Brace yourself. I’m about to bring up a topic that strikes fear in the hearts of thousands of early childhood professionals—the CLASS reliability test! But as the list below demonstrates, it doesn’t have to be so scary.
Test your knowledge by answering fact or fiction to each statement below!
This is a fact! Have you ever heard the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?” Our pass-rate data supports this idea. In fact, a whopping 92% of pre-K test-takers that persevere through the testing process pass the test to become CLASS Certified Observers!
Fiction. Our stats show that only slightly more than half, or 55%, of pre-K CLASS reliability test-takers pass the test right out of the gate. This means that for some people, the training was enough. But for others, the first test is more than a test—it becomes a crucial learning experience in your testing journey. I discussed this with a CLASS Affiliate Trainer recently, who reflected, “It’s not a bad thing to fail. Sometimes you have to fail before you can really get it.”
If you’ve read up to this point, you may have already guessed that this one is complete fiction. There is so much you can do to improve your chances of passing, starting with contacting your trainer or Teachstone’s reliability support team; they can answer your tricky coding questions or even review your score report with you. If that's not enough, there are practice videos, coding tip sheets, detailed score reports (when you fail), and other resources available in your myCLASS account to aid your test preparation.
How did you do? Let us know in the comments whether you knew fact from fiction or if any of these facts surprised you!
Practice and feedback is the key to CLASS® success. Even the most experienced certified CLASS Observers need practice and feedback to make sure their classroom observations remain fair and accurate. The best way to provide this is to use our Calibration product. Calibration protects your investment in reliable data collection.
Online Calibrations are available for Certified CLASS observers at all 6 CLASS levels. When you purchase an individual calibration, you’ll receive a video to watch and code on your myTeachstone dashboard. After submitting your codes, you’ll get an automated score report and a prerecorded webinar discussing the master codes.
As the Community Manager with Teachstone, I have been able to talk to many observers, trainers, coaches, and general CLASS lovers. I have found a common thread among these groups: a desire to connect with other CLASS users and put their CLASS knowledge to use.
We often hear from CLASS Observers that are interested in observing more classrooms. Meanwhile, many organizations—particularly smaller organizations or those doing research studies—don’t have Certified CLASS Observers and are in search of observers in their area.
If you're a CLASS observer, you've probably found yourself in a situation where you have to make inferences or rely on contextual evidence when assigning scores. However, it should always be your goal to minimize subjectivity and assumptions. You have to prevent your emotions, opinions, and ideas that are not a part of the CLASS tool from influencing scoring. Achieving an emotionless state of objectivity while observing can be incredibly challenging. It takes practice to recognize when objectivity is threatened and respond accordingly.
Have you ever meditated? One of the most challenging aspects of this practice is clearing your mind from day-to-day thoughts that pop into your head. If you meditate, you know that trying to push those thoughts away doesn’t work—in order to free your mind you must first acknowledge those distracting thoughts before you can return to your “moment of zen.”