4 Feedback Moves We're Thankful For
As we head into the season of gratitude, we want to take a moment to thank you for being part of this community. We’re deeply grateful for your partnership and the work you do every day for students.
We need your help getting these tools into as many schools as possible.
Invite a colleague to subrsribe — they’ll get practical insights and free resources straight to their inbox.
Refer a school or organization — if they partner with us, you’ll receive a 10% bonus of the final contract value and get a sneak peek at our new Feedback Rubric.
4 Feedback Moves We're Thankful For
Four things every school, regardless of school design and population served, could do to drive academic achievement:
Plan to spend one-third of each class in independent work.
Post exemplar work for students to reference.
Tell students what criteria they need to include in their work to make it look like the exemplar.
Circulate to all students and give them feedback based on that criteria.
We’ve made improving academic achievement a Pandora’s box of complexity.
Those 4 things will get any teacher of any population of kids much, much further than any other fad I’ve seen to drive achievement forward.
What's Most Important Right Now?
Winning on the Feedback Arc
Teacher Intellectual Prep: Teachers should be crafting clear CFS for student work (along with exemplars), have a plan for when and how they will give feedback, and plan for what errors they anticipate students making.
Leader Coaching: Real-time-coaching should focus on feedback. When a teacher releases students to work, split the room, look at student work, and then huddle to determine how the teacher will debrief error trends.
Grade Level Bar: Coaches should be observing with a laser-like focus on the quality of written responses and whether they include...
For ELA: evidence, complete, sentences, and discipline-specific vocabulary.
For Math: annotations, clear steps showing all work (including models when necessary), answer statements, and check for reasonableness.
Physical Space: Criteria for success (and ideally an exemplar too) should be posted and visible for students to reference any time they are released to a sustained period of independent work.
Adult Culture: Embrace the season of gratitude! Try picking one adult in the building to write a quick note of gratitude for. Even a quick post-it on their desk will go a long way! Better yet, challenge each of your team members to do the same, and suddenly your school building will be filled with gratitude.
A Simply Great Resource
We create rubrics for every arc of the year, or focus area, so that leaders and teachers can be aligned on what excellence looks like. Using a tool like this is effective for a few reasons:
It creates an objective definition of excellence. Everyone can see what “great” looks like.
It focuses feedback. Instead of broad or subjective comments, leaders can pinpoint exactly where a teacher is on the path to mastery.
It accelerates growth. Teachers know what to practice next and what success looks like, turning feedback into progress.
It builds alignment and consistency. Across teams and schools, leaders speak a shared language about what great instruction and feedback look like.
It streamlines coaching and PD. Rubrics make it easier to plan practice sessions and professional development around the highest-leverage action steps.
How Can We Work Together?
Leader Curriculum: Our ready-to-use leadership curriculum saves leaders hundreds of planning hours while boosting retention and achievement through 50+ scripted PDs, practice clinics, and coaching tools.
Curriculum Implementation: We partner with schools nationwide to bring math and ELA materials to life, helping teams deliver instruction that drives measurable achievement gains.
1-on-1 Coaching: From superintendents to APs, we coach leaders at every level to run great schools, grow great teachers, and deliver great results for kids.
Keynote Speaking: We’ve inspired and equipped leaders at conferences and PD days with practical, immediately actionable insights that spark motivation and results.
Cohorts: Our customized leadership cohorts rapidly build skills through a blend of live PD, coaching, site visits, and robust resources that create lasting impact.