Are Learning Walkthroughs Delivering Actionable Feedback?

1. Research Questions

For this independent analysis, I am focusing on the following questions appropriate to the DoDEA Learning Walkthrough (LWT) context:

• Primary Question: To what extent does observer feedback in the Mid-Atlantic district provide “Actionable” suggestions compared to “Supportive” recognition?

• Secondary Question: How frequently do different rungs of the Ladder of Feedback co-occur in a single observation?

2. Context and Data Source

The data source consists of open-ended qualitative feedback collected during Learning Walkthroughs in the Americas Mid-Atlantic district. As a Research Analyst for DoDEA, I am applying the Ladder of Feedback framework, using the DoDEA LWT framework for Delivering Feedback, to determine if our “Recognitions and Considerations” are moving beyond simple praise toward instructional coaching.

DoDEA LWT Feedback Framework

3. Methodology: The “Smart Sieve”

To ensure data integrity, I utilized Regular Expressions (Regex) with word boundaries (\\b). This “Smart Sieve” ensures that common social filler (like “looking forward”) is not incorrectly counted as an instructional suggestion, which was a significant issue in earlier iterations of the analysis.

4. Key Findings: Polished Visualization

The following graph illustrates the distribution of feedback rungs across the district.

5. Narrative and Implications

Based on the high-fidelity analysis of the Americas Mid-Atlantic district data using the refined “Observer as Learner” logic, I have reached the following conclusions:

• The Compliance Gap: While observers are nearly universal in offering polite “thanks,” only 1.5% of walkthroughs meet the DoDEA threshold of demonstrating how the observation enhanced the observer’s own instructional understanding.

• The “Value” Ceiling: With the “Thank” rung filtered for quality, Value (1,016) emerges as the primary feedback driver. This confirms a culture that is excellent at validating strengths but may be plateauing at simple praise.

• Prioritizing Actionable Coaching: The rungs that “move the lesson forward” Suggest (230) and Clarify (164) remain the least utilized indicators. This indicates a critical need for PD that helps observers transition from identifying a strength to suggesting an actionable next step.

• Audience Use: District leadership should use this 1.5% compliance rate as a call to action to retrain observers on the metacognitive requirements of the “Thank” rung and the technical requirements of “Specific and Actionable” suggestions.

• Future Improvement: I plan to audit the 368 Reflective entries to see if those “honest thoughts and questions” are being leveraged to lead into the Suggest rung, or if they are being left as standalone concerns.

6. Relationship Analysis

As a secondary check, this heatmap shows how often these rungs appear together. Values near zero indicate that observers rarely use multiple rungs in a single walkthrough.