The following measures have been developed by faculty at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning. For more information about any of the measures listed below, please contact us.
CLASS - Classroom Assessment Scoring System
CLASS™ is an observational instrument developed at the University of Virginia to assess classroom quality in PK-12 classrooms. It describes multiple dimensions of teaching that are linked to student achievement and development, and has been validated in over 2,000 classrooms. The CLASS™ can be used to reliably assess classroom quality for research and program evaluation, and also provides a tool to help new and experienced teachers become more effective.
Learn More
inCLASS - Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System™
The inCLASS is the first rigorously tested instrument to assess preschool children’s patterns of interactions with teachers, other children and learning activities, based on systematic observations in the classroom. This tool can provide educators with a thorough, objective report of a child’s capabilities in a classroom setting, so they are better able to target instruction and support to meet a child’s needs. When used as a research tool with large samples of children, inCLASS gives scientists the opportunity to describe preschoolers’ individual experiences in a classroom setting and examine how their engagement with teachers, peers and tasks may contribute to early learning.
Visit inCLASS
Teacher Beliefs Q-Sort (TBQ)
The TBQ is a tool that measures three aspects of teachers' beliefs and priorities: Discipline and Behavior Management, Teaching Practices, and Beliefs About Students. The TBQ method offers the opportunity to describe characteristics of a sample of teachers in relation to these three dimensions as well as compare a group of teachers' beliefs to an "ideal" teacher. For more information and an online TBQ demo, visit the Social Development Lab website.
Visit TBQ
Teacher-Relationship Interview (TRI)
A semi-structured, 11-question, narrative interview concerning teachers' representations of their relationships with a specific student, elicits relationship narratives encompassing seven dimensions of a teacher's relationship, what teaches say about their interactions, how teachers talk about their relationships with children, and the emotions they express during these conversations. The seven dimensions assessed are: compliance, achievement, secure base, neutralizing, agency, positive affect and negative affect.
Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS)
Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) is a research instrument developed for the University of Michigan Pathways to Literacy Project. The HTKS is considered an observational measure of behavioral self-regulation and requires children to focus and shift attention, remember multiple rules and inhibit automatic responses. Extensive work in North America and cross-culturally has established reliability and validity for the HTKS in children ages 4-6 years. An ongoing IES study (2010-2014) at Oregon State University seeks to develop the HTKS as a readiness screening instrument. For more information, please contact Claire Cameron - cecamero@buffalo.edu
MyTeachingPartner
MyTeachingPartner™, or MTP, is a system of professional-development supports developed through the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning. MTP improves teacher-student interactions, which in turn increases student learning and development. The suite of MTP professional-development supports contains three specific resources that may be used either individually or in tandem. All three MTP resources rely on a standardized observational assessment of teacher-student interactions—the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, or CLASS—as the primary way to observe and define effective practice.
Learn More
