High and Low Inference Acquisition of Feedback in the Preschool Teacher-Child Interaction

Feedback is one of the strongest influencing factors on learning success (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). In meta-analyzes, however, it is noticeable that the effect sizes show a high degree of variability (Hattie, Beywl & Zierer, 2013). This is probably because both the type of feedback and the adaptivity of feedback use are critical to how effective feedback is. Feedback quality is a central component of the high inference Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS Pre-K, Pianta, La Paro & Hamre, 2008), which is increasingly used in Germany to record the quality of interaction in child care centers. However, high inference processes are criticized for only providing a superficial overall impression. In this article, the newly developed low inference method for collecting feedback (VEFe) is presented. The mutual validation of VEFe and the dimension feedback quality of the high inference CLASS Pre-K shows medium to high correlations and thus indications for the validity of both instruments.