Question Of The Week: Walk-Throughs -- Are They Worth-While, or A Waste-Of-Time?

Longtime reader and frequent commenter Teachergrrl has been kind enough to share her thoughts and experiences with the procedure known as a "walk-through" that CPS instituted several years ago, in which area and sometimes central office officials visit schools and, well, walk through them. 

Take a look at what she says makes them work -- or not -- and, whatever your role in the process, weigh in with your own experiences.

As you might guess, there's no clear or concrete benefit from the practice, according to Teachergrrl and her colleagues.  And when you're done, whether you're a teacher, principal, or AIO, write in and let us know --  what do you think?

Teachergrrl writes: 

"So, for whom are AIO walkthroughs valuable?  Certainly it can be difficult to tell from the individual teacher’s point of view. So I’ve been comparing notes—my own past experience with recent experiences of some friends and colleagues in different areas around the city—and thought I’d share our experiences.

Some of the folks I've talked to have have already experienced their first walk-through of 2006-07,  while others have worked themselves into an anxious fret only to have the event rescheduled to an unspecified future date. Some are newbies, a few have observed this process over the past few years.

In most cases, however, most of us receive a heads-up about what the AIO’s team is looking for, usually in the form of an actual checklist of items to make sure our rooms look like we’re doing the "right" stuff and teaching the "right" way:  Classroom libraries organized by genre with a clearly demonstrable checkout system for kids, learning centers, word walls, and posted lesson plans aligned to standards are almost always on the list. 

Are all of these elements of a great classroom following best practices?  Sure! 

Does anyone seem to care if we actually utilize any of them,  or whether ALL of them are necessary or appropriate for each and every classroom?  That's not so clear.

Does anyone give much consideration to where all the materials are going to be kept, or who is supposed to purchase necessary materials?  Not much that we’ve noticed.

Many teachers have received helpful P.D. on how to incorporate word walls in their instruction, and enjoy doing so. Those who haven’t or don’t still spend a day before a scheduled walk-through having students create something attractive for the wall that will never be referred to again.   That's sort of sad, or confusing for the kids.

The library requirement can also be a bit confusing for departmentalized upper grade classrooms,  where the math/science/social studies teachers don’t necessarily implement of a lot of independent student reading (especially when administrators looking to meet the requirement  provide a box of youth fiction with no particular connection to the subject area).  But so many classrooms are self-contained that this probably isn’t a particularly universal complaint. 

The learning centers question remains unresolved, from what I gather--  but the primary teachers are a lot less alarmed by the requirement than the intermediate or upper grades. Maybe because their students are smaller and take up less space in the room?  Or because it’s, ahem,  challenging to get thirty 14-year-olds to circulate between creative academic activities peacefully and with high levels of engagement?

From my own past experience, I’m not sure that there is a best or most valuable aspect of the walk-through,  except that it gooses you to improve your classroom environment and post extremely recent student work.  Yes, we should all do this anyway,  but teachers get overwhelmed and exhausted and sometimes rooms suffer. 

Still, I can’t really say I ever received any valuable or constructive feedback; what we teachers hear afterwards is so soft-pedaled and non-fingerpointing that it seems essentially meaningless.

I guess the worst aspect of the walk-throughs, for me,  was that the actual quality of teaching was never discussed (though maybe that’s a good thing when a snap judgment would need to be made after 2-4 minutes of observation). 

Still, the fact that the AIO’s team will rate your empty room by looking at the posters and centers and library, etc., seems to send a clear message that appearance is more important than the energy, devotion, preparation, and skill of the actual teacher.

And that makes me question whether the walk-throughs really help anyone keep any real fingers on any real pulses."

Comments

[paulie]

This is a pretty common arguement made by teachers who don't want anyone knowing what they've got going on in their rooms. Or most times, what they really don't have going on in their rooms. I have rarely ever heard teachers admit that they could improve in some areas, but, oh boy, look out if someone on a walkthrough notices something that might be less than satisfactory.

