Instructional practices

Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) developed the Freshman Survey for collecting data on incoming college freshmen. The CIRP Freshman Survey focuses on the following domains: established behaviors in high school, academic preparedness, admissions decisions, expectations of college, interactions with peers and faculty, student values and goals, student demographic characteristics, and concerns about financing college.  Year developed: 1966.

The Quality of Classroom Instruction (QCI) measures the quality of explicit instruction. QCI examines the following eight aspects of instructional interactions: teacher modeling, instructional pacing, response time, transitions between activities, student engagement, learning success, checks of student understanding, and academic feedback. Observers assign QCI scores to each instructional aspect on a scale from 1 (low quality) to 3 (high quality) at the end of the observed lesson.

The Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol (CRIOP) is a comprehensive framework and evaluation tool that operationalizes culturally responsive instruction. Indicators of culturally responsive instruction are rated on a scale of 0 (never) to 4 (consistently); and each indicators includes detailed examples of what constitutes responsive and non-responsive practice. The CRIOP is intended for use as a classroom observation guide for coaches, principals, instructional coaches, etc. to support classroom teachers in the development of more culturally responsive instruction.

The Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale (CRTSE) is a survey that assess teachers’ beliefs that engaging in culturally responsive teaching practices will have positive classroom and student outcomes. The scale is based on Bandura's (1977) research on outcome expectancies (a person's estimate that a given behavior will lead to certain outcomes), and Siwatu's (2006) research on Culturally Responsive Teaching Competencies. Survey respondents rate from 0 to 100 the probability that a certain culturally responsive teaching behavior will lead to positive classroom and student outcomes. The scale has primarily been used to support the development of preservice teachers.

The Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) is a Common Core-aligned observational rubric that provides a framework for analyzing mathematics instruction. Observers rate instruction across five domains: common core-aligned student practices; working with students and mathematics; richness of mathematics; errors and imprecision; and, classroom work is connected to mathematics. Although originally designed for research use, the MQI can be used as a tool to support teachers' professional development.

The Multicultural Teaching Observation Instrument (MTOI) is a tool used to assess the types of multicultural teaching that takes places in the classroom setting. The MTOI is comprised of 18 items grouped into 3 categories, Teacher Support of Students, Classroom Equity, and Integration of Students' Culture. The Teacher Support category measures a teachers' support of students as individuals and their culture. The Classroom equity category measures whether teachers are fair or equitable toward all students and the extent to which teachers try to reduce prejudice in the classroom. The integration of students' culture category examines examines the extent to which resources, materials, and practices that reflect multicultural teaching are used in the classroom. This category measures how well multicultural concepts are integrated into the classroom and the curriculum.

The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) measures teachers' evaluations of how likely they are to be successful in teaching. TSES conceptualizes teaching as a complex activity and teacher efficacy as a multi-faceted construct representing at least three distinct factors: Efficacy for Classroom Management, Efficacy to promote Student Engagement, and Efficacy in using Instructional Strategies. It is designed for and has been used by researchers and school leaders to measure teacher self-efficacy at a particular point in time, as well as before and after participating in professional development programs. There is a short- and long-form version of the scale.

This 22-item questionnaire is designed to assess children's perceptions of their ability to enact prosocial verbal persuasive skills in specific peer situations. 12 scale items describe conflict situations, and 10 items describe non-conflict situations. Students are asked to respond to each situation on a four-point Likert scale.

RESET is a special education teacher observation system that includes observation protocols aligned with evidence-based instructional practices for students with high-incidence disabilities. 

STeP is a tool that allows instructors to be evaluated by their students across a set of categories identified as critical for effective classroom instruction. Two optional open-ended questions are also included at the end allowing students to provide additional input that may not be fully captured in the body of the survey.

Subscales within the article are: Critical Awareness, Heritage Language Expectations, Cultural Content Integration. The authors reported that honoring students’ heritage language (i.e., Spanish) is the mediating element through which cultural content integration predicts mathematics achievement for Latino children. 

