Four representatives from Alabama and A+ College Ready were chosen to participate in the Measures of Effective Teaching Project research. The project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates’ Foundation is exploring which teaching practices, skills, and knowledge have the most positive impact on student learning.
Nationwide 3,000 teachers, and their students, in six different school districts were chosen to participate in the research project. Thirteen research partners, including the National Math and Science Initiative, are participating in the data collection process. To read what has been learned so far click here.
The Alabama representatives, Matt Massey from Buckhorn High School, Nathan Fogg from Madison City Middle School, Cindy Howard from Huntsville Middle School, and Tammy Dunn from A+ College Ready, are four of 100 NMSI professional raters who have been selected to observe the classroom videotapes and rate teachers’ classrooms using the UTeach Observational Protocol (UTOP).
These 100 raters will observe 1,000 classroom videotapes between now and February 18. Their ratings, based on the UTOP, will be combined with other sources of data to identify the teaching practices, skills, and knowledge that result in student achievement.
The project is comparing data from five different areas: 1) Student achievement gains based on multiple assessments 2) Videotaped classroom observations and teacher reflections, analyzed by trained raters using five research-based protocols 3) Teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge 4) Students’ perceptions of classroom instruction and 5) Teachers’ perceptions of the school’s instructional support.
