MSFE TEPG Module 1

Overview of the TEPG

Collaborative Observation Process

Module Outcomes
Participants will:
•Understand the content of the TEPG Observation Rubric and how it is organized
•Know and be able to describe the steps of the TEPG Observation process
•Describe characteristics of both effective written and oral feedback and how it supports the TEPG process.

MODULE 1: PART 1

Understanding the Content of the TEPG Observation Rubric

The Teacher Evaluation and Professional Growth (TEPG) observation rubric is a Maine-specific description of effective teaching practices based on standards for accomplished teaching from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The 13 standards are organized into five larger constructs known as the Five Core Propositions and are linked to the NBPTS Architecture of Accomplished Teaching on the slide 7 (see Appendix B in Companion Guide), a metaphor for what accomplished teachers in the classroom do.

Proposition1:Teachers are committed to students and their learning.

Standard Indicators / What is this standard all about?
Standard 1.1-Understanding of Students-The teacher recognizes individual differences and knows the backgrounds, abilities, and interests of his or her students and uses this information to differentiate his or her approaches to students and instruction. /
  • Understanding students as individuals
  • Proactive Differentiation
  • Individual learning/behavior plans/ IEPs

Standard 1.2-Application of Learning Theory-The teacher demonstrates an understanding of how students develop and learn. /
  • Students take in and demonstrate learning in different ways
  • Social/ Cognitive learning theory
  • Learning Styles/Intelligences
  • Developmentally/ age appropriate
  • Relevancy

Standard 1.3-Classroom Climate
The teacher creates a respectful environment that provides opportunities for equitable participation and supports students in developing positive dispositions towards learning. /
  • Respectful language
  • Opportunities to collaborate
  • Equitable participation
  • Development of dispositions for learning
  • Social/emotional learning

(A more in-depth description is provided on pages 13-43 in the Companion Guide)

Proposition 2: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects.

Standard Indicators / What is this standard all about?
Standard 2.1-Subject Knowledge-The teacher demonstrates an understanding of how knowledge and skills in his or her subject domain are created, organized, and linked to those of other disciplines as appropriate. /
  • Alignment with standards
  • Connecting big ideas and factual info
  • Academic vocabulary
  • Encouragement of multiple perspectives
  • Connections to other disciplines
  • Analytical thinking

Standard 2.2-Pedagogical Content Knowledge-The teacher creates learning experiences that make the discipline accessible and meaningful for students to ensure mastery of the content. /
  • Variety of teacher and student directed strategies
  • Structured and inductive approaches
  • Encouragement of alternative ways to solve problems
  • Addressing misconceptions
  • Transfer of learning in new situations
  • Variety of resources

Standard 2.3-Goal-Focused Planning-The teacher plans instruction rich in higher-order thinking to meet clearly identified goals and objectives for student learning. /
  • Learning target is aligned with standards
  • Learning target is clear to students
  • Plan is organized, coherent and scaffolded to support learning
  • Needs of students are incorporated

(A more in-depth description is provided on pages 45-75 in the Companion Guide)

Proposition 3: Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning.

Standard Indicators / What is this standard all about?
Standard 3.1-Managing Classroom Routines and Expectations-The teacher establishes an organized and efficient learning environment that involves and engages all students, maximizes learning time, and enhances student learning in a variety of individual and group settings. /
  • Routines and procedures
  • Behavior
  • Use of the room environment
  • Grouping structures to manage instruction

Standard 3.2-Student Engagement-The teacher encourages and clearly communicates expectations for student involvement in the learning process, which results in a high level of student engagement. /
  • Communication of expectations for participation is clear
  • Pacing
  • Opportunities to interact with rigorous content
  • Connection to real life
  • Motivating strategies

Standard 3.3-Assessment of Student Progress-The teacher employs multiple methods to regularly measure student growth and progress and uses this information to provide feedback to students and adjust instructional decision-making. /
  • Use of ongoing assessment to plan
  • Checking for understanding using formative assessment to make adjustments and provide feedback during instruction
  • Student led
  • Summative

(A more in-depth description is provided on pages 77-107 in the Companion Guide)

Proposition 4: Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.

Standard Indicators / What is this standard all about?
Standard 4.1-Reflective Practice-The teacher analyzes sources of evidence as he or she continually reflects on professional practice, using information about the needs of students to make decisions about adjustments in practice and goals for professional growth. /
  • Refection on teaching and learning
  • Adjustments based on reflection
  • Use of research and effective practices to guide decision making

Standard 4.2-Continuous Professional Growth-The teacher uses current research-based resources, feedback from others, and professional learning opportunities to accomplish professional growth. /
  • Seeking out opportunities for professional growth to improve practice
  • Valuing feedback from others
  • Staying current with research about effective practice
  • Models a positive disposition for ongoing learning

(A more in-depth description is provided on pages 109-129 in the Companion Guide)

Proposition 5: Teachers are members of learning communities.

