Improving impacts of classrooms: Professional Development and Classroom Observation

1. CASTL Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning Improving impacts of classrooms:Professional Development and Classroom Observation Robert C. Pianta, Ph.D. University of Virginia CASTL

2. Questions and challenges for policy, research, and training in education • What are offered to students in classrooms? • Do interactions with teachers and experiences in classrooms matter for students? • Can observation leverage improvements quality, and effectiveness of teachers/teaching? • Measure, validate, improve teacher quality at scale through standardized observation

3. Results of large-scale observational studies • National-level studies • National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) • NICHD Study of Early Child Care • Up to 1,000 settings observed at preschool, K, 1, 3, 5 ― more than 4,000 classrooms • Largest set of systematic standardized classroom observation in U.S. schools • All teachers credentialed/certified

4. Observations and large-scale applications • Trade-offs and decisions • Multiple versus single occasions • Length of the “window” • Time of day / content of instruction • Unit of analysis – global or micro • Classroom-level or child-level • Training demands and reliability • Applicable across diverse settings • No system can address every concern • Ultimate criterion is link to child outcomes

5. Describing opportunities to learn: Counting behaviors, activities, practices • Vast majority of interaction/activity is whole group or individual seatwork • Few, if any, social or instructional interactions between teacher and individual child • Mostly literacy activities • Exceptional variation within and across grades • Consistent patterns from pre-k to 5th grade

6. How do students spend time? • High levels (30%) of “business/routine” activity • pk-5: managing materials, routines • High levels of “basic skills” focus • 7:1 in pk-1; 14:1 in 3-5 • Ratio of listening, sitting, watching: Doing • 10: pk-1 1,3,5 (NICHD ECCRN 2002, 2004)

7. Rating interactions: What is the CLASS? • Derived from developmentally-informed analysis of settings and putative impacts on broad-based outcomes. • Focus on dimensions of teacher-student interaction in 3 domains - a theoretical claim about latent structure of classroom settings • Emotional Support • Organization / Management • Instructional Support

8. Classroom Organization Emotional Support Instructional Support Regard for student perspective Instructional learning Behavior management Positive climate Negative climate Concept development Quality of feedback Language modeling Productivity Sensitivity formats Relationships, Affect, Respect, Communication Clear expectation, Proactive, Redirection Analysis/reasoning, Creativity, Integration Punitive, Sarcasm/ disrespect, Negativity Feedback loops, Encourage responses, Expand performance Maximize time, Efficient routines and transitions Aware, Responsive, Address problem, Comfort Variety, Promote student interest, Clarity, Engaging Conversation, Open-ended, Repeat/extend, Advanced language Flexibility, Autonomy, Student expression DOMAINS DIMENSIONS INDICATORS

9. Classroom ratings: CLASS PK-5 • Positive climate • Negative climate • Teacher sensitivity • Regard for student perspectives • Effective behavior management • Learning formats/engagement • Productivity • Concept development • Evaluative feedback • Language modeling Emotional Support Organization/ Management Instructional Support

10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 What is the quality of the classroom setting? • Positive emotional climate • Productivity • Quality of feedback

11. Profiles of classroom quality: First grade 7 6 5 4 Quality Emotional 3 Instructional 2 1 0 Positive emotional climate Low academic demand Very positive emotional climate High instructional quality Mediocre, Low academic demand Negative emotional climate, Low instructional quality 31% 23% 29% 17%

12. Associations with structural/selection factors • Exceptional variability within and across grades, including across the same grade/curriculum. Stability across grades is low – 15% • Little to no association of observed interactions with: • Teacher experience or training • Teacher salary • Small associations with structure and selection (.10 - .20) • Class size: larger classes more structured; smaller classes more social and higher instructional quality • Family income/education related to more positive ratings • Students needing access to stable high-quality instruction do not typically receive it – 10% rate for low achievers

13. Classroom interactions and children’s social and academic performance • Designs that isolate effects for instructional and emotional inputs controlling for other influences – in growth models • Family and demographic factors • Child’s prior performance • Structural features of schooling • Primarily small main effects (+/- .10) • Instructional and emotional quality predict more positive achievement and social outcomes • Larger effects on more proximal outcomes (e.g., child engagement) • More instruction in literacy and math also predict to those outcomes • Stronger effects for different groups of children • Low maternal education • Adjustment problems in K • Poor

14. Pre-k quality and growth in child outcomes • Where should we focus attention in policy, program development, and teacher preparation? • Predicting achievement growth during preK from: • Structural features (teacher ed., curriculum, etc.) • Observed interactions (ECERS, CLASS) • No association of structure with outcome, singly or in combination (e.g., NIEER index) • Instructional and Emotional Supports (CLASS) predict positive changes in literacy, language, and math skills – small effect sizes – persist into kindergarten

15. Gains in Gr. 1 achievement in instructionally supportive classrooms 107 106 105 Standardized tests of achievement adjusted 104 103 High educ. 102 101 Low educ. 100 99 98 Low Moderate High 1st Grade Instructional Support

