Improving Impacts of Classrooms: Professional Development and Classroom Observation

1. Improving Impacts of Classrooms:Professional Development and Classroom Observation Robert C. Pianta, Ph.D. Dean, Curry School of Education Director, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning

2. Questions and challenges for policy, research, and training in education What experiences for social and cognitive development are offered to students in classroom settings? Do interactions with teachers and experiences in classrooms matter for students? Can observation leverage efforts to improve the richness, quality, and effectiveness of experiences in classrooms? Can we define and assess teacher quality in terms of actual performance? Can standardized observation of performance leverage improvement in outcomes?

3. Results of large-scaleobservational 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 Large set of systematic standardized classroom observation in U.S. schools All teachers credentialed/certified

4. 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 (50%-90% of instruction) • Exceptional variation within and across grades and classrooms • Consistent patterns from pre-k to 5th grade

5. 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 • 10:1

6. Rating interactions: What is the CLASS? • Focus on how teachers and students interact • What the teacher is doing to promote the positive emotional, social, and academic development of students in the classroom • Three broad domains, consistent pk-12: • Emotional Support • Organization / Management • Instructional support

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

10. Profiles of classroom quality: First grade 7 6 5 4 Quality Emotional 3 Instructional 2 1 0 31% 23% 29% 17%

11. What observational studies tell us • Exceptional variability within and across grades, generally passive instructional environments • Little to no association of observed behavior: • Teacher experience or training, curriculum, public/private • Teacher salary • Small associations (.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

12. Classroom interactions and children’s social and academic performance • Designs that isolate effects for instructional and emotional inputs controlling for other influences – value added • Family and demographic factors • Children’s prior performance • Structural features of schooling • Primarily small effects • Instructional and emotional quality predict more positive achievement and social outcomes • Larger effects on more proximal outcomes (e.g., child engagement) • Exposures to 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

13. Pre-k quality and growth in child outcomes • Where should we focus attention in policy, program development, and teacher preparation? • Predicting achievement growth during pre-k 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

14. Predicting student development in pre-k Changes in children’s development from beginning to end of preschool Mashburn, et al. (in press)

15. Gains in grade 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 grade 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-12 • Focus regulation and training on teachers’ interactions with children—standards and measures • 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 • Incentives, supports, and outcomes for teacher behaviors in classrooms

18. CLASS - Secondary • Develop extension of CLASS for grades 6-12 • Focus on motivational properties of classrooms: Relevance, Autonomy, Competence • Build-out of video library; integration with MTP supports for secondary teachers • Test measurement approach in secondary classroom settings

19. Support for high-quality interactions Professional development/ training Observational Assessment Social and academic outcomes for children CLASS Instructional Organization Social Resource allocation 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. Quality teaching videos: PK-3 myteachingpartner.net

23. CLASS examples: PK-3 myteachingpartner.net

24. Quality teaching videos: Secondary myteachingpartner.net

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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 MTP lessons myteachingpartner.net

29. MTP-Secondary myteachingpartner.net

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

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

32. Changes in sensitivity for teachers in the MTP consultation and web-only study conditions 5 4.5 Consultancy Teacher Sensitivity Web Only 4 3.5 May April June March January October February November December September

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 5.5 5 Consultancy--50% Poor 4.5 Consultancy--100% Poor Teacher Sensitivity Web Only--50% Poor Web Only--100% Poor 4 3.5 May April June March October January February November December September

35. Moderating effects of study condition on the association between visiting video pages and changes in teacher sensitivity 5.5 5 4.5 Consultancy—No videos Teacher Sensitivity Consultancy—Average videos Web Only—No videos Web Only—Average videos 4 3.5 May April June March October January February November December September

36. Effects of MTP support: Results • Teachers receiving consultation show greater increases in quality of instructional interactions • Children show greater gains in tests of early literacy, in motivation/engagement • Early career teachers who view CLASS videos show gains in interactions with children • When participating in consultation, teachers report lower levels of problem behavior for target children • Teachers report high levels of satisfaction, motivation, and lower isolation.

37. 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 education

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

41. 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)

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

43. Moderating Effects of Teacher’s Years of Experience on the Association Between Exposure to the Consultancy and Children’s Development of Phonological Awareness and Literacy Skills