12/01/2011
Watching Teachers Work: Using Observation Tools to Promote Effective Teaching in the Early Years and Early Grades is a recent policy paper released by the New America Foundation.
The report describes how objective observation could be used to improve teaching across the full education spectrum, PreK-12th grade, and cites the Classroom Assessment Scoring System™ (CLASS) repeatedly as a tool that is already being used successfully across the nation for this purpose. The CLASS was developed by a team of researchers in the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, directed by Robert C. Pianta, dean of the Curry School of Education.
Bridget Hamre, a co-author of the CLASS instrument, is quoted in the report, and numerous studies by CASTL researchers are cited in the reference list. The report offers 17 recommendations to policymakers at all levels of government, as well as to educators and teacher-preparation programs.
