Education Endowment Foundation:Digital Feedback in Primary Maths – trial

Digital Feedback in Primary Maths – trial

St Margaret’s Primary School, Kyra Teaching Scho
Implementation costThe cost estimates in the Toolkits are based on the average cost of delivering the intervention.
Evidence strengthThis rating provides an overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence, to help support professional decision-making in schools.
Impact (months)The impact measure shows the number of additional months of progress made, on average, by children and young people who received the intervention, compared to similar children and young people who did not.
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months
Project info

Independent Evaluator

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RAND
Testing the use of diagnostic assessments and digitally recorded verbal feedback in maths for primary school pupils
Pupils: 2564 Schools: 34 Grant: £175,000
Key Stage: 2 Duration: 2 year(s) 11 month(s) Type of Trial: Efficacy level evidence
Completed September 2019

Digital Feedback in Primary Maths aimed to improve the feedback provided by primary school teachers using a tablet application called Explain Everything, diagnostic assessments and training on effective feedback. In this trial, it was expected to increase the maths attainment of pupils in Years 4 and 5.

EEF Summary

The EEF Toolkit reports that feedback is a high-impact teaching approach. However, there is little evidence for the extensive written marking that often forms the backbone of schools’ formal feedback to pupils. The EEF funded this trial to test a way teachers can provide pupils with more frequent verbal feedback. A small short-term trial of the approach had previously found some evidence of promise.

Our trial involved 34 schools, 108 classes, and 2,564 pupils. The independent evaluation found no evidence that the programme had a positive impact on the measure of attainment chosen for the trial, the maths attainment of pupils in Years 4 and 5.

This result is rated as moderate-to-low security: 2 out of 5 on the EEF padlock scale. This is mainly because of the large numbers of pupils who were not included in the testing.

The EEF has no plans for a further trial of this programme, but will continue to consider other projects which aim to provide effective feedback using digital technology. The EEF will publish a guidance report on effective feedback in 2020; our guidance report on using digital technology effectively is available here.

Evaluation Conclusions

  1. There is no evidence that Digital Feedback in Primary Maths had an impact on pupils’ maths outcomes. This result has a moderate to low security rating.
  2. There is no evidence that the programme has an impact on the maths outcomes of pupils eligible for free school meals.
  3. The programme, as designed, was not easily implemented by teachers and schools. There was evidence that teachers and Research Leads sometimes did not attend training, have coaching sessions, or provide regular digitalfeedback in the classroom.
  4. Both the diagnostic assessment and training in effective feedback were reported as more useful by teachers than the use of the app to provide digital feedback. Evidence from surveys, PLC observations, and an interview indicated that the diagnostic assessments were eventually being used as a global classroom assessment tool.
  5. There were significant challenges with identifying which pupils were in the treatment group and which were in the control. This meant that 431 pupils could not be included in the main analysis. This presented a small threat to the security of the trial.
Outcome/​Group
ImpactThe size of the difference between pupils in this trial and other pupils
SecurityHow confident are we in this result?
Maths
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Months' progress
Maths (FSM pupils)
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Months' progress
N/A

Were the schools in the trial similar to my school?

  • 34 schools were involved in the trial
  • They were all state primary schools from Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and the Humber
  • Approximately 30% of the pupils involved were eligible for free school meals

Could I implement this in my school?

Participating teachers received a one-day training session at the start of the programme and were assigned to a Professional Learning Community (PLC) of 8 to 12 teachers from different schools. PLCs were expected to meet once a month to discuss the implementation of the intervention.

One teacher in each participating school was designated as a Research Lead, responsible for providing coaching to their colleagues using the programme. Research Leads received a half-day training session on their coaching role. It was intended that Research Leads would also meet once per term to receive additional training.

Teachers struggled to implement the digital aspects of the programme as intended. Supporting teachers to use the digital aspects effectively would require a significant investment of time and effort.

How much will it cost?

The estimated average cost of Digital Feedback in Primary Maths for one school for one year was around £840, or £15 per pupil per year when averaged over 3 years.

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