Classroom Observations

The History of Classroom Observations

Classroom observations have long been a primary component of teacher evaluation, a process that was intended to both support employment-related decisions and provide feedback to teachers to improve their instruction. Typically, principals or other school administrators would observe teachers once a year as they taught their class. Such observations were often required and specified by statute and/or labor contracts. The observer would usually make and record evaluative judgments using a form that listed a set of statements about teacher behaviors and classroom characteristics (e.g., The teacher praised students; The students were well-behaved). Based on the observations, principals would then provide an annual evaluation that included written and/or oral feedback.

Traditional observation approaches have been criticized as not being particularly useful in providing meaningful evaluative information in the majority of school contexts. In fact, the vast majority of teachers received the highest scores available across observation rating scales. Policy makers and many policy researchers have been dissatisfied with evaluations that did not effectively identify teachers who were weak performers. Educators were dissatisfied that evaluations were, in many cases, little more than a bureaucratic necessity that contributed little to the improvement of instruction.

This dissatisfaction with traditional observation methods, together with a significant research interest in understanding and characterizing teaching quality, has led to significant efforts in the design and study of classroom observations in order to assess, evaluate, and improve teaching.

The Structure and Process of Observation Protocols

A protocol includes a set of concepts, processes, and procedures that describes the design, training, implementation, scoring, and quality control of a classroom observation measurement system.

Observation systems require the application of a scoring rubric to a sample of teaching, typically a class lesson. A rubric typically consists of a set of dimensions that describe important aspects of teaching, such as classroom discourse, behavior management, and depth of content. Some protocols focus almost exclusively on teacher actions, while others focus on interactions between teachers and students in the classroom. Dimensions are often organized into domains that capture larger constructs of teaching, such as classroom environment and quality of instruction. Each dimension has a scale that includes categories describing different qualities of teaching. The number of points on the scale varies among rubrics. Rubric scales can be binary (i.e., a certain type of evidence is present or absent) or can differentiate performance levels, with between three and seven levels used most often.

Some protocols also include evidence and scales that address aspects of teaching beyond the observed lesson. For example, some protocols may include lesson plans, classroom artifacts such as instructional assignments, and teacher’s oral or written reflections on the lesson.

Although the descriptions in the rubric are typically quite brief, many protocols also include detailed elaborations designed to help observers (and teachers) understand the intended meaning of each protocol dimension. Elaborations may include exemplars and explicit behavioral indicators that suggest different levels of teaching quality.

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