Observation for monitoring or observation for coaching: same or different?

• In Event: Developing and using classroom observation instruments to improve early grade reading (EGR): experiences, lessons learned and guidance

Proposal

In the global effort to improve early grade learning outcomes, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported improved teaching practice through provision of guided lesson plans for teachers and through professional development programs, recognizing that teacher practice is at the heart of classroom instruction. Evidence suggests that explicit and scaffolded instruction supported by lesson plans that provide teachers with clear guidance can lead to significant improvement in student learning outcomes (i.e. Mourshed et al., 2010; Piper, Sitabkhan, Mejia, and Betts, 2018). Such findings have influenced the use of guided lesson plans as part of teacher professional development interventions in EGR programs in low and middle-income countries. The logic followed that if teachers used the teachers’ guide correctly, adhering to the activities, timing, feedback, and assessment, student learning outcomes would improve.

To verify whether teachers are adhering to guided lesson plans and using materials, EGR projects are increasingly using classroom observations to monitor teachers’ fidelity of implementation (FOI) of the prescribed programs. As a cost-effective approach, observations are carried out by Ministry of Education (MOE) officials or project staff using FOI observation checklists provided on paper, phones and/or tablets. These FOI observation checklists align with guided lesson plans included in the teacher guides. In some cases, FOI checklists are tailored to specific lesson plans while in other cases, FOI checklist are more generic, following a lesson outline with principle steps of activities (“I do, we do, you do” for example) required of every lesson. Recent research conducted with several EGR projects found that greater FOI is correlated with greater learning outcomes (i.e. Piper et al. 2018). These results are encouraging, and thus, have increased the popularity of the use of FOI monitoring through observation.

At the same time, the focus on the provision of professional development has led to the acknowledgment that teacher learning needs support throughout the school year and not just through periodic face-to-face workshops. Coaching has been cited as a promising approach to catalyzing teacher practice change. USAID defines coaching as, “…providing onsite, job-embedded, sustained PD for teachers” (Bean, 2014). Like FOI monitoring, coaching also generally uses classroom observation as a key component of the model. Some projects have elected to use the FOI monitoring and the accompanying observation tool for their coaching program. In these cases, it is often someone such as an inspector who carries out the observation and provides feedback. Other projects have elected to use a separate coaching tool and other actors as coaches. The coaches in these cases may be school-based (such as the head teacher), may fill other roles in the education system (such as teacher training instructors), or may be project staff.

This presentation will compare FOI and coaching instruments and their use, providing the participants with examples of each. The presenter will contextualize the information through the use of real-life case studies of two EGR programs: one that has used separate tools and observers for FOI and coaching and one that has used one tool and observer to coach through FOI. Attendees will have the opportunity to weigh the pros and cons of each approach including the sustainability of the approaches and tools.

Author

• Julia Frazier, FHI 360