Many teachers question the right or ability of anyone to look at what they are doing and critique it honestly and fairly. If you're a principal, then you're the Man, if you are an area coach, then you're a compliance robot who would still be in the classroom if they were so great of a teacher, if you're a dept. chair then you're hiding under the skirt of the principal, and if you're a teacher and collegue, you have no right to judge them because you don't have a 75. It's all bullshit excuses because many teachers, and sometimes NBCT's, and most of my experience is with high schools, can't really hack it. They don't understand the kids, they can't relate the materials, they think their presence is something special in itself, and they can't stand to have anyone find out the truth: that little actual learning is going on. The truly good teachers in the system take these walkthroughs in stride and keep doing their job. If there was something lacking, good teachers figure out if the advice is sound and then act on it one way or another.

I agree that the lists the AIO's send out are too obvious and offensive, but I have seen some unbelievable, unforgiveable things going on in classrooms during walkthroughs and also during the normal school day. Until teachers can be fired for poor performance without years of bs paperwork like the rest of the world, we'll never get the respect or pay that we deserve.

you go, paulie. tell us what you really think.

[Sean]

My only real complaint concerns the test-prep posters we are forced to hang in the room, especially the rubrics for math and writing extended responses. I don't care how many times you refer to it, use it for grading, etc., no child is going to spend more than 5 minutes a year looking at the posters if you are not pointing at them. The rubrics are a waste of good wall space, and the fact no higher-ups realize how useless they are is a real indication of how clueless they are to teaching. The rubrics contain too many abstract explanations and not enough concrete examples, which should come by way of teaching, not decorating. I'd rather use that wall space to hang up examples of student work.

Overall, I think walk-throughs are OK. They can be really entertaining, watching teachers freak out about what is and is not stuck to their walls, as if they're in some reality-TV classroom decorating contest.

I would like to see more follow-up supervision and advice. After walk-throughs are completed, teachers who need help (which there are plenty of) rarely get anything more than a checklist of what physical items they need to have in their room; rarely is there explanation of WHY they need to have it, or HOW to incorporate it into their teaching. Walk-throughs can only be credited with changing the window-dressing of classrooms.

I think what most teachers need is a classroom organization and psychology course. Too many classes I've seen have a lot going on, but they are not functional. Classrooms too quickly become cluttered and confusing, especially for the kids. Many teachers think more is better, whereas neatness and simplicity (not the same as emptiness) are far more important. Classrooms should be learning laboratories, not construction paper carnivals.

[Rod Estvan]

When I was monitoring special education implementation for Corey H. I had two experiences where my team and the walk though process happened at the same time.

Aside from the general criticism in the posts above about paper carnivals, class room libraries, etc., I thought there was a more profound problem. The actual student growth data was not utilized.

Let me explain what I mean. The actual experience of students who either were academically achieving or not achieving was not examined. For example students who had been retained were not discussed at an individual level to see how a school had intervened with the child. The history of higher achievers was equally not examined.

In my opinion, and it is highly driven by having looked at many, many students with disabilities in CPS schools and in western US schools,observations on a school have to be child driven not process driven. An observer must capture a reasonable sample of the academic and social experiences of students, then relate that to school level process.

The reason for this is there will always be great teachers and weak teachers in the same school. But the reality of the effectiveness of a school is the process each child goes through as they advance in the school.

To look at children and schools in this way costs far more than the CPS is paying for its walk through system. The cost for one of the site visits conducted by the Corey H. monitors office including writing up 25 to 30 page reports was easily four to five times that of the current CPS walk through system. The cost of my monitoring for native American tribal schools was even high given the remote location of some schools.

In other words the CPS is getting what it pays for with the walk through system.

Rod Estvan
Access Living of Metro Chicago

[Sean]

I don't think CPS is even getting what they are paying for with these walk-throughs. The cost of having so many professionals and area officers waste their well-paid time inspecting how classrooms look is ridiculous. It is similar to the old (defunct?) ceremonies of having armies reviewed by their generals, as if inspecting how they looked ensured their fighting capability. Remember, not only is CPS paying the area inspectors, each school wastes payroll having in-house inspectors, usually the reading and math coaches who should instead be ensuring teachers are teaching, not decorating. Many coaches will readily admit the walk-throughs are dog-and-pony shows, and often an insult to the teaching profession.

