This "Rating a Teacher Observation Tool" identifies five simple questions and provides an easy-to-use scorecard to help policymakers decide whether an observation framework is likely to produce fair and accurate results. The five questions are: (1) Do the criteria and tools cover the classroom performance areas most connected to student outcomes?…

Observation measures of instructional quality tend to fall into two broad categories--those for use across subject areas and those intended for use in specific subject areas. The move toward content-specific measures is a result of research suggesting that effective teaching looks different across subject areas and that both content knowledge and…

Research on elementary teaching practices has provided a list of effective teacher behaviors. This list can be used as a menu from which administrators and teachers can select objectives that will serve the teachers as goals for improvement and the administrators as criteria for teacher evaluation. The behaviors listed in this paper have been…

The author explains a school-specific lesson observation format that meets the specific needs of teachers and evaluators. The lesson observation components of teacher evaluation become a positive experience for both teachers and evaluators using this system. (MD)

IN DISCUSSING A RELIABLE AND VALID PRESERVICE PREDICTOR OF TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS, IT IS NOTED THAT MOST TEACHER SELECTION PROCEDURES DEPEND SOLELY ON PAPER AND PENCIL MEASURES OF VERBAL AND SYMBOL MANIPULATION ABILITY. THEREFORE, A NEW MULTIVARIABLE EVALUATION PROCEDURE IS OFFERED. IT CONSISTS OF (1) DEVELOPING EMPIRICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF CLASSROOM…

Student, beginning, and experienced teachers viewed a videotape of a first grade teacher in action. Researchers compared their written responses to questions about classroom management, teacher-student interactions, and use of student knowledge. They found few differences between student and beginning teachers. Experienced teachers better…

The Assessments of Performance in Teaching (APT), presented here, is a classroom teacher performance evaluation procedure mandated by the South Carolina Legislature for all student and first year teachers, and will be implemented in 1982. Aiming to measure minimal competence, the instrument addresses five performance dimensions: planning;…

This report presents an overview of the history of the Junior High Classroom Organization Study, designed to answer questions concerning effective instruction in junior high school English and mathematics classes. Nineteen trained observers were sent to 52 classrooms in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District. Observers kept written records…

The goals of this study were: (1) to develop a methodology for describing competent classroom teaching performance; and (2) to analyze components of competent classroom decision making to be used in improving preservice and inservice teacher training programs. The study investigated differences in: (1) experienced and novice teachers' reports of…

The teaching experiences of 25 student teachers of secondary social studies from Towson State University, Baltimore, Maryland, were investigated to determine if and why they were valuable experiences. Three kinds of data were compiled and evaluated during the ten-week student teaching experience. Student teachers kept records of their daily…

As part of the Louisiana state teacher assessment program to enhance student learning, this manual provides suggestions and resources for teacher practice keyed to attributes of the "Louisiana Components of Effective Teaching." Each of these attributes is accompanied by suggested strategies, evidence of completion, and resources. The…

A three-year project was undertaken by the National Center for research in Vocational Education (Ohio State University, OH) to investigate time on task in vocational and technical classes. During the first year of the project, researchers used the direct observation method to collect time-on-task data pertaining to 10 teachers and 186 students in…