What Makes Great Teaching

This week, I enjoyed several engaging conversations with faculty and the one that stood out was on the debate between process and results. So, I thought that this 2014 lengthy article, entitled "What Makes Great Teaching," by Coe, Aloisi, Higgins and Major might share some ideas to frame this debate. The authors define effective teaching as "that which leads to improved student achievement using outcomes that matter to their future success." They point to prior research, which has identified the key component of "student progress is the yardstick by which teacher quality should be assessed."

In this, they summarize six components of great teaching:

1. (Pedagogical) content knowledge (Strong evidence of impact on student outcomes)

2. Quality of instruction (Strong evidence of impact on student outcomes)

3. Classroom climate (Moderate evidence of impact on student outcomes)

4. Classroom management (Moderate evidence of impact on student outcomes)

5. Teacher beliefs (Some evidence of impact on student outcomes)

6. Professional behaviors (Some evidence of impact on student outcomes)

They also ask the question, “What kinds of frameworks or tools could help us to capture great teaching?” To address this, they suggest "assessing teacher quality through multiple measures" and list approaches to teacher assessment:

1. classroom observations by peers or external experts

2. ‘value-added’ models (assessing gains in student achievement)

3. teacher self-reports and analysis of classroom artifacts and teacher portfolios