The New America Foundation released a report arguing that improving early education must involve research-based observation of teachers in the classroom. Identifying good teachers is a high priority in education reform, yet new policies rarely focus on how education might improve if evaluations were based on teachers' individual interactions with their students.

The report focuses on PreK-3rd grade reforms and comes on the heels of the Obama Administration's new regulations for Head Start program funding. Part of the new regulations require that Head Start programs be evaluated using observation tools highlighted in the report.    

The report, Watching Teachers Work: Using Observation Tools to Promote Effective Teaching in the Early Years and Early Grades, paints a picture of the dismal state of early education for many children - especially the disadvantaged - who rarely receive the kind of teaching that would provide them with the cognitive and social-emotional skills they need to succeed.

"Studies consistently remind us of what children could achieve if they attended high-quality early learning programs and received high-quality instruction throughout their early grades of school," said Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative and co-author of the report with Susan Ochshorn, founder of ECE Policy Works, a consultancy in New York City.  "But the reality is that too many children experience teaching that is inconsistent from year to year and sometimes quite poor."

With many states currently redesigning their K-12 teacher-evaluation systems, the report urges policymakers to use valid and reliable observation instruments as one method for identifying the effectiveness of teachers. "Observation tools allow for measurements that are far less subjective than many of the checklists and rubrics currently used today," the report says.

Based on in-depth interviews at public schools and early childhood programs around the country, the report crosses boundaries between "birth to 5" early childhood and K-12 programs. It describes how good learning environments can be fostered in infant-toddler programs, pre-K settings, elementary schools, and across the full education spectrum, PreK-12th grade.

The report offers 17 recommendations to policymakers at all levels of government, as well as educators and teacher-preparation programs. 

Among them: 

• Use valid and reliable observation tools to identify, promote and reward good teaching; 
• Harness the power of these tools to integrate professional development with formal evaluation; and
• Use observation-based assessments to promote PreK-3rd reforms, providing teachers with a common language for describing good teaching across grade levels.

The Early Education Initiative is funded through generous grants from the Foundation for Child Development, the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation, and the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation.