2015 CCSA Conference
What’s the Impact?
Focusing on Student Impact to Improve
Observations and Outcomes
District and School Transformation Division
Introductions
Overall Objectives
• Examining the Impact of Instruction
• Improving Student-Centered Lesson
Observations
• Asking Better Questions to Produce
Higher Quality Instruction
Requirements for a Change in Culture
• A true belief with accompanying actions that “this
is the work that must be done”
• Accountability for all (Accountability System)
• Courageous conversations
• Strong sense of vision and focus
Examining the Impact of
Instruction
What does it mean to educate?
1. What is good
teaching?
2. Who determines what
high quality teaching
and learning look like?
4. How do you
determine if students
are learning enough?
3. How do you determine
if students are learning?
Evaluating Teaching and Learning
Activity:
Consider the following:
• What is good teaching?
• What are the elements of a good lesson?
• What does learning look like?
Evaluating Teaching and Learning
Use teaching and learning criteria to:
• help you make sense of what you see
• help you to record evidence and outcomes
clearly
• know what or how much students are
learning
Teaching and Learning Criteria
What would you look for in the classroom to demonstrate these
criteria?
 Standard I Teachers Demonstrate Leadership
 Standard II Teachers Establish a Respectful
Environment for a Diverse
Population of Students
 Standard III Teachers Know the Content They Teach
 Standard IV Teachers Facilitate Learning for Their
Students
 Standard V Teachers Reflect on Their Practice
 Standard VI Teachers Contribute to Academic Success
* NC State Board of Education and the NC Professional Teaching Standards Commission
Key Instructional Shifts of the Common Core
State Standards
English Language Arts/Literacy
 Building knowledge through content-rich
non-fiction and informational texts
 Reading and writing grounded in evidence
from text
 Regular practice with complex text and its
academic vocabulary
Key Instructional Shifts of the Common Core
State Standards
Mathematics

Focus strongly on the major work of the
grade

Coherence: think across grades and link to
major topics within grades.

