Conducting Classroom Observations : Analyzing Classrooms Dynamics and Instructional Time
The ‘Stallings classroom snapshot’ instrument, technically called the ‘Stanford Research Institute classroom observation system’ was developed by Professor Jane Stallings for research on the efficiency and quality of basic education teachers in the...
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| Format: | User Guide |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/07/24756165/conducting-classroom-observations-analyzing-classrooms-dynamics-instructional-time-using-stallings-classroom-snapshot-observation-system-user-guide http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22401 |
| Summary: | The ‘Stallings classroom snapshot’
instrument, technically called the ‘Stanford Research
Institute classroom observation system’ was developed by
Professor Jane Stallings for research on the efficiency and
quality of basic education teachers in the United States in
the 1970s. The Stallings instrument generates robust
quantitative data on the interaction of teachers and
students in the classroom, with a high degree of inter-rater
reliability (0.8 or higher) among observers with relatively
limited training, which makes it suitable for large scale
samples in developing country settings. Key features of the
Stallings instrument make it well-suited to large scale use
in developing country contexts. However, several factors
need to borne in mind when interpreting its results. First,
there is clear potential for Hawthorne effects, as teachers
are aware of the observer (and sometimes pair of observers)
physically present in the classroom, unlike the latest
observation methods being used in the United States, which
place a video camera in the classroom for extended periods
so as to minimize these effects. One operating assumption,
therefore, is that Stallings observations capture teachers’
performing at their very best, or production possibility
frontier, which is in fact useful to measure. A second issue
is the potential noisiness of the variables being measured;
if the same teacher were observed on different days or with
different student sections on the same day or with a
different cohort of students the following year, how
consistent would the measured performance be? Initial
studies in the US called for visits to each classroom on two
different days. Third issue is the non-random assignment of
teachers to classes in most of the school systems observed.
Even when students are not explicitly ability-tracked,
classroom assignment rules may de facto result in some
teachers facing much more gifted or docile students than
others. Finally, what makes the Stallings instrument
versatile and robust across different grades, subjects,
languages and countries is that it does not try to measure
the content of what is being taught, either the depth or
sophistication of the curriculum content itself or the
teacher’s mastery of that content. |
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