Although there is an ongoing debate about which achievement feedback is most useful, the majority of researchers agree that social comparisons and a focus on competition are inappropriate for students with learning disabilities and otherwise academically-challenged students. They are highly at-risk to be unfavorably influenced by inappropriate responses that teachers give concerning aspects of their performance. Students' achievement and motivation are broadly affected by the type of reference norm that educators use for their feedback. It makes an enormous difference, whether the performance is compared to a learner's former achievements (intra-individual reference norm) or to the achievements of others (social reference norm). The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which different kinds of reference norms are used by special education teachers for students with learning disabilities when appraising achievement. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)