Measures of Effective Teaching project data as the evidence base for comparing five observation instruments¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The report draws on data from the Measures of Effective Teaching project to compare five widely used teacher observation instruments. It states it "compares five widely used observation instruments on the practices they measure, their relationship to student learning, and whether they are affected by the characteristics of students in a teacher's classroom." The comparison covers content, predictive power, and potential bias.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Requires data from the Measures of Effective Teaching project linking observation scores to value-added scores and classroom student characteristics.

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• K-12 teachers observed with the five instruments

Target Learning Goals¶

• Instructional practice measurement for teacher evaluation and improvement

Claims¶

• The classroom management dimension is most consistently and strongly related to teachers' value-added scores across instruments, subjects, and grades [+W]
• Eight of ten dimensions of instructional practice are common across all five examined teacher observation instruments [+W]
• All seven dimensions of instructional practice with quantitative data are modestly but significantly related to teachers' value-added scores [+W]
• Classroom student characteristics affect teacher observation results for some instruments, more often in English language arts than in math classes [+W]

Related Elements¶

Examples¶

• Use comparative evidence on content, predictive power, and bias when selecting a teacher observation instrument

Key Sources¶

• Brian Gill, Megan Shoji, Thomas Coen, Kate Place. (2016). The Content, Predictive Power, and Potential Bias in Five Widely Used Teacher Observation Instruments. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/midatlantic