Classroom walthrough tool

Our vision for education is to close the achievement gap. Equip all students with the social, emotional, and cognitive skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. Expand equity by giving every child access to rigorous core instruction that empowers learners to free themselves from generational poverty.

Learn More. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to Main Content. Save as PDF Print this blog post. About The Author: Michael Toth. Michael D. Robert J. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. Related Articles View Blog. COVID achievement gaps. Why work on core instruction now? Research-based virtual walkthrough tool. What is a virtual classroom walkthrough?

Transitioning to physical tools. Decide on a walkthrough tool that meets your needs First, think through what you need in a walkthrough tool to keep from wasting time trying out too many tools.

Which of these features is important to you? Reports that identify trends across classrooms over time: Useful for tracking progress monitoring during remote learning in high-priority growth areas Research-validated indicators: Critical for prioritizing the highest leverage aspects of student learning more details below Clear and actionable data: Important for differentiating the underlying root cause issues vs. Visual, easy-to-interpret data is important.

What are the hallmarks of high-quality indicators? They are: Virtual conditions for learning Standards-based student evidence Active student learning Equitable learning practices Practical and purposeful technology integration Teacher formative assessment and interventions Actionable student feedback Attending to these aspects of instruction will accelerate learning and ultimately close gaps and increase equity for all students.

This includes: Sharing a clear vision for high-quality teaching and learning defined by the indicators Practicing using the tool with anyone who will do remote learning walkthroughs Doing walkthroughs together and comparing data to make sure scoring is consistent and aligned Ensuring actionable feedback is provided with each classroom visit.

Frequent small samples are most useful in a remote learning environment for proactive, real-time data Consistency is key — stick to a set of protocols see below to ensure you are collecting accurate data that will generate actionable reports.

Maintain consistent virtual walkthrough protocols and routines When planning out walks, leaders need to decide: Who should participate? For example, will you include instructional coaches and teacher leaders, or only school or district leaders? Which classrooms should you visit? Random inspection is difficult in a remote learning environment — you will need to know which teachers are doing live remote instruction at what times.

You may need them to grant permission on platforms such as Zoom. Ensure visitation of both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments. How long should a remote learning walkthrough be? Best practice is to keep observations brief — minutes. Such as, keeping your camera off in breakout rooms and asking teachers to tell their students to continue working as they normally do. How do you give feedback to teachers? Individual teachers do not need to be identified when recording walkthrough data.

Share overall feedback and trends with grade-level PLCs and empower them to take action. How do you communicate results to staff? Celebrate incremental wins and keep everyone focused on areas for growth. At the beginning of each you review your indicators as a leadership team.

Discuss quality measures and non-examples. This will create unbiased, equitable marks and feedback throughout the building. Frequency over duration. Each member of your leadership team should complete a minimum of 5 walks per week. These are quick shots. Create a schedule for who is walking where each week. Only stay in the classroom minutes per walk.

Feedback feeds back. Teachers crave positive feedback and constructive feedback. Create a system for yourself. Check out the tear off notepads we use to leave our teachers love notes when we walk into their classrooms. PLCs are the lifeblood. Search Posts Search for:. October 27, I can now meet my requirements, give immediate written feedback to my teachers - and it's sooo easy and straight forward.

I just wish I had known about this app earlier. I will strongly recommend this app to every principal I know. One of the most important parts of a principal's job is Teacher Evaulations. Download Today. Simple to use for all educators.