Culturally Ambitious Teaching Practices in Mathematics (CATP) measures practices that support the development of a culturally relevant classroom environment.

The Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale (MTCS) captures three dimensions of multicultural teaching competency: awareness, knowledge, and skills. Multicultural teaching awareness is defined as three dynamic and continuous processes reflecting teachers’ awareness of (a) self and others as cultural beings, (b) their attitudes and biases, and (c) the need to create culturally sensitive learning environments for all students.

The Culturally Responsive Teaching Survey measures instructional practices associated with culturally responsive teaching, including conveying respect and connectedness, building on students' personal experiences, and encouraging confidence as learners.

The Student Measure of Culturally Responsive Teaching (SMCRT) explores students’ perspectives about culturally responsive teaching practices in their school.

The Classroom Practices Inventory is a classroom observation measure for early childhood classrooms. It is designed to assess the developmental appropriateness of classroom and curricular practices, teachers actions, children's activities, and teacher-child interactions.

COEMET is a classroom observation instrument that evaluates classroom culture and the use of specific math activities. It includes questions about how actively the teacher interacts with the children, how the teacher uses teachable math moments, how math is displayed in the physical environment of the room, how confident the teacher appears about math, etc. The specific math activities measured are not connected to a specific curriculum.

The Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM) is a classroom observation instrument that rates the nature and quality of academic instruction and the overall learning environment. The instrument is based on social-constructivist learning theory, such that in high-scoring classrooms teachers are identified as actively guiding and supporting children's learning efforts and the development of their social skills.

The Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit (ELLCO) is a classroom observation measure that assesses the quality of the classroom environment and teacher practices across five key elements: classroom structure, curriculum, the language environment, books and book reading opportunities, and print and early writing support. The measure is primarily designed for administrators and teachers of preschool and early elementary classrooms to use for professional development and program improvement.

The Frequency of Mathematics Instructional Practices Survey is a 14-item survey of self-reported instructional practices. The survey can be used by teachers, administrators, teacher educators, policymakers and researchers in order to assess the extent to which teachers' practices are social-constructivist or transmission-based.

Framework for Teaching is a classroom observation instrument that can be used for measuring and evaluating the instructional quality of all teachers (from pre-service to experienced) across K-12. The measure can be flexibly used by classroom teachers for professional learning, school leaders for evaluation, researchers for measurement, and system leaders as a common language for organizing the profession.

The Geometry Assessments for Secondary Teachers (GAST) Classroom Observation Tool classifies the teaching moves and instructional tasks of teachers according to cognitive demand. It is designed for use specifically within math lessons focused on similarity, congruence, surface area, and volume. It can be used by teacher educators and researchers to identify the quality of math instruction within this domain.

The Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observations (PLATO) is a classroom observation protocol designed to evaluate thirteen elements of English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. It was originally developed for a study of the relationship between teachers' classroom practices and their impact on student achievement. It is currently being used as a professional development tool to support teachers' use of rigorous, research-based teaching practices. PLATO is designed to work across a variety of curricula and instructional approaches.

The Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) is an observational instrument that can be used to assess the degree to which mathematics or science instruction in grades K-12 is “reformed”. Trained observers rate teachers' instruction across three domains: Lesson Design and Implementation; Content; Classroom Culture. Possible scores range from 0 to 100 points, with higher scores reflecting a greater degree of use of reform-based instructional practices.

The Science Discourse Instrument (SDI) is an observation tool and rubric used to evaluate the quality of discussions in science classrooms. There are six categories for observation in the SDI, which are considered essential to strong discourse in science classrooms, three of the categories focus on teachers and three focus on students. The categories for teachers are: asking open ended questions; pressing for explanation; and linking discussions. The categories for students are: explanation of ideas; co-constructing ideas with peers; and critiquing the reasoning of others.

The Science Management Observation Protocol (SMOP) is used to conduct structured observations of science classroom practice. SMOP identifies specific teacher behaviors and classroom characteristics which influence an inquiry-based classroom. Teachers and administrators can use the protocol to support the development of quality inquiry-based practices.