16. Gains in Gr. 1 achievement in emotionally supportive classrooms 107 106 Kindergarten adjustment problems 105 104 Standardized tests of achievement adjusted 103 No problems 102 101 Multiple problems 100 99 98 Low Moderate High 1st Grade Emotional Support

17. Implications of our work P-5 • Redefine “teacher quality” in terms of performance/interactions in classroom • Strive toward moving instructional dimensions and implementation “up” the scale of quality interactions • Develop training and support approaches that address teachers’ interactions with children • Approach these goals systematically and scientifically with standardized, validated observations at core • A science of teaching and teacher-training that relies on direct and validated observation

18. Measurement issues/directions • Develop extension of CLASS for grades 6-12 • Ecometrics – Partitioning variance related to rater, time, day, season, window, consider alternative units of analysis. • Global features more stable, valid. Reliability improved through adding raters in the system. Implications for scalability and for research on intervention effects, etc. • Informant-report version; empirical tests of content-knowledge hypotheses

19. Standardized observation: Support for high-quality interactions Professional development/ training Observational Assessment Social and academic outcomes for children Resource allocation CLASS Instructional Organization Social Improved teacher outcomes Evaluation Curriculum

20. myteachingpartner.net

21. Focus on interactions in classrooms • Teacher-child interactions and relationships are the means by which the curricula are implemented • MTP uses CLASS as the basis for defining high-quality implementation and as the target/focus of professional development • Goals of MTP are to: • Increase teachers’ observation skills in identifying interactive behaviors and cues related to CLASS • Identify children’s differential responses to teacher behaviors • Increase teachers’ skills in identifying alternative responses to children's’ cues – create opportunity myteachingpartner.net

22. MTP support for teachers Two forms of web-based support for quality implementation MTP Activities Teacher-child interactions and relationships: CLASS Student growth in language, literacy and social relationships myteachingpartner.net

23. Project design • 240 Participating PreK teachers statewide - VPI • 3 Conditions of participation / levels of support • Consultancy plus website plus curriculum • Website access plus curriculum • Materials/curriculum only • All conditions • Receive iBook laptops • Receive MTP activities • Complete surveys and assess 4 randomly selected children myteachingpartner.net

24. Quality teaching videos: PK-3 myteachingpartner.net

25. CLASS examples: PK-3 myteachingpartner.net

26. MTP consultation cycle 1 Classroom video recording at an established time 2 4 Teacher and consultant meet and discuss teaching practices Consultant reviews and edits video clips 3 Teacher reviews clips and reflects on practice myteachingpartner.net

27. Prompts “This clip is a nice demonstration of concept development. You ask the children why the girl in the book is happy. You receive one answer and then go on and get ideas from two other children. What other strategies do you use to promote concept development?” Intended to identify positive aspect of teacher’s instruction in relation to a class dimension myteachingpartner.net

28. Prompts “Here you quickly and effectively redirect the children back to the story. As you watch this clip, tell me what you are doing to help the children remember the rules.” Intended to help a teacher identify CLASS dimensions and examples in her teaching interactions myteachingpartner.net

29. Prompts “Some of the other children are not engaged in this lesson. What kinds of learning formats might you have used to draw all of the children in?” Feedback on how the teacher implements lessons myteachingpartner.net

30. MTP-S Prompts: Feedback for teachers myteachingpartner.net

31. Effects of MTP support on interactions • Examine both effects of condition on outcome (web vs consultation), treatment on treated, and moderation with regard to classroom demands. • Teachers receiving consultation show greater increases in quality of instructional interactions; early career teachers who view CLASS videos show gains in interactions with children; effects seem attributable to video review • Consultation moderates poverty effect

32. Changes in sensitivity for teachers in the MTP consultation and web only study conditions

33. Changes in language stimulation for teachers in the MTP consultation and web conditions

34. Moderating effects of study condition on the association between classroom poverty and changes in teacher sensitivity

35. Moderating effects of study condition on the association between visiting video pages and changes in teacher sensitivity

36. Effects of MTP support on child outcomes • Examine effects of condition and treatment on treated with Consultancy, Web, and Activities groups. • When teachers participate in consultation, children show greater gains in tests of early literacy

39. Associations between Teachers’ Exposure to the MyTeachingPartner Consultancy, Language and Literacy Activities and Web-Site, and Children’s Development of Language and Literacy Skills during Pre-K *p≤.05. **p≤.01. ***p≤.001.

40. Associations between Teachers’ Exposure to the MyTeachingPartner Consultancy, Language and Literacy Activities and Web-Site, and Children’s Development of Language and Literacy Skills during Pre-K(continued) *p≤.05. **p≤.01. ***p≤.001.

41. Moderating Effects of Teachers Years of Experience on the Association Between Exposure to the Consultancyand Children’s Development of Print Knowledge

42. Standardized observation of interactions • Is feasible, reliable and valid. A scalable language and lens for classroom settings • Three domains: Emotional, Organizational, Instructional appear valid across grades • A lever for research on teacher professional development and preparation to increase setting quality and child outcomes • Implications for accountability systems, teacher quality, research on teacher ed.