diff --git a/mlx_lm/quant/dwq.py b/mlx_lm/quant/dwq.py
index 9254465..fba523e 100644
--- a/mlx_lm/quant/dwq.py
+++ b/mlx_lm/quant/dwq.py
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ def dwq_quantize(
     model,
     q_model,
     opt,
-    data,
+    train_data,
+    valid_data,
     batch_size: int = 2,
     max_seq_length: int = 2048,
     activation_layer_step: float = 0.25,
@@ -51,6 +52,10 @@ def dwq_quantize(
     world_size = group.size()
     rank = group.rank()
 
+    def rprint(*args, **kwargs):
+        if rank == 0:
+            tqdm.write(*args, **kwargs)
+
     def unfreeze(_, m):
         if hasattr(m, "bits") and hasattr(m, "group_size"):
             m.unfreeze(keys=["scales", "biases"], recurse=False)
@@ -81,7 +86,9 @@ def dwq_quantize(
     def loss_fn(params, x, targets, extra_targets, lengths):
         q_model.update(tree_map(lambda x: x.astype(dtype), params))
         logits, q_extra_targets = forward(q_model, x)
-        losses = kl_div_loss(logits, targets)
+        losses_lt = kl_div_loss(logits, targets)
+        losses_tl = kl_div_loss(targets, logits)
+        losses = 0.5 * (losses_lt + losses_tl)
         mask = mx.arange(1, 1 + targets.shape[1]) < lengths[:, 1:]
         ntoks = mask.sum()
         kl_loss = (mask * losses).sum() / ntoks
@@ -91,17 +98,52 @@ def dwq_quantize(
                 for qe, e in zip(q_extra_targets, extra_targets)
             ]
         )
-        loss = kl_loss + activation_loss_weight * act_loss.mean()
-        return loss, ntoks
+        act_loss = act_loss.mean()
+        loss = kl_loss + activation_loss_weight * act_loss
+        return loss, ntoks, kl_loss, act_loss
 
     def step(inputs, targets, extra_targets, lengths, params):
-        (loss, ntoks), grads = mx.value_and_grad(loss_fn)(
+        (loss, ntoks, *_), grads = mx.value_and_grad(loss_fn)(
             params, inputs, targets, extra_targets, lengths
         )
         grads = nn.average_gradients(grads)
         params = opt.apply_gradients(grads, params)
         return loss, ntoks, params
 
+    def validate(params, it):
+        v_loss = 0.0
+        v_kl_loss = 0.0
+        v_act_loss = 0.0
+        v_tokens = 0
+        for it, (batch, lengths) in tqdm(
+            enumerate(iterate_batches(valid_data, batch_size, max_seq_length)),
+            total=len(valid_data) // batch_size,
+            desc="Computing validation loss",
+            leave=False,
+        ):
+            batch = batch[:, :-1]
+            targets, extra_targets = forward(model, batch)
+            mx.eval(targets, extra_targets)
+            loss, ntoks, kl_loss, act_loss = loss_fn(
+                params, batch, targets, extra_targets, lengths
+            )
+            mx.eval(loss, ntoks)
+            loss = mx.distributed.all_sum(loss, stream=mx.cpu).item() / world_size
+            kl_loss = mx.distributed.all_sum(kl_loss, stream=mx.cpu).item() / world_size
+            act_loss = (
+                mx.distributed.all_sum(act_loss, stream=mx.cpu).item() / world_size
+            )
+            ntoks = mx.distributed.all_sum(ntoks, stream=mx.cpu).item()
+            v_tokens += ntoks
+            v_loss += loss * ntoks
+            v_kl_loss += kl_loss * ntoks
+            v_act_loss += act_loss * ntoks
+        loss = v_loss / v_tokens
+        kl_loss = v_kl_loss / v_tokens
+        act_loss = v_act_loss / v_tokens
+        rprint(f"Validation: {it=}, {loss=:.3f}, {kl_loss=:.3f}, {act_loss=:.3f}")
+        return loss
+
     # Accumulate learned weights in higher precision
     params = tree_map(
         lambda x: x.astype(mx.float32),
@@ -111,11 +153,16 @@ def dwq_quantize(
     total_loss = 0.0
     total_tokens = 0
     tokens = 0
+
     tic = time.time()
+
+    # Compute initial validation loss
+    initial_valid_loss = valid_loss = validate(params, it=0)
+
     for it, (batch, lengths) in (
         pbar := tqdm(
-            enumerate(iterate_batches(data, batch_size, max_seq_length)),
-            total=len(data) // batch_size,
+            enumerate(iterate_batches(train_data, batch_size, max_seq_length)),
+            total=len(train_data) // batch_size,
         )
     ):
         batch = batch[:, :-1]
@@ -134,42 +181,74 @@ def dwq_quantize(
                 peak_memory_gb = mx.get_peak_memory() / 1e9
                 avg_loss = total_loss / tokens
                 total_tokens += tokens
-                tqdm.write(
+                rprint(
                     f"{it=}, {avg_loss=:.4f}, {total_tokens=},"
                     f" {toks_per_sec=:.3f}, {peak_memory_gb=:.3f}",
                 )
                 tic = time.time()
                 tokens = 0
                 total_loss = 0
+        if (it + 1) % 200 == 0:
+            valid_loss = validate(params, it=it)
+
+    valid_loss = validate(params, it=it)
+    if initial_valid_loss < valid_loss:
+        rprint(
+            f"❌❌❌\n[WARNING] Final validation loss {valid_loss:.3f} is "
+            f"worse than initial validation loss {initial_valid_loss:.3f}."
+            " Model quality will likely be degraded.\n❌❌❌"
+        )
+
     q_model.update(tree_map(lambda x: x.astype(dtype), params))
     for lid in layer_ids:
         q_model.layers[lid] = q_model.layers[lid].module
 
