Calibrate

Research & evidence

The evidence
behind the loop.

Calibrate is a small idea taken seriously: students calibrate faster when they have to make and defend judgements, and instructors teach better when they can see which judgements the class is getting wrong. Every feature below traces to a specific piece of the assessment literature.

01

2016 · Hendry, White & Herbert

Exemplar-based feedforward

The idea, in plain terms

Students' understanding of quality sharpens most when they grade an exemplar first, and hear the teacher's reasoning after.

Paraphrased · see citation below

What the paper says

Student-led marking of exemplars, paired with the instructor's own explanation, sharpens students' grip on quality far more than the rubric alone.

What Calibrate built

Students grade an exemplar first, then see the instructor's benchmark scores and rationale side-by-side with their own — the explanation arrives after the judgement, not before.

→ The exemplar room · The closing screen

Hendry, G. D., White, P., & Herbert, C. (2016). Providing exemplar-based ‘feedforward' before an assessment: The role of teacher explanation. Active Learning in Higher Education, 17(2), 99–109.

02

1989 · D. Royce Sadler

The gap-closing loop

The idea, in plain terms

Improvement is a three-step act: the learner carries a working picture of what good looks like, holds their own work up against it, and does something specific to narrow the distance. Marks alone skip the middle step.

Paraphrased · see citation below

What the paper says

The foundational claim: closing the gap requires the student to hold the standard, compare their work to it, and act — not simply receive marks.

What Calibrate built

Every criterion carries a benchmark; the closing view makes the gap concrete — original score, revised score, benchmark — so the comparison is unavoidable.

→ Rate → Coach → Revise loop

Sadler, D. R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science, 18(2), 119–144.

03

2018 · Tai, Ajjawi, Boud, Dawson & Panadero

Evaluative judgement

The idea, in plain terms

Evaluative judgement is the capability to make decisions about the quality of work of oneself and others.

Paraphrased · see citation below

What the paper says

Defines evaluative judgement as a meta-cognitive skill worth teaching directly, not a by-product of being marked.

What Calibrate built

The whole student flow is built around judging peer work from earlier cohorts before producing any of your own. Assessment is repositioned as practice, not a verdict.

→ Peer-work exemplars · Practice-not-verdict framing

Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Dawson, P., & Panadero, E. (2018). Developing evaluative judgement in higher education: assessment for knowing and producing quality work. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(3), 467–481.

04

2018 · Carless & Boud

Feedback literacy

The idea, in plain terms

Making judgements is a core dimension of feedback literacy — students have to actively use standards to decode feedback, not passively receive it.

Paraphrased · see citation below

What the paper says

Names 'appreciating feedback' and 'making judgements' as central pillars of feedback literacy — capabilities that require rehearsal.

What Calibrate built

Students defend and, where warranted, adjust their own scores in dialogue with the coach — rather than passively reading a comment and moving on.

→ The Socratic coach

Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). Development of student feedback literacy: enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315–1325.

The through-line

Judgement is learned by using it. The rubric is the reference, the dialogue is the rehearsal, the dashboard is the mirror the class shares.

How the loop worksTry it as a Student