Rigor: require conceptual understanding,
procedural skill and fluency, and application
with intensity.
Criterion
What does it look like in
the classroom?
Changing the Lens
We observe all the time.
What are you looking for when you
go into classrooms?
Teaching and Learning
• Teaching ………………..Learning
• Cause….………………...Effect
• Teaching ………………..Impact
Consider this…
Teaching is only effective when
students are learning.
Evidence – SO WHAT?
• What’s the impact?
• What’s the outcome?
• So what?
• How do you know?
Recording Evaluative Evidence
Think-Pair-Share:
• If a teacher is using a variety of instructional methods, how
would you know by observing cause and effect?*
• If a teacher helps develop critical thinking and problem
solving skills, how would you know by observing cause and
effect?*
• If a teacher is facilitating student learning of accurate and
appropriate content, how would you know by observing
cause and effect?*
Cause ………………………..Effect
Teaching …………………….Learning
* NC State Board of Education and the NC Professional Teaching Standards Commission
Criterion
What does it look
like in the
classroom?
Impact
Show me the impact!
• The NCSCOS objectives are posted on the board.
• The teacher moves around the room.
• Students sit quietly in their seats.
• Students go to the computer lab for remediation.
Evaluating and Documenting the Impact of
Instruction
• The teacher posts the NCSCOS objectives on the board. He
uses the objectives as a guide for learning by referring back to
them throughout the lesson. As a result, students are well
aware of their learning targets for this lesson, and are
engaged in the learning process.
Or
• The teacher posts the NCSCOS objectives on the board, but
does not refer to them at any time. When students are asked
what they are learning, they point to the objective on the board,
but cannot explain it. Consequently, the NCSCOS objective
is not used effectively to help students understand what
they should be learning, leaving some students
disconnected from the process.
Show me the impact!
Activity:
• The learning targets are posted on the board.
• The teacher moves around the room.
• Students sit quietly in their seats.
• Students go to the computer lab for remediation.
“It does not matter if a cat is black
or white so long as it catches
mice.”
~Deng Xiaoping
Improving Student-Centered
Lesson Observations
Evidence
Impact
(Teacher Actions/Cause)
(Effect)
Evaluating Teaching and Learning
Activity:
Lesson Observation I
• Observe 5 minutes of a lesson.
• Jot down salient points and/or just watch and consider.
• Feedback to the group.
Lesson Observation - continued
Activity (continued):
• Record as you watch 10 more minutes.
• Record cause and effect, teaching, and its impact on
learning.
• Record some examples to support your text.
• Share with a partner. Decide on some examples of text to
share.
• Feedback to the group.
Observation
Recording Evidence and Impact
Table Talk:
• Think about the observation form that you typically use
with your teachers.
• How will you incorporate the cause and effect
observation style to focus on student outcomes?
• How will you utilize probing and prompting questions for
teacher reflection and growth?
Evidence:
Student Work
Scrutinizing Students’ Work in School
Activity:
• Take 2-3 minutes and . . .
• Jot down everything you can learn from
students' work.
What can we learn from looking
at student work?
How does this help evaluate the
quality of student learning?
Scrutinizing Students’ Work
• Grading,
assessment, targetsetting
• Editing and
feedback by
teachers
• Use of
rubrics/exemplars
• Impact of feedback
on progress
• Consistency of
school practice
• Meeting student
needs/differentiation
• Progress
• Student motivation
and attitudes
• Implementation of
the curriculum
Activity: Analyzing Student Work
• Review the student work samples on your
table.
• Discuss with your table group what this
tells you about student learning.
• Write down what evidence you see and
the impact on student learning.
Activity: Continued
• Find two people who reviewed different
work samples.
• Calibrate the findings and identify trends
in student learning.
• What can you tell about the quality of
student learning in this school?
Finding Out About Students’ Work
• Talk to students in the classroom, when
they are working.
• Look at displays in and around
classrooms.
• Examine portfolios/samples.
Cause and Effect
Teacher
Student
Impact
Asking Better Questions to
Produce Higher Quality
Instruction
Asking Better Questions
Activity:
• On a sticky note, write down three questions
that you typically ask your teachers after an
observation.
• Place these questions to one side (we will
come back to them later).
Why do we ask questions
following classroom observations?
We ask questions to determine
• if students are learning;
• if they are learning enough;
• and if they are learning appropriate content.
Ask questions that cause teachers to be
more reflective about student learning.
Focus questions on the students and
their learning, not on the teacher.
Student-centered Questions
• How did students know what they were
supposed to be learning today? Did they learn
it? How do you know?
• How did students interact with the text?
• Did students find the lesson activities
challenging, easy, just right? How do you know?
• Which students mastered the concepts? How
do you know?
• What will follow up with students who did not
master the concept look like?
• How will the learning of those students who did
master the concepts be deepened and
extended?
Asking Better Questions
Think-Pair-Share:
• Revisit your three questions recorded on sticky notes:
– Will they drive the changes you desire?
– If not, how can you re-phrase the questions to improve
student learning?
• How does asking better questions support the standards
from the Teacher Evaluation Instrument?
• Share with a partner or at your table.
Issues with feedback/questioning
Table Talk
• What can make it difficult for school
leaders to ask teachers questions?
• What can make it difficult for teachers to
answer questions?
Giving Feedback:
• Giving positive messages is usually easy, pleasant and
rewarding.
• Giving more difficult messages:
– is never easy;
– does not focus on the teacher’s personality or style;
– never uses “I wouldn’t have… S/he shouldn’t have…”;
– should not be avoided;
– is vital if students’ learning is to improve.
Feedback
Effective feedback is founded on:
• Mutual respect, professionalism, confidence,
and trust
• A partnership with the principal/teachers
• An overarching focus on making a difference
for students
• Good observation practice
• Reliability, honesty, and integrity
Providing Teachers Quality Feedback
Feedback must be:
• balanced
• supported by sufficient evidence and
examples
• developmental
• honest and accurate
• primarily about students’ learning
Providing Teachers Quality Feedback
• Refer back to the teaching that supports the
learning
• Focus on teaching and not the teacher
• Include strengths from the lesson
• Select one or two points for improvement that
would most help this teacher
• Ask questions to build instructional capacity
The Remodelling Change Process
Recognizes the Natural Emotional Curve
that We All Experience
Emotional State
Mobilize
Discover
Deepen
What
could we
do?
What’s
been
done?
Develop
Deliver
What we can
do!
Sustain
What we will
do!
•
•
We have a solution
•
•
Made the right decision
We have some news
•
•
•
•
It’s difficult
It is not the best news
•
•
Now I understand, but . .
Not sure how to solve
There is a solution
We have some options
Confidence
We have a plan to success
We have the answer
Change…
“People underestimate their capacity for
change. There is never a right time to do a
difficult thing. A leader’s job is to help people
have a vision of their potential.”
~ John Porter
Contact Information
• Susan Silver
Instructional Review Coach Team Lead
District and School Transformation
919-835-6114
susan.silver@dpi.nc.gov