Unpacking Ongoing Monitoring
To ensure students receive the support they need, we must offer teachers the training, support, and feedback necessary to support implementation.
In a multi-year study, Terry Scott and colleagues observed 6,752 classrooms (Pre-K – 12), in schools considered high-risk to low risk, across numerous content areas, and in classrooms with diverse teacher and student populations (Scott, Hirn & Cooper, 2017). The commonality across all classrooms was the generally low level of implementation of teaching and learning practices with large effect sizes.
In classrooms where ETLPs are in use, students are less likely to demonstrate unexpected behaviors (Rivkin, Hanusheck, & Kain, 2005) and more likely to achieve greater levels of academic success (McIntosh, Chard, Boland, & Horner, 2016). However, for students in high-risk schools, the evidence suggests that teachers tend to have the lowest use of ETLPs (Stitcher et al., 2009).
Education is calling for more robust systems of professional learning, including elements of training, teacher self-monitoring, coaching and feedback. These systems must include opportunities for collaboration and dialog, to support sustainable professional learning (Scott, Hirn & Cooper, 2017).
A key component for sustainable professional learning that is sometime overlooked is meaningfully engaging all teachers in the process. It is important for teachers to set goals, make plans to self-monitor, and participate in professional dialogs.
Unpacking Ongoing Monitoring of ETLPs
Implementation of effective instructional practices increases with a coaching combination of professional development and performance feedback and/or self-monitoring (Briere, Simonsen, Sugai, & Myers, 2015).
These 8 Effective Teaching and Learning Practices have been shown to increase instructional time and improve student engagement. We know these practices make a difference for students.
- Classroom Expectations & Rules
- Classroom Procedures & Routines
- Encouraging Expected Behavior
- Discouraging Inappropriate Behavior
- Active Supervision
- Opportunities to Respond
- Activity Sequencing & Choice
- Adjusting Task Difficulty
Regular monitoring ensures teachers have the feedback they need to successfully implementing practices, improve implementation efforts, and receive assistance to improve their practice.
A district or building may select a specific ETLP for all, some or a few teachers (Simonsen et al., 2014). This decision should be based on data including teacher self-assessments, classroom observations and/or student outcome data. As teachers begin monitoring their implementation of ETLPs, it is critical to identify for them who will select the ETLP and where implementation efforts will begin; the district leadership team (DLT), building leadership teams (BLTs), collaborative teams (CTs) and/or individual teachers. Once an ETLP is selected for improvement,educators will need to engage in the steps of self-assessment, goal setting, and progress monitoring. Collating self-assessment and student data can help DLTs, BLTs and/or CTs plan for high quality professional development (HQPD).
The focus of this lesson is on teacher goal setting and self-monitoring of their implementation of selected ETLP. For more information about how to develop professional learning systems for training, coaching and systematic feedback look for the module on Professional Learning.