Standard Indicators / What is this standard all about?
Standard 5.1-Professional Collaboration-The teacher contributes to school effectiveness by collaborating with other professionals on activities that support school improvement and student learning. /
  • Collaboration to support student learning and school goals
  • Collaboration with peers to improve practice
  • Collaboration to support school improvement efforts

5.2 Engagement With CaregiversandCommunity.The teacherengages in ongoingcommunication andcollaboration with students’ homes and caregivers and takes advantage of community resources to enhancestudent learning and school effectiveness. /
  • Ongoing two way communication with care givers
  • Knowledge and use of community resources
  • Understanding and appreciation of cultural makeup of the community
  • Advocacy of support for the resources needed to meet the needs of students and families

(A more in-depth description is provided on 131-155in the Companion Guide)

Know and be able to apply the steps of the TEPG Collaborative

Observation Process

Review the steps of the observation cycle with a partner. Highlight key words in the paragraph below that reflect essential components of this process.

Before beginning the collaborative observation process it is essential that a shared understanding of the Standard Indicators has been attained by all involved. This shared understanding is the basis for the ongoing collecting, organizing, sharing, and analyzing of evidence that supports collaborative learning conversations. The goal of these conversations is to provide regular opportunities for reflecting on practice that results in the improvement and refinement of teaching and learning. This requires that both evaluator and evaluatee come prepared to discuss the observation according to the shared understanding of the criteria in the TEPG rubric.

Steps 1 and 2 – Schedule and Implement the Pre-conference

TEPG Pre-observation Protocol

Preparing for the Conversation

Observer will…

  • Review the lesson plan and any other documentation that is submitted by the teacher and align to the MSFE TEPG Rubric standard indicators.
  • Review the pre-observation questions and make note of any clarifying questions to ask the teacher.

Teacher will:

  • Submit the lesson plan and any other relevant documentation to the observer prior to the scheduled observation.
  • Review and prepare responses to the pre-observation questions. This can include collecting documents that are applicable to the observation.
  • Review professional goal(s) and identify standard indicators of focus for the conversation or the observation.

During the Conversation

Observers will…

  • Ask questions and take notes on the conversation.
  • Collaboratively identify and document specific standard indicators of focus for the observation.

Teachers will…

  • Share responses to the questions and share documents, if any.
  • Collaboratively identify and document specific standard indicators of focus for the observation.

After completion of the pre-observation interview, both the teacher and observer should sign and date the form.

Pre-Observation Conversation

Teacher Name: ______

Observer Name: ______

Grade to be observed: / Subject/lesson to be observed:
Date of conference: / Time of conference:
Date of observation: / Time of observation:

Teacher should review the questions below and prepare responses for the pre-observation conversation. Responses can be submitted electronically or in writing prior to the conference. During the conference, the teacher and observer will discuss the questions and share any relevant evidence.

  1. What is the objective of the lesson? What will students know and be able to do by the end of the lesson?
  1. Describe how you planned instruction to address the content standards and how you will deliver instruction to students.
  1. Briefly describe the varied learning needs of students in your class and how you planned to meet their needs. What activities will you include to engage all students in the content?
  1. How will you assess whether students have learned the content standards addressed in this unit of instruction?
  1. Based on previous observations and professional goals, is there something the observer should pay particular attention to during the observation?
  1. Is there any additional information you would like to provide that will help the observer understand your classroom or instruction? Is there anything else you would like to discuss before the observation?

Signing below indicates that the pre-observation meeting took place. A signed copy should be provided to the teacher.

Observer Signature: ______Date: ______

Teacher Signature: ______Date: ______

Steps 3-5 – Gather, Organize and Analyze the Evidence

Interpretation and Bias

Read pages 9-10 with a partner and respond to the questions below.

Why is it essential to keep opinion and bias out of the evidence collection step of the observation cycle?

How can we train ourselves to recognize theinclusion of opinion and bias?

Refrain from interpreting evidence and making judgments until you've considered the evidence against the rubrics.

Evidence: It is important that you record as evidence only what you see, hear, or read—not your interpretation of what you see or your opinion about it. Evidence may be what the teacher and students say or what they do, including body language (e.g., teacher walking around the classroom, students waving their hands in the air to be recognized, students slumping in their chairs, students putting their heads on their desks).

Interpretation: To make a scoring judgment for each component, you will need to interpret your evidence. However, you should use the criteria established in the rubrics to interpret evidence after you have collected all of the evidence. While you are in the process of collecting evidence, you should refrain from making interpretative statements. This helps to ensure that the teaching is not misrepresented and helps to ensure fair and reliable determination of levels of performance. It would be interpretation to say, for example, that the students appear comfortable, happy, or bored. These are interpretations of the actual evidence from the classroom, which would describe what students actually did or said.

