Identifying Effective Teachers: Lessons from Four Classroom Observation Tools

Four different classroom observation instruments—from the Service Delivery Indicators, the Stallings Observation System, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, and the Teach classroom observation instrument—were implemented in about 100 schools across four regions of Tanzania. The research design is such that various combinations of tools were administered to various combinations of teachers, so these data can be used to explore the commonalities and differences in the behaviors and practices captured by each tool, the internal properties of the tools (for example, how stable they are across enumerators, or how various indicators relate to one another), and how variables collected by the various tools compare to each other. Analysis shows that inter-rater reliability can be low, especially for some of the subjective ratings; principal components analysis suggests that lower-level constructs do not map neatly to predetermined higher-level ones and suggest that the data have only a few dimensions. Measures collected during teacher observations are associated with student test scores, but patterns differ for teachers with lower versus higher subject content knowledge.

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Appendix: Classroom Observation Tools

Instructional Supervision ◽

10.4324/9781315855523-40 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 387-389

Keyword(s):

Classroom Observation ◽

Observation Tools

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Classroom practices can be reliably classified using lecture recordings

10.31219/osf.io/7n6qt ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

George Kinnear ◽

Steph Smith ◽

Ross Anderson ◽

Thomas Gant ◽

Jill R D MacKay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Classroom Practices ◽

Teaching Method ◽

Classroom Observation ◽

Lecture Recordings ◽

Asking Questions ◽

Observation Tools ◽

Insight Into ◽

Pedagogical Approaches ◽

Selection Of

Lectures are a commonly used teaching method in higher education, but there is significant debate about the relative merits of different classroom practices. Various classroom observation tools have been developed to try to give insight into these practices, beyond the simple dichotomy of “traditional lecturing versus active learning”. Here we review of a selection of classroom observation protocols from an ethological perspective, and describe how this informed the development of a new protocol, FILL+. We demonstrate that FILL+ can be applied reliably by undergraduate students after minimal training. We analysed a sample of 208 lecture recordings from Mathematics, Physics, and Veterinary Medicine and found a wide variety of classroom practices, e.g. on average lecturers spent 2.1% (±2.6%) of the time asking questions, and 79.3% (±19%) of the lecture talking, but individuals varied considerably. The FILL+ protocol has the potential to be widely used, both in research on effective teaching practices, and in informing discussion of pedagogical approaches within institutions and disciplines.

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The Implementation of Formal Assessments in Intermediate Phase Mathematics at Primary Schools in South Africa

International Journal of Learning Teaching and Educational Research ◽

10.26803/ijlter.20.8.18 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (8) ◽

pp. 300-320

Author(s):

Senzeni Sibanda ◽

Awelani M Rambuda

Keyword(s):

Social Constructivism ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Basic Education ◽

Intermediate Phase ◽

Classroom Observation ◽

Policy Statement ◽

Mathematical Problems ◽

Analyse Data ◽

Observation Tools

The purpose of this research was to explore the implementation of formal assessments in intermediate phase mathematics at primary schools. The research was elicited by reports that assessment methods and procedures for tackling learners’ needs had been observed to be insufficient in South African schools. The study is grounded in Piaget’s cognitive constructivism and Vygotsky’s social constructivism. The researchers conducted document analysis of teachers’ portfolios which were purposefully selected. Nine teachers– three from each of Grades 4 to 6 were sampled. The portfolios were analysed to establish whether the implementation of the formal assessments was aligned with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement requirements. A checklist was used to determine teachers’ implementation of formal assessment. Measures of central tendency were used to analyse data. The results revealed that teachers were not developing the abilities of learners in handling complex mathematical procedures as per the requirements of the policy. This implies that learners lacked the ability to break down mathematical problems into different factors or constituent parts. Learners were given a test instead of a project or investigation. Hence teachers were not promoting cooperative learning which is advocated by the policy. Therefore, teachers should be assisted by knowledgeable colleagues and subject advisors in their adoption and use of assessment. There must be a close examination of the classroom observation tools that are currently being utilised. Classroom observation assists teachers to improve their assessment strategies. The Department of Basic Education should supply tablets to primary schools to promote social constructive interaction amongst teachers and learners to enhance effective teaching and learning.

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Developing the FILL+ Tool to Reliably Classify Classroom Practices Using Lecture Recordings

Journal for STEM Education Research ◽

10.1007/s41979-020-00047-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

George Kinnear ◽

Steph Smith ◽

Ross Anderson ◽

Thomas Gant ◽

Jill R D MacKay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Classroom Practices ◽

Teaching Method ◽

Classroom Observation ◽

Lecture Recordings ◽

Asking Questions ◽

Observation Tools ◽

Insight Into ◽

Pedagogical Approaches ◽

Selection Of

AbstractLectures are a commonly used teaching method in higher education, but there is significant debate about the relative merits of different classroom practices. Various classroom observation tools have been developed to try to give insight into these practices, beyond the simple dichotomy of “traditional lecturing versus active learning”. Here we review of a selection of classroom observation protocols from an ethological perspective and describe how this informed the development of a new protocol, FILL+. We demonstrate that FILL+ can be applied reliably by undergraduate students after minimal training. We analysed a sample of 208 lecture recordings from Mathematics, Physics, and Veterinary Medicine and found a wide variety of classroom practices, e.g. on average lecturers spent 2.1% (± 2.6%) of the time asking questions, and 79.3% (± 19%) of the lecture talking, but individuals varied considerably. The FILL+ protocol has the potential to be widely used, both in research on effective teaching practices, and in informing discussion of pedagogical approaches within institutions and disciplines.

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A Comparison of Mathematics Classroom Observation Protocols

Mathematics Teacher Educator ◽

10.5951/mathteaceduc.3.2.0154 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 154-175 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Melissa Boston ◽

Jonathan Bostic ◽

Kristin Lesseig ◽

Milan Sherman

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Teacher ◽

Teacher Educators ◽

Mathematics Classroom ◽

Classroom Observation ◽

Program Evaluations ◽

Mathematics Teacher Educators ◽

Observation Tools ◽

Mathematical Quality ◽

Observation Protocol

In this article, we provide information to assist mathematics teacher educators in selecting classroom observation tools. We review three classroom observation tools: (1) the Reform-Oriented Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP); (2) the Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) in Mathematics; and (3) the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI). We begin by describing each tool and providing examples of research studies or program evaluations using each tool. We then look across tools to identify each tool's specific focus, and we discuss how the features of each tool (and the protocol for its use) might serve as affordances or constraints in relation to the goals, purposes, and resources of a specific investigation. We close the article with suggestions for how each tool might be used by mathematics teacher educators to support teachers' learning and instructional change.

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