The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) has proven itself to be a reliable and valid observational measure of classroom organization and emotional and instructional support across K–12 classrooms and is now a widely used instrument. However, it is expensive to use. The team that developed CLASS will use this grant to develop easy-to-administer tools that assess teacher-student interactions using student and informant (principal/supervisor) surveys. If successful, these surveys will give researchers an inexpensive alternative to CLASS. During the first year, the researchers will pilot test the new measures in 10 Virginia 4th and 5th grade Language Arts classrooms. The full field study will be conducted in 50 classrooms across 15 elementary schools. Approximately 45 school administrators (principals/assistant principals) and 10 students per classroom will participate in the surveys (500 students in total). CLASS observations will be conducted as well, to serve as a benchmark for the surveys.
The team that developed CLASS will use this grant to develop easy-to-administer tools that assess teacher-student interactions using student and informant (principal/supervisor) surveys.