 
-def load_data(tokenizer, data_path: str, num_samples: int, max_seq_length: int):
+def load_data(
+    tokenizer,
+    data_path: str,
+    num_samples: int,
+    max_seq_length: int,
+    num_valid_samples: int = 32,
+):
     args = types.SimpleNamespace(
         hf_dataset={
             "path": data_path,
-            "train_split": f"train",
+            "train_split": "train",
             "valid_split": "train[:1]",
         },
         train=True,
         test=False,
     )
     dataset = load_dataset(args, tokenizer)[0]
-    perm = np.random.permutation(len(dataset))[:num_samples].tolist()
+    perm = np.random.permutation(len(dataset))
+    train_perm = perm[:num_samples].tolist()
+    valid_perm = perm[num_samples : num_samples + num_valid_samples].tolist()
 
     def process(idx):
         tokens, offset = dataset.process(dataset[idx])
         return (tokens[:max_seq_length], offset)
 
-    return [process(i) for i in perm]
+    train = [process(i) for i in train_perm]
+    valid = [process(i) for i in valid_perm]
+    return train, valid
 
 
 def main():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
-    parser.add_argument("--model", "-m", default="Qwen/Qwen3-4B")
-    parser.add_argument("--quantized-model", default=None)
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--model",
+        "-m",
+        help="A model to distill from for DWQ. If `quantized-model` is not"
+        " given the student model will be this model quantized according"
+        " to `bits` and `group-size`.",
+        required=True,
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--quantized-model",
+        default=None,
+        help="An already quantized model (the student model) to improve with DWQ.",
+    )
     parser.add_argument(
         "--mlx-path", default="mlx_model", help="Path to save the quantized model."
     )
@@ -219,7 +298,7 @@ def main():
         model_path, lazy=True, trust_remote_code=True
     )
 
-    calibration_data = load_data(
+    train_data, valid_data = load_data(
         tokenizer, args.data_path, args.num_samples, args.max_seq_length
     )
 
@@ -228,6 +307,8 @@ def main():
         q_model, config, _ = fetch_from_hub(
             q_model_path, lazy=True, trust_remote_code=True
         )
+        if "quantization" not in config:
+            raise ValueError("Quantized model must already be quantized.")
     else:
         q_model = copy.deepcopy(model)
         _, config = quantize_model(
@@ -242,7 +323,8 @@ def main():
         model,
         q_model,
         opt,
-        calibration_data,
+        train_data,
+        valid_data,
         batch_size=args.batch_size,
         max_seq_length=args.max_seq_length,
         gradient_checkpoint=args.grad_checkpoint,