In 1996, two researchers pooled a large set of studies on feedback. On average, feedback helped people do better. But roughly a third of the time, it made performance worse. It is worth knowing before the next marked page comes home. Ever circled a wrong answer and watched your child’s face drop? This one is yours too.
Common questions from parents
Is red ink bad for my child?
Did the study that found feedback backfires look at children?
What should I write on my child’s homework instead of a plain X?
Should I stop correcting my child’s mistakes?
A big review found roughly a third of feedback made performance worse. It said nothing about red ink. Here is what a mark should say instead.
What did the feedback study actually find?
Right now, teachers are arguing online about red ink. One teacher mocked a training course that warned against it. The post spread fast. Both sides are arguing about the color of the pen.
The study from the opening is Kluger and DeNisi (1996). It ran in the journal Psychological Bulletin. Feedback helped on average. But in roughly a third of cases, people did worse with feedback than without.
Be clear about what this study was. It was not a study of children. It was not about reading or homework. It pulled together feedback studies in general, from work, labs and schools. So it does not tell you how a red X lands on your child.
A newer review, by Wisniewski, Zierer and Hattie (2019), pooled feedback studies again. The results swung widely from one study to the next. Their conclusion: feedback is not one single, steady thing. So the real question is not feedback or no feedback. It is which kind.
A green X says only one thing, too: wrong.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
What makes feedback help, and what makes it backfire?
Across this feedback research, as we read it, one line keeps showing up. It is not the color of the pen. It is what the mark says.
- Feedback tends to help when it is about the task. It says what to try next. It leaves your child feeling able.
- Feedback tends to backfire when it only judges. A red X, a score, a rank. Each one says right or wrong, and stops.
That second kind lands hardest on a child who already finds the work hard. This is a direction in the research, not a settled rule. And none of the studies behind this article tested it on homework marks.
Notice what is missing from both lists: ink color. None of those studies tested it. A green X says only one thing, too: wrong. So both sides of the red-ink fight are missing the same thing. The fight over color skips the part that matters.
School marking is built around the verdict: a check, an X, a grade. Learning apps often add points and ranks on top. That is the kind of feedback this research flags. A single letter grade ranks your child. It never names the next skill to build. That is a design choice. It is not a failing in your child, or in you.
Key takeaways
- Feedback sometimes backfires: In one large review, roughly a third of feedback made performance worse.
- The type of mark is the real question: As we read the research, judging marks tend to hurt. Next steps tend to help.
- These studies skipped ink color: None of them tested red ink. Watch what the mark says instead.
What should you write beside the mark tonight?
Here is the one move we suggest. It is our practical take on this research, not a tested homework method. Keep the mark. Beside it, write one specific thing to try next.
- Start with what worked. Name it exactly: “Your carrying is right every time.”
- Pick one error. Not all of them. One.
- Write the next step as an action. “Check the sign first.” “Line up the tens.”
- Hand the pencil back. Let your child try it right then, with you close by.
Naming what worked gives your child proof of what they are able to do. We explain why that matters in confidence comes from evidence, not encouragement. Later, you want your child to catch their own slips. Here is how to teach a child to check their own work.
Talk about the work, not about who your child is. Every time you tell a struggling reader ‘try harder,’ you’re not only giving feedback on a task. You’re handing them a sentence to write into their own story about who they are. “Try harder” is a mark with no next step. “Slow down on the vowels” is one.
Does your help start to feel like correction to your child? This guide to reconnecting after a hard school day has ideas.
Keep the mark, and write one specific thing to try next beside it.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
You want your child to treat a mistake as a step, not a verdict. The trouble is a marking system built to judge and then stop. It hands over the grade and leaves out the next step. You don’t need a credential to be your child’s first teacher. You already are one. Grab this free download on confidence from small, real wins: The Confidence Account.
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