Case Studies: Overview | INTASC | The Framework for Teaching | NBPTS
The Framework for Teaching, created by Charlotte Danielson, is a comprehensive and coherent framework that identifies those aspects of a teacher’s responsibilities that have been documented through empirical studies and theoretical research as promoting improved student learning. Studies have shown that teachers who receive higher ratings on their evaluation go on to produce greater gains in student test scores.
The Danielson Group trains districts to use the Framework as the foundation of a teacher evaluation system that serves two main purposes – quality assurance and professional learning. A comprehensive system of evaluation can align multiple initiatives – coaching, professional development, and teacher evaluation – under a broader vision for quality teaching.
The Framework for Teaching describes an evaluation system that includes a clear definition of good teaching, fair and reliable methods of evaluation, and trained evaluators. Each of these elements is discussed in more detail below.
A Clear Definition of Good Teaching
The Framework for Teaching includes standards for performance and levels of performance that help to set a clear definition of good teaching.
- Standards: The Framework for Teaching is a research-based set of instructional components that reflect the complexity of teaching and are grounded in a constructivist view of teaching and learning. In this framework, the responsibilities of teaching are divided into 22 components (and 76 smaller elements) clustered into four domains of teaching responsibility.
Domain One: Planning and Preparation
- Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy
- Demonstrating knowledge of students
- Setting instructional outcomes
- Demonstrating knowledge of resources
- Designing coherent instruction
- Designing student assessments
- Creating an environment of respect and rapport
- Establishing a culture for learning
- Managing classroom procedures
- Managing student behavior
- Organizing physical space
- Communicating with students
- Using questioning and discussion techniques
- Engaging students in learning
- Using assessment in instruction
- Demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness
- Reflecting on teaching
- Maintaining accurate records
- Communicating with families
- Participating in a professional community
- Growing and developing professionally
- Showing professionalism
- Levels of Performance: For each component, the framework for teaching includes four levels of performance: unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, and distinguished. These levels of teaching performance are described in rubrics, which provide educators with a roadmap for how they can improve their teaching. These rubrics, for classroom teachers as well as non-classroom specialist positions (such as school nurses and counselors), are available in Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching, published by ASCD.
Fair and Reliable Methods
Local district leaders have many choices around how best to design and implement evaluation systems in their own contexts; however, the Danielson group offers the following recommendations:
- Procedures. Evaluation procedures should be differentiated to reflect the varying needs of novices and experienced teachers. There should be a mixture of announced and unannounced observations to ensure that what is observed represents typical practice. Additionally, during the observation cycle, teachers should also be provided an active role through planning (pre-observation) conferences and reflection (post-observation) conferences.
- Instruments. The instruments used for teacher evaluation are an important part of the system, as they help to structure the conversation between teachers and their evaluators. These instruments should provide clarity, create efficiency, promote reflection, and elicit important evidence of practice.
Trained Evaluators
Evaluators must be adequately trained to ensure that their judgments are evidence-based and accurate. More specifically, they must be able to:
- Recognize evidence of the evaluative criteria (standards of practice)
- Link their interpretations of evidence to the descriptions of various performance levels
- Provide constructive feedback
- Guide reflective conversations
Districts must also decide who the evaluators will be. These are often site administrators, or, in some secondary schools, department chairs. In other schools and districts, peer assistance and review programs have given teachers ownership over the process of their evaluation. For more information on PAR programs, refer to the Peer Assistance and Review page.
The following resources provide additional information on using The Framework for Teaching.
- In Teacher Evaluation to Enhance Professional Practice, Charlotte Danielson presents a clear road map for designing a teacher evaluation system and provides concrete examples, useful forms, and assessment tools for (1) setting standards for acceptable performance, (2) developing techniques and procedures for assessing all aspects of teaching, (3) determining guidelines for making consistent judgments about performance, and (4) differentiating processes based on teachers’ needs.
- The Handbook for Enhancing Professional Practice offers practitioners the tools they need to successfully apply the framework for teaching in different contexts – teacher preparation, teacher recruitment and hiring, teacher mentoring and peer coaching, self-directed professional inquiry, professional development, and teacher evaluation. The ready-to-use instruments, protocols, and recommendations provided in this handbook were developed based on the collective insight of practitioners across the country.
- ASCD has produced a series of three DVD’s on the Framework for Teaching, including classroom footage, conferences with the teachers delivering the lessons, conversations with expert observers, and comments from Charlotte Danielson. Click here for ordering information.
- Charlotte Danielson has recently written a book, published by Corwin Press, Talk About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations, a guide to professional conversations aligned to the Framework for Teaching.
- Educational Impact has developed a series of modules, opening with a 60-90 minute overview of the Framework for Teaching by Charlotte Danielson. The program provides viewers with an opportunity to watch classrooms that illustrate the various components of the Framework for Teaching at different levels of performance. This tool can be used to train evaluators or as the basis of a professional development program for teachers.
- Framework for PC, produced by Timer Data, is an observation and evaluation tool aligned with the Framework for Teaching that enables users to take observation notes electronically, code these notes, and then sort them according to the components. As a result, all the comments about a particular component are clustered together and can be easily interpreted against the rubric. Additionally, the results of several observations can be displayed together, permitting the observer to discern patterns over time or in different situations.