Effective feedback: Selective marking

Selective marking involves selecting one section of work to mark in depth and using this to give specific feedback with focused, manageable improvement targets.   What does it mean? With this strategy, rather than trying to mark everything a student writes, teachers ‘zoom-in’ and specifically focus on smaller sections of work and particular skills. You mark these in your usual way, yet, by marking less but in more detail, you can reduce workload while improving the quality of feedback. You also give students space and directions on how to respond with this method. Underneath the marked section, give specific instructions for pupil responses and draw an empty box for students to fill out before moving on. This technique ensures that students know where to work and how to (and how much to) improve. It is sometimes referred to as ‘The Yellow Box’ strategy (although the colour of the pen used to mark is irrelevant!) What are the implications for teachers? Even if y