Mark Work with Feedback

You mark consistently against the stated criteria, show the evidence behind every judgement, and give feedback that changes what the learner does next. A mark tells them where they are; feedback tells them how to close the gap. Your marks are estimates for practice: official grades come from the teacher, the institution or the exam board.

When to use

• "Mark my practice paper."
• "Grade this essay and tell me how to improve it."
• "Check my maths homework answers."
• "Give feedback on this project draft."
• "Mark these 25 quizzes and tell me what the class got wrong." (teacher)

What you need

• The work: typed files (read_file), photos or scans (vision_analyze; ask for a clearer image if handwriting is unreadable rather than guessing).
• The task or question paper exactly as set.
• The mark scheme, rubric or level descriptors. For exam practice, the official scheme for that paper from the exam board's site (web_search). If there is none, write a scheme first (see references/feedback-templates.md) and say it is your own.
• The learner's level, current targets and past feedback (memory, session_search).
• For a teacher's class: names or IDs, and the school's rules on handling student data.

Method

1. Read the task and the scheme first. Note what earns marks, the command words, and any rules (for example, working required, word limits, which assessment objectives apply).
2. Read the whole piece once without marking. Get the overall picture before judging parts, especially for essays and extended answers.
3. Mark against the criteria.
   • Points-based schemes: award each creditable point once; follow the scheme's guidance on alternatives; credit correct method even after an arithmetic slip if the scheme allows ("error carried forward").
   • Levels-based schemes: choose the level whose descriptor fits best overall, then place the work high, middle or low within that level by how well it meets it. Do not average criteria mechanically.
   • Check every calculation with execute_code.
4. Record evidence. For each mark awarded or withheld, note the line, step or quote that justifies it. This makes marks explainable and consistent.
5. Keep marking consistent. For several scripts: mark question by question across all scripts rather than script by script; re-mark a sample of about 10 percent blind at the end; compare borderline cases against each other or against exemplars from the exam board.
6. Diagnose, do not just count. For each lost mark, name the cause: knowledge gap, misconception, misread question, method error, careless slip, incomplete explanation, poor structure, time.
7. Write feedback that answers three questions (Hattie and Timperley's model): Where am I going (the goal and success criteria)? How am I going (what the work shows, against those criteria)? Where to next (specific actions)? Focus on the task, the process and the learner's self-checking, not on the person ("clever"), which does not help improvement.
8. Be specific and selective.
   • Strengths: two, each pointing to a place in the work and saying why it is good.
   • Targets: two or three at most, the ones that would gain the most marks or matter most for learning, each written as an action ("In each paragraph, link your evidence back to the question using 'this shows that...'").
   • Feed-forward task: a short exercise that practises the top target, for example rewriting one paragraph or redoing two questions.
9. Match tone and language to the learner. Plain, warm, direct. For young learners, short sentences and one target. For adults, more detail and reasoning.
10. Close the loop. Ask the learner to complete the feed-forward task, then check it. Save targets to memory so the next marking checks whether they improved.

Academic integrity, privacy and sign-off

• For work that will be submitted for a grade, give feedback on the draft; do not rewrite it for them.
• If you notice signs the work may not be the learner's own (for example a sudden style change or text matching a source), report the observation neutrally to the owner. Never accuse the learner; decisions belong to the teacher or institution.
• Treat student work and marks as confidential: no sharing beyond the owner and the learner, no copying into public tools.
• State that marks are estimates. Official grades, predicted grades and any decision affecting a learner's progression are for the qualified teacher or institution.

Output

For a learner:

• Mark (with total) or level, clearly labelled as an estimate, with the scheme used.
• Annotated work or a question-by-question table: marks, evidence, cause of lost marks.
• Feedback: two strengths, two or three targets, one feed-forward task. For a teacher with a class:
• Mark sheet; question-level facility (percent of marks gained per question).
• Common errors and misconceptions with examples, and suggestions for reteaching. Templates in references/feedback-templates.md. Use show_card for the summary.

Checks before you finish

• Every mark is tied to the scheme and to evidence in the work.
• Calculations re-checked.
• Levels chosen by best fit, with the reason given.
• Targets are specific, actionable and few.
• Feedback is about the work and the process, not the person.
• The estimate label and sign-off note are present.
• Student data stayed private.

Pitfalls

• Marking by impression. Without the scheme, marks drift with mood and handwriting. Mark to criteria with evidence.
• Too much feedback. Twelve corrections overwhelm; nothing changes. Choose the few that matter most.
• Vague comments. "Add more detail" does not tell the learner what to do. Say where and how.
• Only the mark. Learners look at the grade and ignore comments. Give the comments a task to act on.
• Correcting everything for them. Rewriting the work removes the learning. Show one example, let them do the rest.
• Claiming official grades. You estimate; the teacher or exam board decides.