1. Success criteria
The aim is for children to ask “What are we going to learn?” rather than “What are we going
to do?” Shirley Clarke)
Also known as: Learning steps, remember to…., Choose from…., WILFs (what I’m looking for),
Top tips etc
What are they?
­ the characteristics or attributes or steps or ingredients of a student’s performance or
product
What are their purposes?
­ They show the students what they are aiming for and how to get there
­ They break down the learning intention or goal so it is understood by students
­ They Identify where success has been achieved or help might be needed
­ They can be used by teachers to identify strategies for improvement or reflect on
progress
­ Students can self and peer assess, independently from the teacher. They are not always
reliant on teacher judgement.
­ Students have something to refer to when they want to check if they are on track or
not.
Types of Success criteria
­ Those used with closed learning intentions/goals e.g. ​We need to know how to find
percentages of whole numbers
­ Those used with open learning intentions/goals e.g. ​We need to know how to add two
digit numbers
Examples of types of success criteria
Closed SC for a specific skill Open SC when students have
learnt a range of techniques
Open SC which focuses on
problem solving processes
and decision making
We are learning to add two
digit numbers on a number
line
We are learning to add two
digit numbers
We are learning how to solve
a word problem (how many
hours have you been alive?)
Remember to:
● Start from the biggest
number
● Jump in tens first
(e.g. 36, 46,56 etc
Choose from:
● A mental method
● Using a number line
● The column method
Remember to:
● Estimate the answer
● Underline the key
words
● Choose a method
● Choose resources

2. ● Jump the ones next
(53, 54, 55 etc
● Record where you
land
● Adding tens first,
then units, then both
together
● Change your strategy
if it doesn’t work
● Check your answer a
different way
● Compare your
answer with your
estimate
​Shirley Clarke: Formative Assessment P86
Judging the quality of success criteria
▪ If students are not using them during the task, they’re not good enough.
▪ Make sure criteria align with the learning and are not a list of task instructions
▪ If the criteria are ​like ​a re­wording of the learning intention they are probably not
useful.
Students need to be taught how use success criteria
e.g I am learning how to check my work against the cuccess Criteria
I must remember to:
● Read through the Learning Intention and Success Criteria.
● Re­read my work.
● Highlight, circle or talk about where my work meets the Success Criteria.
● Check for places where my work does not meet the Success Criteria.
● Make a decision about why any of the Success Criteria are not present in my work.
● Have I just forgotten to include this SC?
­ If so, I’ll go back and make the changes I need to.
● Am I having difficulty meeting this SC?
· If so, will talking with a buddy help me?
· Or do I need to ask the teacher for help?
● Make any changes to my work that will improve the quality of my learning using
feedback from my buddy or the teacher.
● Put my name down for a conference or put my work into be marked.
Some things to remember about success criteria
• Can be but not always generated by students (after practice)
• With junior students it is often done verbally but pictures/writing or as well

3. • Put into child friendly language (if teacher is modeling or generating S.C.)
• There ae not too many steps for students to follow – you may not need every step
particularly if it is a skill known to students
• Constantly referred to during lesson particularly for target students
• Used for peer and self­assessment
• Do not have to start every lesson
• May be different for different students– able students may not need them to scaffold
their learning and can become bored with closed or product success criteria
Creating Success criteria with students (suitable for children who can write)
Five points strategy
● Teach a new skill and have students practise it as a class
● Ask students to write their own SC using their own words (Teacher roves around class
asking questions, getting students started etc)
● Take one example and share with class on white board. In pairs get them to read and
discuss what is useful and what could be made clearer (good to contain one common
error that can be shared with whole class)
● Pairs then share their SC with each other – improve them together
● Take one improved version and share with whole class – give time for students to
improve their own versions
Showing excellent, different examples of the same skill
Show 3 examples of word sums and their solutions ­ each one has key words highlighted, a
diagram and some calculations. Students identify the criteria and then apply them
Demonstrating a technique or skill
Demonstrate a particular skill while thinking out loud the steps. Ask repeatedly ‘what did I just
do’? to emphasis the criteria. Older students can compile their own success criteria
Demonstrating good and bad
Good for practical subjects
Doing it wrong
Teacher demonstrates how not to do it inviting students to correct her and change the criteria
as they go along​. ​Suits subjects such as subjects like PE, music, art
Working through it
Teacher analyses ­ e.g a bar graph and discusses what helps students to interpret it

4. Jigsaw the pieces
Re­ordering success criteria
Give students cards with different success criteria on each one and get them to order them.
Following a activity. SC can be drawings or symbols – suitable for younger children
Eavesdropping partners
Walk around listening to students talking about sc for a particular ctivity/skill. Jor dow the ideas
and share with students
Maths examples
I am learning how to create a bar chart
• Read the tally chart for each category. Count up the number of tallies and record a total
at the end of the row.
• Draw the axes – horizontal for categories, vertical for the scales.
• Write the scale on the y axis – does it need to go up in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s or 10’s.
• Label the x axis with the categories.
• Draw the bars on the graph.
• Give your graph a title.