Two or Three Stars and a Wish

Two stars and a wish provides a simple structure for giving balanced feedback. The ratio of positive to developmental feedback is deliberately weighted towards strengths. This is important because learners are more likely to act on improvement suggestions when they feel their work has been valued first.

The stars must be specific. "Good work" is not a star. "You used three different sentence starters, which made your writing varied and interesting" is a star. Specific stars teach learners to notice quality in their own and others' work, building their understanding of success criteria.

The wish must be actionable. "Make it better" is not a wish. "I wish you had included a counter-argument in your third paragraph to make your essay more balanced" is a wish. The wish should describe something the learner can realistically do to improve the work.

The framework works for self-assessment and peer assessment. For self-assessment, learners identify their own stars and wish, which develops metacognitive skills. For peer assessment, they evaluate a partner's work, which develops evaluative skills. Both are valuable and should be used regularly.

Two stars and a wish scales across ages. Reception learners can identify one star and one wish about a drawing. Year 11 learners can provide detailed, criteria-referenced stars and wishes about extended writing.

Two stars and a wish develops the "Reflect" strand of thinking skills by building the capacity for balanced evaluation and constructive feedback. It supports cross-curricular literacy through specific, evidence-based commentary and works across all AoLEs as a universal feedback framework.

Rainbow Curriculum's Thinking Tools lens helps you plan where structured feedback frameworks are used across your curriculum, ensuring that feedback is consistently positive, specific, and actionable.