Foundations of Observations: Considerations for Developing a Classroom Observation System That Helps Districts Achieve Consistent and Accurate Scores

Great leadership is at the heart of every high-quality public school. Within schools, leadership is most effective when it’s distributed among a team of individuals with different skillsets and experiences but a shared mission to spark and sustain a school-wide culture of learning and improved outcomes for students.

About seven years ago, Denver Public Schools set out to improve the way it provided teachers with opportunities to boost their leadership capacities.

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) has been widely heralded in recent years as one of the nation’s fastest-improving urban public school districts. Most coverage has focused on the district’s strong and stable leadership and its sustained focus on educator effectiveness.