Learner Centered Classroom/Pilot Project Initiative
Assessment Report

Developed by the Center for Rural Education SUNY College at Potsdam

INTRODUCTION
This report summarizes the observations made in Pilot Project classrooms during the 1999-2000 school year, as well as participant responses to surveys. Visits were made to 27 classrooms, including some duplication. The assessment tool used was that developed by the Pilot Project team teachers and facilitators during the Summer 1999 Constructivist Conference. Toward the end of that conference, pilot participants were asked to identify those characteristics upon which they would be focusing for the coming academic year, and which the evaluator would assess during the classroom visits. Consequently, the results noted are only valid in the aggregate, and should not be used to draw any conclusions about a single classroom or teacher. Supporting that interpretation is the additional fact that each visit can be considered only a "snapshot" of that day's activities, and while helpful, should not necessarily be seen as a typical instructional event.
Each pilot teacher was also asked to identify which of the skills and strategies (as they appeared on the observation form tool) were enhanced by grant activities. Again, care in interpretation is required since a low value (on the scale 1= low, 3=high) was often selected by teachers who felt they were quite capable with a particular skill or strategy, and, consequently, did not need additional practice or instruction.
The report appears in three sections. The first is a summary of classroom observations taking during the Spring 2000 semester during which twelve classrooms were visited. For some characteristics, the opportunity to observe their presence or absence was not available. Consequently, these are not mentioned in the summary. The second is a summary of the year-end survey sent to all pilot participants. The third is a summary of the survey of pilot teachers taken at the end of the Spring 2000 semester in which they were asked-again relative to the characteristics of a learner centered classroom-how the grant helped them to develop the related skills and strategies. The compilation of data for all forms and surveys is available upon request. [Note: A preliminary report, prepared at the end of the Fall 1999 semester, was submitted to the project director on 2 December 1999, and has been excluded for reasons of brevity.]

SUMMARY OF CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS (SPRING 2000)


Classroom Setup: Clearly the classrooms visited were flexible, appealing, and rich in resources with an average of 2.8-2.9 on the scale of 1=low, 3= high. Student work was often displayed, but had an average of 2.0, indicating that some classrooms visited had little student work evident to the casual observer.

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