Strategies and tools

You can support the students providing peer assessment by discussing the strategies and tools they can use.

Traffic lights

• Green - shows the work addresses the success criteria
• Amber – indicates room for improvement
• Red – suggests that the success criteria is not evident.

Feedback bun

• Top - a positive aspect of the work
• Filling - a section of the work that could be improved
• Bottom - a positive aspect of the work.

Weather gauge

• Warm - signals positive feedback in relation to success criteria
• Cold - indicates areas for improvement
• Hints - provides advice for ‘raising the temperature’ to meet success criteria.

Stars and stairs

• Stars - identify where the work meets the success criteria
• Stairs - suggests steps for making improvements to the work.

PMI charts

• Plus - meets criteria
• Minus - criterion not evident
• Interesting - something to improve.

SWOT analysis

• Strengths - areas that show evidence of success
• Weaknesses - sections that need work
• Opportunities - aspects that could be further developed
• Threats - obstacles to improvement.

Ladder of feedback

• Step 1 - involves reading/listening/asking clarifying questions
• Step 2 - identifies the strengths
• Step 3 - identifies the areas for improvement
• Step 4 - suggests ways to improve.

Checklists/rubrics

Checklists or rubrics provide a list of ‘look fors’ (which are an outline of success criteria) and can include descriptions of levels of performance to guide and focus assessment.

Thinking hats

Thinking hats explore a piece of work from different perspectives in order to focus the feedback:

• white - facts
• green - creativity
• yellow - positives
• red - reaction
• blue - process behind the product
• black - concerns.

Peer discussion and conferencing

Paired discussions and peer-to-peer conferences enable students to give feedback on a task to a peer and receive a response to their comments.