In higher education, educators establish complex learning outcomes for students to achieve during their collegiate studies. These outcomes, given their complexity, necessitate an advanced approach to studying the teaching and learning process as it unfolds in real time. We brought together extant literature and our own research experience studying…

More than forty years ago, Dan Lortie famously lamented the lack of a common language with which to describe teaching and noted this scarcity as a key problem within studies of teaching and teacher professionalism. I argue that recent developments in video technology and supporting methodological designs have paved the way for a new generation of…

The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the extent to which the relation between teacher reported (N = 26) teaching efficacy and observations of classroom quality varied as a function of a specific classroom characteristic, classroom adversity, a measure of classroom level hardship that includes factors such as student challenges with…

Classroom sensing systems can capture data on teacher-student behaviours and interactions at a scale far greater than human observers can. These data, translated to multi-modal analytics, can provide meaningful insights to educational stakeholders. However, complex data can be difficult to make sense of. In addition, analyses done on these data…

The research is clear: Including students with disabilities in general education classrooms is the most effective way for all students to learn. If you are working toward greater inclusivity in your school or system, this book from educators and inclusion experts Julie Causton, Kate MacLeod, Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, Jenna Mancini Rufo, and Paul…

For coaches, access to classrooms isn't straightforward and is far from guaranteed. Access is a prerequisite for coaching, yet there are many barriers beyond a coach's control, making their job difficult to impossible. In this article, the authors detail how five administrative and structural forces shaped coaches' access to teachers' classrooms.…

Purpose: This study focused on identifying measurable constructs of a restorative classroom and appropriate metrics to measure those constructs through content validity analysis of a direct observation tool. The tool was designed to assess restorative practices implementation in the classroom in the context of professional development supporting…

Dance as physical activity (PA) is underinvestigated, with little information about artistic technical dance in public schools. This study aimed to use the System for Observing Dance Activities in the Classroom Environment (SODANCE) instrument to report PA levels, time spent in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA), time spent in different lesson…

We explore multi-modal machine learning-based approaches (facial expression recognition, auditory emotion recognition, and text sentiment analysis) to identify "negative moments" of teacher-student interaction during classroom teaching. Our analyses on a large (957 videos, each 20min) dataset of classroom observations suggest that: (1)…

Research Findings: A total of 54 videotaped mathematics activity observations drawn from 27 different pre-kindergarten classrooms in an urban public schools system in the U.S. were coded using 2 observational measures: (1) a general measure, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS); and (2) a math-specific measure, the High Impact…

In this study, we examined American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Head Start directors' perceptions of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and critically examined those perceptions to provide insight into the cultural appropriateness of the CLASS in the AI/AN Head Start context. Based on qualitative data from 76 AI/AN Head Start…

Purpose: Our study focused on identifying measurable constructs of a restorative classroom and appropriate metrics to measure those constructs through content validity analysis of a direct observation tool. The tool was designed to assess restorative practices implementation in the classroom in the context of professional development supporting…

The National Quality Framework is used across Australia to drive quality improvement in early childhood settings. Unique to Western Australia, the National Quality Standard is also used in schools to improve quality in classrooms up to Year two (seven to eight years). However, the literature suggests the National Quality Standard is too broad with…

Systematic classroom observation is often used in evaluating and enhancing the quality of classroom instruction. However, classroom observation can potentially suffer from human bias. In addition, the traditional classroom observation is too expensive for resource-constrained environments (e.g., Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Central Asia). A…

Researchers and practitioners sometimes presume that using a previously "validated" instrument will produce "valid" scores; however, contemporary views of validity suggest that there are many reasons this assumption can be faulty. In order to demonstrate just some of the problems with this view, and to support comparisons of…