January/February
2008
The CLASS approach provides a common metric and
language for the discussion of quality across grades, thereby addressing
problems with grade-to-grade transition and the need for coherence.
There are 10 dimensions of interaction that reflect three broad
domains of interactional supports—emotional support, organizational
support, and instructional support.
The dimensions included under emotional support
on CLASS are:
• Positive Climate: the enjoyment
and emotional connection that teachers have with students, as well
as the nature of peer interactions
• Negative Climate: the level of
expressed negativity such as anger, hostility or aggression exhibited
by teachers and/or students in the classroom
• Teacher Sensitivity: teachers’
responsiveness to students’ academic and emotional needs
• Regard for Student Perspectives:
the degree to which teachers’ interactions with students and
classroom activities place an emphasis on students’ interests,
motivations, and points of view
The dimensions under organizational support are:
• Behavior Management: how well
teachers monitor, prevent, and redirect behavior
• Productivity: how well the classroom
runs with respect to routines, how well students understand the
routine, and the degree to which teachers provide activities and
directions so that maximum time can be spent in learning activities
• Instructional Learning Formats:
how teachers engage students in activities and facilitate activities
so that learning opportunities are maximized
The dimensions under instructional support are:
• Concept Development: how teachers
use instructional discussions and activities to promote students’
higher-order thinking skills and cognition in contrast to a focus
on rote instruction
• Quality of Feedback: how teachers
extend students’ learning through their responses and participation
in activities
• Language Modeling: the extent
to which teachers facilitate and encourage students’ language
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