 Does a red pen damage your students' learning? Now, research reveals that boys' test performances dropped with repeated exposure to red pen during learning and assessment while girls remain unaffected. So red often, you know, we associate with danger and avoidance may trigger stress or distraction impacting on cognitive functions required for learning and creativity. So I've got two blogs for you here with research inside. One's on aqua-colored pens, believe it or not, and this one is on red pen marking. It's worth considering a variety of assessment feedback colors and maybe then observe the impact that it has on your student performance and engagement. Lots and lots of skills have a colored pen marking policy. So I guess the question for me is what if we shifted away from just red in our marking schemes and could this simple change enhance learning outcomes for all your students, particularly the most vulnerable? So as a suggestion, some practical next steps, maybe choose a class as a control class and one as a sample. Why not experiment in your classroom? Swap red pen for a more neutral color like blue or green. Try it for a half a term and note any differences to how students respond to your assessments and how they perform in the future. If we start with one or two specific colors, you could encourage your students to respond in a dialogue about how they perceive that feedback and how they respond to different colors. So take a look at the blog. You've got the research paper just inside and some recommendations from me and let me know how you get on.