Success criteria are a set of features a teacher wants to see in a child’s work throughout a lesson or term. It is an excellent way to ensure that young students know what’s expected of them. It also encourages students to challenge themselves and think carefully about how they structure their work.
Success criteria will usually be shared with pupils or created by them and referred to regularly before being used for self-assessment or peer assessment.
The success criteria are usually established at the beginning so your students know the lesson’s aims. Success criteria are not only for the benefit of the student but for the teachers. Providing your students with a goal and an objective during the lesson’s starting encourages them to work more efficiently as they have an endpoint to meet. As a teacher, having a plan for the lesson makes sure that the class keeps on topic and can reflect, knowing that they learned something from that lesson.
What do Success Criteria look like?
Below are some examples of success criteria for Year 2 instruction writing.
- I used an introduction
- I used numbered instructions in the correct order
- I used the present tense
These desired outcomes for the end of the lesson are direct. Success criteria must be clear and concise, especially for KS1 students, to ensure they understand what is being asked of them so they can achieve it. When a student has completed the task of that lesson, they can reflect upon the success criteria to see if they gained all the lesson goals. Your students will feel a sense of achievement and pride knowing they did what was asked of them for that lesson.
