At some point in every training, someone invariably looks up and says, “So, if I want to be reliable, all I need to do is never score a 1 or a 7, right?” 

Wrong! Every time I hear this, I want to scream. However, since it’s poor form for the trainer to scream, I maintain my composure and calmly explain that although I understand the intuitive appeal of what I call “The Numbers Game,” I cannot recommend it for the reasons presented below: 

Note: It’s the start of another new school year and once again, my thoughts turn to all of the children who are starting school for the first time. But I also can’t help but think about those children who are making the big transition from preschool to kindergarten. As we all know, it can be a big adjustment for many kids.

Mary Margaret-Gardiner and Sarah Hadden discuss the Toddler CLASS dimension Regard for Child Perspectives. You'll learn why there isn't a student expression indicator and the importance of non-verbal choices. Before you watch, check out their previous vlog, Regard for Student Perspectives in Pre-K, and think about the differences between these two dimensions.

We are always interested to learn about novel uses of the CLASS. When we learned of the work of Alfred Richartz (left), Professor of Movement and Sports Pedagogy at the University of Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany, we knew we had to share. Alfred is a longtime CLASS user, having traveled to the U.S. in 2010 to be trained on K-3 CLASS. Since that time, he has returned five times to expand his CLASS repertoire. A certified observer on Toddler, K-3, Upper Elementary, and Secondary, Alfred is also an Affiliate Trainer on K-3. 

If you’ve ever attended a CLASS Observation Training, you’ve heard the trainer state that the CLASS is a valid tool for measuring the efficacy to teacher-child interactions: that classroom quality, as measured by the CLASS, predicts positive developmental and academic outcomes for children (predictive validity). Specifically, children who attend classrooms with higher CLASS scores demonstrate better social and academic outcomes than their peers in classrooms that were not rated as highly.

I am delighted to introduce Bridget Rey, our Affiliate Trainer for November. As the CLASS Coordinator for Agenda for Children in New Orleans, Bridget has her hands in all things CLASS down in Louisiana! Louisiana’s Early Childhood Education Act mandates the completion of CLASS observations for the purpose of accountabilityduring the fall and spring in every toddler and pre-k classroom in programs that receive public funding. Agenda for Children is the lead agency for overseeing this work in New Orleans which amounts to approximately 1,000 CLASS observations in public schools, private schools, early learning centers and Head Start/Early Head Start.

This morning, we received an email from an observer who had a great question about whether or not it’s OK to code interactions on the playground. Page 11 of the Pre-K Manual states, "Observers, may follow the students and teacher outside to code an activity (e.g., for a walk or a science discovery lesson).  Observers should terminate observation and not assign codes during recess or outdoor play.” Her question was as follows:

The Research Origins of CLASS

Research leading to the current version of the CLASS tool began in 1991 as a part of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, which examined the influence of early environments and classroom processes on the development of children from a variety of family backgrounds. Study findings clearly indicated that classroom processes impact student outcomes (NICHD EECRN, 2002; Pianta et al., 2005).

With this knowledge, the research team further refined the initial observational tool (the Classroom Observation System: COS) for use in the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) study. This large-scale study examined the quality of publicly funded preschool programs to learn how variations in quality impacted children’s academic and social outcomes.

This month’s spotlight is turned to Gilles Cantin, a professor in the Didactique Department at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Gilles is one of our growing numbers of international Affiliate Trainers. He has been embedding the CLASS into his work as a teacher educator and a researcher for over six years and is an Affiliate Trainer on both Pre-K and K-3 CLASS. When I contacted Gilles to see if he would allow us to profile him he said that he did not like to put himself on stage, but was happy to share information about how he is using the CLASS.