Characteristics of effective feedback in teacher evaluation

One key mechanism through which evaluation facilitates teachers’ growth is principals’ feedback during teacher evaluation. In this study, we examined the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of feedback quality and improvement in their instructional practices. We used student report—a meaningful but rarely used measure—to measure the quality of instruction of two important instructional practices; promotion of cognitive engagement and critical thinking. We used teacher report to measure five characteristics of feedback. We found that feedback that focused on strengths was associated with a higher quality of both instructional practices, whereas focus on ways to improve teaching was associated only with the promotion of critical thinking. Whether feedback was immediate and face-to-face did not predict higher quality instructional practices.