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Trust-Based Observations: Maximizing Teaching and Learning Growth
The results are observations are not improving teaching and learning. Pertinently, the Gates Foundation’s recently completed effort to improve student outcomes through enhancing the teacher evaluation process failed to achieve substantive improvement. The way observations are currently designed serve as an obstacle to teacher risk-taking. Teachers fear negative evaluations when their pedagogy is rated, and they lack faith in being supported by supervisors because a trusting relationship between them and their observer has not been built.Trust-Based Maximizing Teaching and Learning Growth is a schema changing evaluation model that understands people perform at their best when they feel safe and supported. It begins with twelve, 20 minute observations per week followed by collegial conversations driven by reflective questions, sharing observed teaching strengths, and the building of safe and trusting relationships with teachers. Add the elimination of rating pedagogical skills and replace it with rating mindset, and teachers trust. When teachers fully embrace risk-taking and innovation, it leads to remarkable teaching transformations and improved student learning.
- GenresEducation
215 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 30, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 13, 2020
This is an essential read for school administrators!
Trust-Based Observations gives new meaning to teacher-administrator relationships, and it will redefine the student learning experience.
Let’s be real: the annual teacher observation can sky-rocket levels of stress for teachers. Unforeseen problems can derail any well-mapped and well-intentioned lesson plan with a technology malfunction, a miscount of copies, or a premature check for understanding. Even effective teachers have bad days: heaven forbid it happens when you’re being observed!
The traditional style, of all-or-nothing annual observations, posits astronomical stakes for educators. But what hangs in the balance for the teacher? Loss of respect? Labels of inadequacy? Loss of contract? It’s clear - the current model of observation with its high-stakes, infrequent visits, and teacher grading policy leads to teachers being judged by near-singular performances. Craig Randall, the author of Trust-Based Observations, remarks that these circumstances lead to teachers playing it safe, in effect, being less effective with lessons more forgettable.
Randall identifies the observation dilemma and he systemizes a solution with soul. The TBO model embeds trust between administrators and teachers by diffusing the high-stakes observation. TBO preaches personalization - encouraging teachers to strengthen their brand of instruction while making post-observations about mutual understanding rather than unilateral prescriptions for pedagogical improvement. This book is essential for administrators who want to create a school environment where teachers, like students, are heard and rewarded for taking risks in efforts to improve knowledge and practice.
Trust-Based Observations gives new meaning to teacher-administrator relationships, and it will redefine the student learning experience.
Let’s be real: the annual teacher observation can sky-rocket levels of stress for teachers. Unforeseen problems can derail any well-mapped and well-intentioned lesson plan with a technology malfunction, a miscount of copies, or a premature check for understanding. Even effective teachers have bad days: heaven forbid it happens when you’re being observed!
The traditional style, of all-or-nothing annual observations, posits astronomical stakes for educators. But what hangs in the balance for the teacher? Loss of respect? Labels of inadequacy? Loss of contract? It’s clear - the current model of observation with its high-stakes, infrequent visits, and teacher grading policy leads to teachers being judged by near-singular performances. Craig Randall, the author of Trust-Based Observations, remarks that these circumstances lead to teachers playing it safe, in effect, being less effective with lessons more forgettable.
Randall identifies the observation dilemma and he systemizes a solution with soul. The TBO model embeds trust between administrators and teachers by diffusing the high-stakes observation. TBO preaches personalization - encouraging teachers to strengthen their brand of instruction while making post-observations about mutual understanding rather than unilateral prescriptions for pedagogical improvement. This book is essential for administrators who want to create a school environment where teachers, like students, are heard and rewarded for taking risks in efforts to improve knowledge and practice.
June 23, 2024
I'm giving this a solid 4 stars as a starting point. I hope to put it up to 5 when I start putting it into practice this year. I really felt overwhelmed by the observation form the first time I saw it, but after reading the book, it makes a lot of sense, AND moves you pointedly away from "gotcha!" observations. I'm nervous about implementation, but I really want to give it a solid go. Randall explains everything you need to know to get started and offers tons of grace for where you will definitely make mistakes.
September 13, 2020
This is an essential read for school administrators!
Trust-Based Observations gives new meaning to teacher-administrator relationships, and it will redefine the student learning experience.
Let’s be real: the annual teacher observation can sky-rocket levels of stress for teachers. Unforeseen problems can derail any well-mapped and well-intentioned lesson plan with a technology malfunction, a miscount of copies, or a premature check for understanding. Even effective teachers have bad days: heaven forbid it happens when you’re being observed!
The traditional style, of all-or-nothing annual observations, posits astronomical stakes for educators. But what hangs in the balance for the teacher? Loss of respect? Labels of inadequacy? Loss of contract? It’s clear - the current model of observation with its high-stakes, infrequent visits, and teacher grading policy leads to teachers being judged by near-singular performances. Craig Randall, the author of Trust-Based Observations, remarks that these circumstances lead to teachers playing it safe, in effect, being less effective with lessons more forgettable.
Randall identifies the observation dilemma and he systemizes a solution with soul. The TBO model embeds trust between administrators and teachers by diffusing the high-stakes observation. TBO preaches personalization - encouraging teachers to strengthen their brand of instruction while making post-observations about mutual understanding rather than unilateral prescriptions for pedagogical improvement. This book is essential for administrators who want to create a school environment where teachers, like students, are heard and rewarded for taking risks in efforts to improve knowledge and practice.
Trust-Based Observations gives new meaning to teacher-administrator relationships, and it will redefine the student learning experience.
Let’s be real: the annual teacher observation can sky-rocket levels of stress for teachers. Unforeseen problems can derail any well-mapped and well-intentioned lesson plan with a technology malfunction, a miscount of copies, or a premature check for understanding. Even effective teachers have bad days: heaven forbid it happens when you’re being observed!
