Teachers and school administrators' experiences with professional development feedback: The classroom strategies assessment system implementation.

To support teachers' evaluation and professional development valid assessments that measure teachers' classroom practices and capture teachers' strengths and areas in need of improvement are needed. The current study examined school administrators' and teachers' experiences of Professional Development (PD), with the use of the Classroom Strategies Assessment System (CSAS), a classroom observational assessment that measures universal classroom instructional and behavioral practices, and their perceptions of the usability of CSAS for supporting PD. The study also examined school administrators' ratings of elementary school teachers' use of evidence-based instructional and behavior management practices, as an illustrative example of how performance feedback was implemented. Three school administrators observed 31 elementary school teachers three times each using the CSAS Greek version. Following each observation, teachers received brief performance feedback based on CSAS scores from their school administrator. School administrators and teachers completed the System Usability Scale to assess the usability of the CSAS administration. Semi-structured interviews with 19 of the participating teachers were conducted to further explore teachers' professional development experiences. Overall, teacher interviews expressed their need for professional development in the areas of instructional and behavior management practices and perceived CSAS feedback helpful for instructional improvement. Findings also suggest some improvements in the frequency and quality of teacher instructional and behavior management practices as measured by the CSAS. Implications for practices and research are discussed.

Assessment of teaching to predict gains in student achievement in urban schools.

We examined the degree to which assessment of teachers' instructional and behavior management practices, as measured by the Classroom Strategies Assessment System (CSAS; Reddy & Dudek, 2014), relates to gains in student achievement as measured by the Measures of Academic Progress (Northwest Evaluation Association [NWEA], 2011). Two-level hierarchical linear modeling was applied to achievement scores from 2,771 students in 130 kindergarten through 8th-grade classrooms in 13 urban schools serving students in communities with high concentrations of poverty. Results suggest that teachers' use of evidence-based instructional and behavior management strategies, as measured by the CSAS, were associated with reading and mathematics gains. In general, students in classrooms with higher quality use of evidence-based teaching strategies exhibited greater gains, whereas students in classrooms with lower quality use of effective strategies exhibited lesser gains. Implications of these findings for research and educational practice are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Teacher coaching supported by formative assessment for improving classroom practices.

The present study is a wait-list controlled, randomized study investigating a teacher coaching approach that emphasizes formative assessment and visual performance feedback to enhance elementary school teachers' classroom practices. The coaching model targeted instructional and behavioral management practices as measured by the Classroom Strategies Assessment System (CSAS) Observer and Teacher Forms. The sample included 89 general education teachers, stratified by grade level, and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: (a) immediate coaching, or (b) waitlist control. Results indicated that, relative to the waitlist control, teachers in immediate coaching demonstrated significantly greater improvements in observations of behavior management strategy use but not for observations of instructional strategy use. Observer- and teacher-completed ratings of behavioral management strategy use at postassessment were significantly improved by both raters; ratings of instructional strategy use were significantly improved for teacher but not observer ratings. A brief coaching intervention improved teachers' use of observed behavior management strategies and self-reported use of behavior management and instructional strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record