10 Dimensions of Good Teaching

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


http://www.edletter.org/insights/goodteaching.shtml