The traditional style, of all-or-nothing annual observations, posits astronomical stakes for educators. But what hangs in the balance for the teacher? Loss of respect? Labels of inadequacy? Loss of contract? It’s clear - the current model of observation with its high-stakes, infrequent visits, and teacher grading policy leads to teachers being judged by near-singular performances. Craig Randall, the author of Trust-Based Observations, remarks that these circumstances lead to teachers playing it safe, in effect, being less effective with lessons more forgettable.
Randall identifies the observation dilemma and he systemizes a solution with soul. The TBO model embeds trust between administrators and teachers by diffusing the high-stakes observation. TBO preaches personalization - encouraging teachers to strengthen their brand of instruction while making post-observations about mutual understanding rather than unilateral prescriptions for pedagogical improvement. This book is essential for administrators who want to create a school environment where teachers, like students, are heard and rewarded for taking risks in efforts to improve knowledge and practice.
September 13, 2020
This is an essential read for school administrators!
Trust-Based Observations gives new meaning to teacher-administrator relationships, and it will redefine the student learning experience.
Let’s be real: the annual teacher observation can sky-rocket levels of stress for teachers. Unforeseen problems can derail any well-mapped and well-intentioned lesson plan with a technology malfunction, a miscount of copies, or a premature check for understanding. Even effective teachers have bad days: heaven forbid it happens when you’re being observed!
The traditional style, of all-or-nothing annual observations, posits astronomical stakes for educators. But what hangs in the balance for the teacher? Loss of respect? Labels of inadequacy? Loss of contract? It’s clear - the current model of observation with its high-stakes, infrequent visits, and teacher grading policy leads to teachers being judged by near-singular performances. Craig Randall, the author of Trust-Based Observations, remarks that these circumstances lead to teachers playing it safe, in effect, being less effective with lessons more forgettable.
Randall identifies the observation dilemma and he systemizes a solution with soul. The TBO model embeds trust between administrators and teachers by diffusing the high-stakes observation. TBO preaches personalization - encouraging teachers to strengthen their brand of instruction while making post-observations about mutual understanding rather than unilateral prescriptions for pedagogical improvement. This book is essential for administrators who want to create a school environment where teachers, like students, are heard and rewarded for taking risks in efforts to improve knowledge and practice.
Trust-Based Observations gives new meaning to teacher-administrator relationships, and it will redefine the student learning experience.
Let’s be real: the annual teacher observation can sky-rocket levels of stress for teachers. Unforeseen problems can derail any well-mapped and well-intentioned lesson plan with a technology malfunction, a miscount of copies, or a premature check for understanding. Even effective teachers have bad days: heaven forbid it happens when you’re being observed!
The traditional style, of all-or-nothing annual observations, posits astronomical stakes for educators. But what hangs in the balance for the teacher? Loss of respect? Labels of inadequacy? Loss of contract? It’s clear - the current model of observation with its high-stakes, infrequent visits, and teacher grading policy leads to teachers being judged by near-singular performances. Craig Randall, the author of Trust-Based Observations, remarks that these circumstances lead to teachers playing it safe, in effect, being less effective with lessons more forgettable.
Randall identifies the observation dilemma and he systemizes a solution with soul. The TBO model embeds trust between administrators and teachers by diffusing the high-stakes observation. TBO preaches personalization - encouraging teachers to strengthen their brand of instruction while making post-observations about mutual understanding rather than unilateral prescriptions for pedagogical improvement. This book is essential for administrators who want to create a school environment where teachers, like students, are heard and rewarded for taking risks in efforts to improve knowledge and practice.
April 22, 2026
Classic teacher observations are broken, defying everything we know about best practices in assessment. There's the sample size problem, the onerous paperwork problem, and the "putting on a dog and pony show for the scheduled evaluation" problem. But most importantly, you simply can't use the same walkthrough to both give a teacher a grade AND use that walkthrough to give useful feedback. We know this from students. Formative feedback needs to be separated from summative evaluation for learning to occur.
Fortunately, Randall builds on the research of O'Leary and on his own practices to create an alternative system for teacher walkthroughs.
I disagreed with him on some of the details of how these alternatives should work, but agreed on the basic concepts like:
-- If instructional leadership is the job of the principal, we should spend at least a little time in classrooms every day.
--Stop using walkthroughs as the basis of formal teacher evaluation when you can-- instead measure professionalism, collaboration, and growth mindset.
-- Focus your energy on frequent, low-stakes feedback. Keep it low-stakes by eschewing rubrics and instead giving qualitative feedback.
--Start with the positives during your first visits. It's arrogant to give teachers constructive feedback your first time in their room. (That's the sample size problem.)
Overall, despite the parts I don't like (that walkthrough form is way, way too long, and I question some of the underlying beliefs about learning), this book is deeply needed, since the teacher evaluation and professional growth in most schools is deeply broken.
Fortunately, Randall builds on the research of O'Leary and on his own practices to create an alternative system for teacher walkthroughs.
I disagreed with him on some of the details of how these alternatives should work, but agreed on the basic concepts like:
-- If instructional leadership is the job of the principal, we should spend at least a little time in classrooms every day.
--Stop using walkthroughs as the basis of formal teacher evaluation when you can-- instead measure professionalism, collaboration, and growth mindset.
-- Focus your energy on frequent, low-stakes feedback. Keep it low-stakes by eschewing rubrics and instead giving qualitative feedback.
--Start with the positives during your first visits. It's arrogant to give teachers constructive feedback your first time in their room. (That's the sample size problem.)
Overall, despite the parts I don't like (that walkthrough form is way, way too long, and I question some of the underlying beliefs about learning), this book is deeply needed, since the teacher evaluation and professional growth in most schools is deeply broken.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews