Framework for Teaching

History and Theoretical Foundations

In 1996, Charlotte Danielson first developed the FFT and published under the title Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. The FFT represented an extension of the Praxis III: Classroom Performance Assessments of the Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers, an observation instrument developed through research conducted at the educational testing service and used to assess the teaching skills of first-year teachers.

The FFT is based on extensive empirical and theoretical literature and is intended to reflect teachers’ instructional and noninstructional activities. It covers four broad domains of teaching: (1) planning and preparation, (2) the classroom environment, (3) instruction, and (4) professional responsibilities. These four domains are composed of 22 components, which themselves are made up of 76 elements. Each element is scored on a 4-point Likert-type scale from unsatisfactory to distinguished, using rubrics with detailed descriptions at each scoring point.

The FFT reflects a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, in which students’ development of knowledge is best promoted when they are doing intellectual work themselves. From this perspective, effective instruction involves the teacher designing activities that engage students in constructing their own knowledge, such as class discussions and other activities where students describe their own thinking. The constructivist perspective is threaded throughout the element-level rubrics in the FFT, with “distinguished” performance in many elements marked by students [Page 705]taking an active, central role in their learning. For example, in the element activities and assignments, evidence for distinguished performance is described as “All students are cognitively engaged in the activities and assignments in their exploration of content. Students initiate or adapt activities and projects to enhance their learning.”

Changes to the Instrument

Since the FFT was released in 1996, it has been revised to refine and clarify language in the rubrics, and additional examples have been included to facilitate the use of the instrument with new teacher population. The 2007 edition of FFT included minor changes to elements’ names, additional versions for nonclassroom specialists such as school nurses and librarians as well as additional information on the instrument’s psychometric properties. In 2011 and 2013, revised versions of the instrument were released under the title The Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument. The goal of the most recent round of revisions was to support schools and districts in using the FFT for formally evaluating teachers; thus, updated versions have further clarified rubric language and included additional examples to support evaluators. The newest rubric is aligned with the Common Core State Standards.

...