Feedback for Teacher Learning and the Improvement of Instruction: Conceptualization, Preparation, and Practice.

Abstract

Although the term “feedback” is used pervasively in current efforts aimed at the improvement of teaching in the United States, what constitutes feedback seems to be assumed and, thus, not adequately conceptualized or operationalized. Through two distinct essays that investigate feedback theory and practice, this dissertation offers feedback as a promising high-leverage practice for the improvement of instruction.

The first essay explores the underconceptualization of feedback in the discourse on the improvement of teaching through a representative review of the feedback literature in the fields of education, performance management, and organizational psychology. The aim of this study was to uncover what researchers know, and still need to learn, about feedback in order to inform the development of feedback practices, processes, and environments that can effectively support teacher learning and instructional improvement.

The second essay is a case study of the school supervision course within one graduate-level school leadership preparation program. This study explored: (1) what students in the course were taught about feedback as a means to improve teaching, and how they were taught these things, and (2) what five focal students from the course took up from the learning opportunities provided in the course, including their opportunities for practice.

Findings from these studies indicate that feedback for the improvement of instruction is a complex, interactive practice composed of multiple practices. Though feedback has not been sufficiently conceptualized in the literature of any field to be a thorough guide to effective practice (Boud & Molloy, 2013; Sutton et al., 2012), there is an extant research base that can inform future research and practice in teacher learning and school leadership. The studies in this dissertation point to the need for further research to identify the constituent practices, strategies, and techniques that compose effective feedback practice in order to inform high-quality preparation and support of both teachers and school leaders.