Formative feedback focuses on the growth of the individual receiving feedback as part of an ongoing developmental process. This is often seen as contrary to summative feedback, which focuses on defining the individual’s current level of ability, usually as the conclusion of a process or segment.
The FARPET is designed first and foremost as a tool for promoting growth, and to that end the rubric levels (1-5) are intended to aid description of what was observed and guide thought on how to improve. There is no “Pass” or “Fail” conception within FARPET, except to say, “Did the educator succeed in providing the lesson they wanted to?” The pre-observation conversation should set target ratings based on the teaching plan, which are then compared to what the observer saw and heard. Ratings or levels increase in volume, quality, and complexity from left to right in order to bracket description of the item in question (e.g. Audiovisual Facilitation, etc). The numbers are provided only to facilitate clear communication between observer and observed. It should be fairly common to expect a “3”, “2”, or sometimes even a “1” in a given lesson based on the teaching plan and needs of the day.
No lesson should be all 5’s!
The top level (5) for each item on the rubric is difficult to achieve consistently for most experienced educators. To have the best score in every aspect of a lesson is never expected to happen, in large part because getting high marks in one item often makes it more difficult to get a high mark in another. The clearest example of this is the combination of Concept Development and Collaborative Learning. Concept Development calls for a well ordered narrative flow to the lesson, while Collaborative Learning seeks to give the students great control over…the flow of the lesson. These items represent different aspects of teaching that, while not quite mutually exclusive, typically require choices be made between emphasizing one or the other. Further, a “good” lesson can come in many shapes and sizes based on the needs of the learners and goals of the instructor. What matters most for the formative process is that the educator has specific goals and an observation partner who can provide detailed feedback on how well those goals were met.
“As a new faculty, peer evaluation seemed very daunting to me from both sides of the observation. The first time I evaluated a peer’s teaching, I remember feeling lost on how to provide objective and actionable feedback without seeming over-critical. When I received my first peer-evaluation, I was really nervous and lacked an understanding of the parameters that I would be evaluated on, which made it even more nerve-wracking.“
Dr. Stacey Fox-Alvarez, University of Florida
Formative Assessment Rubric for Peer Evaluation of Teaching (FARPET) 