Introduction: Purposes and Perspectives on Classroom Observation Research

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511616419.001

1 - Introduction: Purposes and Perspectives on Classroom Observation Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2009

Hersh C. Waxman and

Edited by

Roland G. Tharp and

R. Soleste Hilberg: Affiliation:
Education Research Specialist, Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California, Santa Cruz
Hersh C. Waxman: Affiliation:
Professor of Educational Leadership and Cultural Studies in the College of Education, University of Houston; Principal Researcher in the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence; Principal Investigator in the U.S. Department of Education, National Laboratory for Student Success, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory
Roland G. Tharp: Affiliation:
Director, Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE); Professor of Education and Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz
Hersh C. Waxman: Affiliation:
University of Houston
Roland G. Tharp: Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz
R. Soleste Hilberg: Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz

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Summary

The purpose of this book is to provide researchers, scholars, and educators with examples of recently developed classroom observation instruments based on current research on effective teaching practices, many developed explicitly for use in today's culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. The chapters describe several new instruments and include examples of how they have been used to examine effective instruction, schools, and school-based reform models in classrooms and schools with diverse students. Although most observational research in culturally and linguistically diverse settings has been qualitative, systematic classroom observation research has been widely used during the past three decades (Waxman, 1995; Waxman & Huang, 1999). And, although findings from that research have led to a substantive knowledge base on effective teaching practices (Brophy & Good, 1986; Waxman & Walberg, 1982), many critics have argued that systematic observation lacks a theoretical/conceptual framework and merely focuses on discrete categories or small segments of observable teacher behaviors that can be easily measured with observation instruments (Ornstein, 1991). Indeed, most of the early observation instruments focused on direct instruction and easily quantifiable behaviors associated with basic skills instruction, rendering them inappropriate, or when used alone inadequate, for examining today's diverse classrooms. Today, researchers and educators need instruments based on the most recent theoretical/conceptual work and empirical research on effective pedagogy (Tharp, Estrada, Dalton, & Yamauchi, 2000; Waxman & Walberg, 1999). This book presents a rich variety of such instruments.

Type: Chapter
Information: Observational Research in U.S. Classrooms
New Approaches for Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
, pp. 1 - 20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511616419.001 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

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