As America continues to struggle in relationship to International PISA and TIMMS assessments (36th in Math, 24th in Reading and 28 in Science) and the disparity between rich and poor schools/students continues to grow across the nation with many being left behind in the growing technologically/information focused economy, have educational reforms (No Child Left Behind, Race To the Top, Common Core, Head Start) been misguided and is this related to poor educational research and the inability to effectively assess the needs of the learner within the modernity of American Society?
Every day, teachers make countless real-time decisions and facilitate dozens of interactions between themselves and their students. Although they share this commonality, educators all over the country often talk about these decisions and interactions in different ways. The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), developed at the University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, helps educators view classrooms through a common lens and discuss them using a common language, providing support for improving the quality of teacher-student interactions and, ultimately, student learning.
How is the CLASS organized?
The CLASS describes ten dimensions of teaching that are linked to student achievement and social development. Each of the ten dimensions falls into one of three broad categories: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support.
Emotional support refers to the ways teachers help children develop warm, supportive relationships, experience enjoyment and excitement about learning, feel comfortable in the classroom, and experience appropriate levels of autonomy or independence. This includes:
Positive climate — the enjoyment and emotional connection that teachers have with students, as well as the nature of peer interactions;
Negative climate — the level of expressed negativity such as anger, hostility or aggression exhibited by teachers and/or students in the classroom;
Teacher sensitivity — teachers’ responsiveness to students’ academic and emotional needs; and
Regard for student perspectives — the degree to which teachers’ interactions with students and classroom activities place an emphasis on students’ interests, motivations, and points of view.
Classroom organization refers to the ways teachers help children develop skills to regulate their own behavior, get the most learning out of each school day, and maintain interest in learning activities. This includes:
Behavior management — how well teachers monitor, prevent, and redirect misbehavior;
Productivity — how well the classroom runs with respect to routines, how well students understand the routine, and the degree to which teachers provide activities and directions so that maximum time can be spent in learning activities; and
Instructional learning formats — how teachers engage students in activities and facilitate activities so that learning opportunities are maximized.
Instructional support refers to the ways in which teachers effectively support students' cognitive development and language growth. This includes:
Concept development — how teachers use instructional discussions and activities to promote students’ higher-order thinking skills and cognition in contrast to a focus on rote instruction;
Quality of feedback — how teachers expand participation and learning through feedback to students; and
Language modeling — the extent to which teachers stimulate, facilitate, and encourage students’ language use.
Prof. White, I would like to share with you an extract of my research on the significance of comparison of student achievement (see it in https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264988960_Student_achievement_a_gauge_for_attaining_quality_education) which I think could add some insights to your query:
In the latest PISA comparative survey of the academic performance of 15-year-olds around the world, it has been found out that there’s little difference in the performance of students from private schools and those from public schools, once socioeconomic differences have been factored out. Another is that paying teachers well is a more effective tool for improving school performance than small class sizes. The survey also raises doubts about the overall effectiveness of aggressive competition between schools. It found that this could trap the most disadvantaged students in the least successful schools, thereby exacerbating social inequality and negatively impacting a nation's overall performance. This situation clearly shows that what can be achieved with moderate economic resources and in a diverse social context, at the same time indicating that students in developing countries could still find some alternative solutions to the inherent financial and technological deficiencies in order to improve their academic performance.
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The recent the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), shows that in the US and England the gulf between the highest and lowest achievers in literacy and numeracy is exceptionally large, with the gap being widest for young adults.
That would suggest that there is a need for a more comprehensive lifelong learning approach. If the parents' skills and competencies improve, then that will have a positive knock on effect on their children
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