In Evaluator Training: A Guide for States, the first component of our Framework for Better Evaluator Training focuses on understanding and applying the rubric as a tool for improving teachers’ practice.

High-quality training does not merely teach evaluators what the different parts of the evaluation instrument are — rather, high-quality programs focus on how to use the rubric by developing evaluators’ abilities to interpret performance indicators and apply them to observations and feedback.

One way effective training programs accomplish this is by prioritizing evaluators’ understanding and mastery of “look fors” — teacher and student actions that embody and align with the domains and indicators laid out in the observation instrument.

Click the headings below to learn more about “look fors.”

A “LOOK FOR” EXAMPLE: WAIT TIME

Most evaluation rubrics include a domain related to effective instruction with an indicator about questioning. One example of a questioning “look for” that an evaluator may use to gauge teacher performance on this indicator is the use of wait time.

Wait time is when a teacher poses a question and then provides a designated time for students to think before selecting students to share their answers, while still maintaining appropriate pacing. Wait time can be used with individual students, small groups and the whole class. This practice has important implications for student learning — it provides a greater number of students with a safe opportunity to think and is likely to improve the quality of their answers.

High-quality training develops evaluators’ understanding of what wait time looks like at various levels of teacher performance — and helps evaluators master application skills, such as using wait time as evidence for scoring and providing teacher feedback that connects to important implications for student learning.

WAIT TIME RESOURCES

Nashville Classical Elementary in Nashville, Tennessee, uses a Wait Time Cheat Sheet to help teachers and administrators identify and plan for implementing wait time in concrete ways.

The Teach Like A Champion blog from Uncommon Schools features a variety of wait time resources.

• Watch a video of wait time in action in two different classrooms. Accompanying both videos is an analysis that demonstrates the observer is able to interpret and apply performance indicators by using wait time as a “look for.”
• Check out an example of a teacher and observer who have used “look fors,” such as wait time to develop a common language and tool for improving instruction.