Observation Forms
Partnering with eObservations gives your instructional leaders, administrators, and teaching staff access to a wide variety of observation forms whose content and data can lead to focused teaching and learning improvement across your organization. We’ve created the forms so that you don’t have to! Below are a sampling of descriptions of observation forms available in our platform, all of which become accessible with an eObservations subscription.
TEACHER & OBSERVER: PARTNERS FOR SUCCESS
Our flagship tool, the Teacher & Observer: Partners for Success (TOPS) form views quality teaching as a pyramid of skills from the most basic – creating physical safety in the classroom – to the most advanced – students taking ownership of their learning. This view recognizes that all teachers fall upon a continuum of growth, having mastered certain skills but not yet others. Using this form, observers conduct short, targeted observations to provide specific, bite-sized feedback on a particular growth step and then note when the teacher has reached mastery. The growth steps are based on the research of Hattie’s (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement.
This content of the TOPS tool is available for free here.
signature pedagogies SERIES
The Signature Pedagogies series is a new, ground-breaking set of forms that can radically increase the range of classrooms in which instructional leaders can provide meaningful feedback. This new approach enables leaders to concentrate on two foundational aspects of teaching: universal strategies common in all effective instructional settings and unique, discipline-specific instructional methods. Instructional leaders can’t be experts in all disciplines – and this is where the Signature Pedagogies series can help! Our forms guide observers through specific pedagogies for mathematics, science, social studies, learning to read, and reading to learn – with more disciplines coming soon.
high-yield teacher behaviors
This form is based on the work at the School University Research Network Principal’s Academy at The College of William and Mary. It contains eleven high-yield look-fors identified in Hattie’s (2009) meta analyses of instructional strategies whose effect size was .4 or greater. Additionally, the form prompts observers to record any low-yield practices seen in the classroom. Taken together, the data from this form can guide instructional leaders in focusing on specific instructional strategies to develop with their teaching staff.
student indicators of engagement
Similar to the High-Yield Teacher Behaviors form, this form also helps observers keep track of highly-effective behaviors – except here, the focus is on what students are doing rather than what teachers are doing. Based on the work of Rozzelle (2012) and her colleagues, this form calls explicit attention to indicators of student engagement with the lesson. For example, there is a difference between a teacher tasking students with setting their own learning goals and students actually setting their own learning goals – the latter of which is highlighted in this form.
effective teacher / co-teacher pedagogIES
An expansion of the High-Yield Teacher Behaviors form, this pair of forms highlights even more highly effective teacher practices with large impacts on student achievement, again based on work at the School University Research Network. The Co-Teacher version allows observers to document practices in classrooms with two instructors, such as in inclusion settings, fostering facilitated growth in the teaching partnership.
engagement data collection
A key to enhancing learning is to increase students’ time on task through a variety of different learning opportunities (Hattie, 2009). This form guides observers to record how students are engaged or not-engaged on a task-by-task basis. Are students reading? Writing? Responding appropriately? Inattentive? Doing unrelated work? Disturbing others? Answers to these questions can guide the improvement of teacher practice and therefore student performance.
cognitive levels of questioning and WAIT time
Research has established a direct link between student achievement and the effective use of questioning at different difficulty and cognitive levels (Craig, Sullins, Witherspoon, & Gholson, 2006; Hattie, 2009). This form is used to collect data on the cognitive level of each question the teacher poses during a lesson as well as the teacher’s wait time. Observers and teachers should be familiar with the cognitive hierarchy and question stems that cue specific cognitive levels in order to improve student learning outcomes.
virtual learning
The past several years have made clear that quality virtual instruction, while sharing many aspects with quality in-person instruction, carries its own unique set of indicators. Our Virtual Learning form guides observers through the process of identifying such shared and unique indicators based on teacher performance standards, The Distance Learning Playbook (Fisher, Frey, & Hattie, 2020), and our team’s own extensive experience in providing effective online instruction for students of all ages.
This content of the Virtual Learning tool is available for free here.
teacher interim and summative evalaution
While the main focus of eObservations is the growth and development of teachers’ skills by way of observation, feedback, and data analysis, our platform can also be used for summative evaluation of teaching staff. We provide both mid-year and end-of-year forms for identifying standards-based evidence in teacher practices. At your request, we can adapt these forms to the specific requirements of your organization or licensing body.
classified employee evaluation
Similar to our teacher summative evaluation form, this form facilitates the evaluation of classified staff – eg. staff in the fields of nursing, clerical services, nutritional services, and more. We can also adapt our form to unique indicators of specific job areas within your organization.
context and discipline-DEPENDENT
In addition to all of the other forms described here, we also offer several forms that are context and discipline-dependent. For example, forms related to English Language Learners, Special Education, pre-kindergarten / early learning, literacy, mathematics, electives, classroom culture, iteach preparatory program participants, and more are available to meet your needs.
CUSTOM FORMS FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION
We recognize that your organization has its own specific needs related to instructional focus, professional development, school improvement, curricular programs, state guidelines, or even federal regulations. You may find that none of our built-in observational forms fully meet those needs. That’s why we offer to take your existing observational forms and build them into our platform for your exclusive use in a way that lets your observers and teaching staff leverage content they are already familiar with… while at the same time benefitting from the easy to use data collection and reporting tools that eObservations provides. Transition your own content seamlessly to our platform by contacting us today!