Bias:When you make value judgments based on a teacher’s or the students’ age, race, gender, appearance, perceived economic status, or accent, these judgments may influence both how you collect evidence and make scoring decisions based on that evidence. For example, if a teacher is wearing jeans, it would be bias to assume that the teacher has established a casual, laid-back classroom atmosphere. Bias may also exhibit itself when personal preferences about teaching practices, materials, and classroom environment influence your judgment. For example, if you think that using technology is the best way to teach and let that opinion get in the way of identifying evidence of what is actually happening in the classroom when no technology is used, then bias interferes with your collection of evidence and determining the appropriate level of performance. Warning flags can sometimes be words like could have, should have, must have, ought to have, and so on.

Consider what you do not see or hear.
There might be times when what you do not see or hear is relevant evidence. For example, pertinent evidence may be that students do not ask any questions, that students are not participating in an activity, or that no inappropriate behavior is observed in the classroom.

Three qualities of effective evidence are:

  • Objectivity: Statements are fact based and directly supported by aligned factual evidence.
  • Specificity: Evidence includes a concise, specific, and thorough description of relevant observed events.
  • Accurate Alignment to Professional Practice Standard(s) in Rubric: Evidence must be aligned to criteria for relevant standard(s), directly support specific levels of performance for the standard criteria and provide ample information to inform continuous improvement

Record what the teacher and students say:

•“Please move to your assigned groups and begin the assignment.”

•“Today we are going to continue our focus on writing effective opening statements.”

•“I agree with what Owen said and I would also like to add one more way to solve the problem.”

Record teacher or student behavior that is observed:

•The teacher stood by the door, greeting students as they entered.

•Students were working with a partner to solve the problems.

Record quantitative information:

•Each student in the small group was asked to respond 3 times.

•Twenty minutes of the fifty minute period was used to correct the homework.

Record relevant aspects of the environment:

•Student work samples were posted with scoring criteria visible.

•Resources for centers were labeled in storage boxes.

Be careful about injecting opinions or personal bias into the evidence.

•The students enjoy working with this teacher.

•This lesson would have been more effective if students were sitting in groups.

•The students are unmotivated to learn in this classroom.

•The classroom management was chaotic.

Evidence / Opinion
Observable / Draws conclusions
Objective / Subjective
Free of value judgment / May include value judgment

When reviewing observation notes it is a good practice to look through them for instances of opinion and bias and reword them so they are objective and specific as in the examples above.

Evidence Analysis Rubric for Teacher Observations

Quality of Documentation
Standard Evidence / Advanced Documentation / Satisfactory
Documentation / Insufficient Documentation
Objectivity / Statements are fact based and directly supported by aligned factual evidence. / Statements are either fact based or directly supported by aligned factual evidence. / A number of statements are subjective and not directly supported by aligned factual evidence.
Specificity / Evidence includes a concise, specific, and thorough description of relevant observed events. / Evidence includes specific detail about relevant observed events. / Evidence lacks specific detail about relevant observed events.
Alignment to Standard / All evidence content is directly related to the standard criteria. / Most evidence content is directly related to the standard criteria. / Most evidence content is not directly related to the standard criteria.
Evidence directly supports specific levels of performance for the standard criteria and provides ample information to inform continuous improvement. / Most evidence supports levels of performance for the standard criteria. / Evidence does not allow the reader to determine levels of performance for the standard criteria.

Video Observation

The goal of the collaborative observation process is to provide regular opportunities for reflecting on practice that results in the improvement and refinement of teaching and learning.

As you view the video, look for connections to the TEPG Collaborative Observation Process.

Individually observe and record evidence on the note taking form below. Share evidence and discuss in partners or in small groups before bringing it to the whole group.

•How does the observation process support this teacher?

•In what ways did use of the rubric support the teacher and the principal?

•What are the benefits of peer observation?

Observation Notes

End of Module 1, Part 1

TEPG Module 1:Part 2:Providing High-Quality Written Feedback to Educators

(Adapted from RIDE Rhode Island Dept. of Education -

The difference between observation notes, rationale, and feedback

Qualities of Effective Feedbac

Reviewing the Quality of the Evidence

Below is a rubric to use to evaluate and improve the quality of evidence collected. Read through the rubric and then use it to evaluate the quality of the evidence collected in the rationales that follow. Consider the strengths and areas that could be improved.

Evidence Analysis Rubric for Written Observation Summaries

Standard Evidence / Advanced Documentation / Satisfactory
Documentation / Insufficient Documentation
Objectivity / Statements are fact based and directly supported by aligned factual evidence. / Statements are either fact based or directly supported by aligned factual evidence. / A number of statements are subjective and not directly supported by aligned factual evidence.
Specificity / Evidence includes a concise, specific, and thorough description of relevant observed events. / Evidence includes specific detail about relevant observed events. / Evidence lacks specific detail about relevant observed events.
Alignment to Standard Criteria and/or Rubrics / All evidence content is directly related to the standard criteria. / Most evidence content is directly related to the standard criteria. / Most evidence content is not directly related to the standard criteria.
Evidence directly supports specific levels of performance for the standard criteria and provides ample information to inform continuous improvement. / Most evidence supports levels of performance for the standard criteria. / Evidence does not allow the reader to determine levels of performance for the standard criteria.

How can you use this rubric to improve the quality of the evidence you collect?