Planning, Monitoring & Adjusting

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band A.

I try something and say it 'worked' or 'didn't' without describing what happened, or I stop after the first try.

I try a different way after the first one fails, but my different way is a guess rather than informed by what happened.

I can try something, say what happened, and try a different way when the first way did not work.

I try, say what happened with one specific detail, and try a different way that addresses what I noticed.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band B.

I start the task without a plan, or I make a plan and do not look at it again.

I make a plan and check during, but my checks are about whether the work feels okay rather than whether the plan is on track.

I can make a simple plan that says what I am going to do and in what order, and check my progress while I am doing the task.

I make a plan, check during, and notice when the plan needs to change before I get stuck — adjusting it without abandoning it.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band B.

I keep trying the same approach when I am stuck, or I switch but cannot say what made me switch.

I switch when stuck, but my reason for switching is 'it wasn't working' without naming what I noticed.

I can switch to a different approach when I notice I am stuck, and say why I switched.

I switch with a reason and can name what about the new approach I expect to be different from the first one.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band C.

I describe a goal but my plan is a list of activities, with no checkpoints set ahead of time.

I plan with a goal and put in checkpoints, but the checkpoints are at the end of the work or evenly spaced rather than at meaningful points.

I can plan a piece of work with a goal in mind and choose meaningful points where I will check how it is going.

I plan with a goal and choose checkpoints tied to specific decisions or transitions in the work, explaining why those points are the meaningful ones.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band C.

I notice a problem at a checkpoint but I keep going with the same strategy.

I adjust my strategy after a checkpoint, but my reason for adjusting is general ('it wasn't working') rather than tied to what the checkpoint showed.

I can adjust my strategy when a checkpoint shows my plan is not working, and say what I noticed that prompted the change.

I adjust my strategy in response to a checkpoint, name the specific observation that prompted the change, and predict what should be different at the next checkpoint.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band D.

I plan with a goal but I have no success criteria, so I monitor whether I am busy rather than whether I am on track.

I include success criteria in my plan, but I monitor activity (how much I have done) rather than progress (how close I am to the criteria).

I can plan a piece of work with a goal and explicit success criteria, and monitor my progress against the success criteria rather than just the activity.

I plan with success criteria and notice when activity-monitoring would have given a misleading picture of progress, naming what the success-criteria check revealed instead.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band D.

I adjust because I feel like it, or I do not adjust at all, leaving my reasoning unstated.

I adjust mid-task with a reason, but the reason is about how I feel rather than about what monitoring showed.

I can adjust my strategy mid-task with a stated reason for the change, drawn from what my monitoring has shown.

I adjust mid-task with a reason from monitoring, and I name what evidence I will use to know whether the adjustment is working.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band E.

I plan a timescale but I have no milestones, or I set milestones and never look at them again.

I plan with milestones and review at intervals, but my reviews look at whether I hit the milestone rather than whether the plan still fits.

I can plan a piece of work across a unit or project timescale with milestones, and review my progress at intervals over time.

I plan with milestones, review at intervals, and use one of those reviews to make a substantive change to the plan — not just to confirm I am on track.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band E.

I revise my approach but I treat planning, doing, and reflecting as separate jobs that don't talk to each other.

I describe my work in three phases (planning, doing, reflecting) but I cannot show how one phase fed into the next on a specific occasion.

I can revise my approach in response to a periodic review and explain how my forethought, performance, and self-reflection are working as a cycle rather than as separate steps.

I revise based on review and trace a specific feedback line — for example, what I noticed in performance changed what I planned for next time, with concrete evidence on each side.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band F.

I run the cycle in its default form on the novel task, with no adaptation to the task's specific demands.

I adapt the cycle but only along one dimension (e.g. timescale), and I cannot say why I did not adapt along the others.

I can run the plan-monitor-adjust cycle independently on a novel or high-stakes task and explain why this version of the cycle fits this task — open versus closed, high-stakes versus low-stakes, collaborative versus solo.

I run an adapted cycle on a novel task and identify one part of my adaptation that turned out to be wrong, with a corrected version for the next time.