps them understand the feedback they will receive from their teacher.
• The purpose of teacher feedback is to provide students with a clear direction for the learner and to minimise the cognitive loading of teacher student feedback and feed forward conversations.
• Feedback is most effective when the learning goals and feedback are clearly understood. Teachers play an essential role in ensuring this clarity. They need support to develop the requisite capability.
• Student feedback to teachers is also an essential part of the feedback process. It enables the teacher to determine whether the feedback intervention has been successful.
• Collaboration with other teaching colleagues and opportunities to refine the SOLO rubrics can play an important role in enabling teachers to provide quality feedback to students.

Inquiry team

This project was led by Mike Reed. The other member of the project team was Rebecca Milburn.

The project’s external advisers were Pam Hook (Hook-Ed) and Sarah Whiting (CORE Education).

For further information

If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact the project leader, Mike Reed, at mike@loburn.school.nz

Reference list

Anderson, J. (2005). Mechanically inclined: Building grammar, usage, and style into writer’s workshop. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers. London: Routledge.

Hattie, J. & Clarke, S. (2018). Visible learning: Feedback. London: Routledge.

Hook, P. (2012). SOLO Taxonomy: A guide for schools: Book 1. Invercargill: Essential Resources Limited.

Hook, P. (2012). SOLO Taxonomy: A guide for schools: Book 2. Invercargill: Essential Resources Limited.

Hook, P. (2015). First steps with SOLO Taxonomy. Invercargill: Essential Resources Limited.

Hook, P. & Cassé, B. (2013). SOLO Taxonomy in the early years. Invercargill: Essential Resources Limited.

Nutthall, G. (2007). The hidden lives of learners. Wellington: NZCER Press.