DEPARTMENT: Pre-K 4 SA
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Sarah Baray, Ph.D.
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT: Professional Services Agreement with Teachstone Training, LLC
SUMMARY:
Teachstone Training, LLC's (Teachstone) Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS(r)) is a one-of-a-kind instrument for assessing instructional quality in early childhood programs. CLASS measures the three domains of teacher-child interactions associated with children's learning and development-Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support-and is the only observational teacher assessment tool that measures the teacher behaviors linked by research to student outcomes. CLASS is also the only measurement of instructional quality recognized and supported by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) and the only measure designed for use in the full range of early learning classrooms, infant through third grade.
Because CLASS is unique in its capacity to reliably measure instruction quality in early childhood classrooms, CLASS was selected by Westat, Inc., the external evaluator of Pre-K 4 SA, to assess the quality of instruction at the Pre-K 4 SA Education Centers. Since 2014, every Pre-K 4 SA Education Center classroom has been assessed annually using CLASS. The resulting data are used to drive performance improvements at Pre-K 4 SA. CLASS has also been adopted by the National Head Start Association and is used in Head Start classrooms throughout San Antonio.
A primary objective of Pre-K 4 SA Competitive Grants program is to raise the level of instructional quality in early learning programs across the city. Key to achieving this goal is the ability to gather reliable data on classroom instructional quality. Currently, child development centers and school districts in San Antonio do not have a sufficient pool of trained personnel and resources to implement a research-based method of measuring, evaluating, and improving teacher-student i...
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