Publication:
Conducting Classroom Observations: Stallings 'Classroom Snapshot' Observation System for an Electronic Tablet

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (3 MB)
785 downloads
English Text (100.36 KB)
58 downloads
Other Files
French PDF (2.71 MB)
95 downloads
Portuguese PDF (2.58 MB)
107 downloads
Spanish PDF (2.5 MB)
271 downloads
Published
2017-07
ISSN
Date
2017-09-19
Editor(s)
Abstract
The “Stallings Classroom Snapshot” instrument, technically called the “Stanford Research Institute Classroom Observation System”, was developed by Professor Jane Stallings for research on the efficiency and quality of basic education teachers in the United States in the 1970s. (Stallings, 1977; Stallings and Mohlman, 1988). The Stallings instrument generates robust quantitative data on the interaction of teachers and students in the classroom, with a high degree of inter-rater reliability (0.8 or higher) among observers with relatively limited training, which makes it suitable for large-scale samples in developing country settings. (Jukes, 2006; Abadzi, 2007; DeStefano et al, 2010; Schuh-Moore et al, 2010). The instrument is language and curriculum-neutral, so results are directly comparable across different types of schools and country contexts, and a growing body of comparative country data from the US and developing countries is available. Use of the Stallings classroom snapshot in more than seven countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region in recent years has generated a global data base of more than 20,000 different classroom observations in more than 3,600 schools. A public use online database is being created on the World Bank/SIEF (Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund) website. These data provide valuable reference benchmarks for any country or education system that uses the Stallings instrument following the protocol outlined in this guide.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank Group. 2017. Conducting Classroom Observations: Stallings 'Classroom Snapshot' Observation System for an Electronic Tablet. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28339 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Expanding Access to Early Childhood Development : Using Interactive Audio Instruction
    (World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-02) World Bank Group; Education Development Center
    The returns to investments in early childhood development (ECD) are manifold and can include improved school readiness, reduced drop-out rates, higher labor force productivity and greater social cohesion. Despite these high returns, enrollment in early childhood education is just 18 percent across Africa, with disproportionately high enrollment from children in urban areas and from wealthier families. Interactive Audio Instruction (IAI) is a distance learning technology that can deliver low-cost, culturally appropriate education via radio or mobile audio technology. It is a highly effective tool to reach children who can be hard to reach through conventional programs, including the rural poor and children with disabilities. IAI can also be an effective form of service delivery in unstable and conflict-affected regions.
  • Publication
    Conducting Classroom Observations
    (Washington, DC, 2015) World Bank
    The ‘Stallings classroom snapshot’ instrument, technically called the ‘Stanford Research Institute classroom observation system’ was developed by Professor Jane Stallings for research on the efficiency and quality of basic education teachers in the United States in the 1970s. The Stallings instrument generates robust quantitative data on the interaction of teachers and students in the classroom, with a high degree of inter-rater reliability (0.8 or higher) among observers with relatively limited training, which makes it suitable for large scale samples in developing country settings. Key features of the Stallings instrument make it well-suited to large scale use in developing country contexts. However, several factors need to borne in mind when interpreting its results. First, there is clear potential for Hawthorne effects, as teachers are aware of the observer (and sometimes pair of observers) physically present in the classroom, unlike the latest observation methods being used in the United States, which place a video camera in the classroom for extended periods so as to minimize these effects. One operating assumption, therefore, is that Stallings observations capture teachers’ performing at their very best, or production possibility frontier, which is in fact useful to measure. A second issue is the potential noisiness of the variables being measured; if the same teacher were observed on different days or with different student sections on the same day or with a different cohort of students the following year, how consistent would the measured performance be? Initial studies in the US called for visits to each classroom on two different days. Third issue is the non-random assignment of teachers to classes in most of the school systems observed. Even when students are not explicitly ability-tracked, classroom assignment rules may de facto result in some teachers facing much more gifted or docile students than others. Finally, what makes the Stallings instrument versatile and robust across different grades, subjects, languages and countries is that it does not try to measure the content of what is being taught, either the depth or sophistication of the curriculum content itself or the teacher’s mastery of that content.
  • Publication
    Development of a Transport Module for Multi-topic Household Surveys
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-01) Denning, William; Baker, Judy L.
    This paper is aimed at providing guidance on transport issues for those involved in designing multi-topic household surveys such as the Living Standards Measurement Studies (LSMS) surveys. The inclusion of a few key questions can provide critical information for better designing transport programs and policies aimed at improving access, affordability and quality services. Questions on transport access, quality, mode, distance, time, and cost can help to understand the constraints that the population may face in accessing jobs, markets, schools, health clinics and other social services. All of this can be broken down by subgroups such as income, geographic area, gender, employment, etc. further strengthening the relevance of the analysis and contribution to policy decisions. The paper covers background on transport and multi-topic household surveys, key transport policy concerns and data needs, approaches to analysis, issues of survey design, and prototype questions that could be included in existing surveys.
  • Publication
    The Road to Results : Designing and Conducting Effective Development Evaluations
    (World Bank, 2009-12-01) Morra Imas, Linda G.; Rist, Ray C.
    The analytical, conceptual, and political framework of development is changing dramatically. The new development agenda calls for broader understandings of sectors, countries, development strategies, and policies. It emphasizes learning and continuous feedback at all phases of the development cycle. As the development agenda grows in scope and complexity, development evaluation follows suit. Development evaluator are moving away from traditional implementation and output-focused evaluation models toward results-based evaluation models, as the development community calls for results and embraces the millennium development goals. As the development community shifts its focus away from projects in order to comprehensively address country challenges, development evaluators are seeking methods with which to assess results at the country, sector, theme, policy, and even global levels. As the development community recognizes the importance of not only a comprehensive but also a coordinated approach to developing country challenges and emphasizes partnerships, development evaluators are increasingly engaged in joint evaluations. These joint evaluations, while advantageous in many respects, add to the complexity of development evaluation (OECD 2006). Additionally, development evaluators increasingly face the measurement challenge of determining the performance of an individual development organization in this broader context and of identifying its contribution. This text is intended as a tool for use in building development evaluation capacity. It aims to help development evaluators think about and explore the new evaluation architecture and especially to design and conduct evaluations that focus on results in meeting the challenges of development.
  • Publication
    Bulgaria : Teachers
    (Washington, DC, 2013-01) World Bank
    Bulgaria implemented sweeping decentralization and efficiency-focused reforms in basic education in 2007 and 2008. The education system adjusted to the negative demographic trends by optimizing the network of schools (closing and merging schools), introducing per-capita based financing and delegating significant financial and decision-making autonomy to school principals. This policy reform package produced a number of benefits for the education sector; it accrued savings of over 100 million BGN and increased wages by 46 percent and reallocation of resources for capital investment (World Bank 2010). Despite the government's impressive achievements in terms of spending efficiency and high enrollment, lingering concerns remain about the quality and equity of the education system. The country has seen a negative trend in student learning outcomes as measured by international assessments. At the request of the Government of Bulgaria, the World Bank has implemented its newly developed tool for assessment and benchmarking of policies and programs affecting teacher's effectiveness Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) teachers. The key findings and policy options outlined in the present report are intended to inform the finalization of the new draft law and the development of the bylaws regulating teachers' policies in Bulgaria. This report presents results of the application of SABER-teachers in Bulgaria. It describes Bulgaria's performance in each of the eight teacher policy goals, alongside comparative information from education systems that have consistently scored high results in international student achievement tests and have participated in SABER-teachers. Additional detailed descriptive information on Bulgaria's and other education systems' teacher policies can be found on the SABER-teachers website.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03) World Bank
    Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.