[Brad]

I have no problem with the concept of the walkthrough. I do have a problem, though, with the fact that the only thing anybody seems to care about is what I have or don't have on my walls. I recognize that the AIO doesn't have time to spend even half an hour in my classroom specifically, but if even a quarter of the attention were paid to my teaching that gets paid to my skills as a decorator, I'd be a lot better at my job.

The walkthrough idea is a good one; unfortunately, in many cases it's been implemented by AIOs who don't have a command of strong instruction. The checklists (is your word wall up? Is your i can statement visible) serve to reduce thinking, not encourage it.

[alexander]

some of us have never seen these checklists -- can someone send or post or link to one? i think they'd be interesting to look at.

[Andrew Martinek]

My problem with walkthroughs is that they are superficial at best. They look to see if the state goals and objectives are posted. (I have a philosophical conflict with this practice.) They look to see that student work is posted. They look to see that lesson plans are posted. I've even heard of students being asked by observers to identify what state goal they are working on. (Yuck.) Most of that is bureaucratic nonsense. the only people who should be sticking their nose in classrooms from time to time are Department Chairs and SCHOOL administrators, to ensure that teachers are following the curriculum map that THEY (teachers) designed. Sure there should be some accountability, but we don't need an entire tier of middle managers interfering with the learning process. CPS could serve its students much better by eliminating the area offices and pouring that money into the classrooms where it is needed.

The title Area Instructional Officer sounds impressive coupled with a creative job description makes for good reading and don't leave out the organ chart, it fits the total bill, regardless of what is going on in the classroom. The AIO position also provides a buffer between those that know somethings and those that know nothing.

[Sean]

I can't tell the tone of your email, 12:46....do you think that is a good thing that the AIOs buffer the know somethings from the know nothings? Isn’t that the definition of a wasteful bureaucracy? Why doesn’t CPS just figure out how to hire great teachers (higher pay, perhaps?), and then leave them alone to do their job?

Andrew, I think there should be a lot of accountability, not just 'some'. Having AIOs check your decorations as a system of accountability is ludicrous. The only accountability we should be held to should be our test scores, which is the only objective measurement of how well we are teaching. Unfortunately, the way Illinois currently measures test scores do not accurately reflect students who transferred in mid-year, or give your class the credit for students who transfer out immediately before the test. Furthermore, test scores should be measured against the students' previous scores, which they are often not. Administrators tend to only look at the current class score compared to other current class scores, i.e. the 5th grade scores a 55%, but the 6th grade scored a 75%, so therefore the 5th grade teacher must not be doing his/her job. Instead, AIOs and their minions should spend their time interpreting the data, i.e., this group of students currently in 5th scored 45% last year in 4th grade, and 55% this year in 5th, therefore their teacher is a doing a good job, etc. Other than that, all other information take in during walkthroughs is subjective and therefore worthless when it comes to accountability.

I agree that having to post which standard you are working on is dumb. If a kid doesn’t know what he is learning about and has to look at a poster to remember, then you’re not doing your job as a teacher.

[paulie]

When schools do local walkthroughs in combination with the area doing their walkthroughs, you can get a pretty good idea of what is going on in classrooms.

Like I said before, many teachers usually don't want anyone in their rooms and then condemn the administrators for not visiting more often. There are many teachers in this system who just want to close their doors and be left alone to do whatever they think is best. If you judge them by test scores they scream that they will not teach to a test or that test taking strategies are a waste of time. If that fails they will claim they can't be responsible for what children didn't learn before they got to their classroom, that they aren't the parents or those damn elementary school teachers, what are they doing!

My new favorite are the History teachers who bitch about having to take some responsibility for improving reading. They argue that they aren't reading teachers!!! Right, it's much more important for kids to know who won what battle during the civil war or how many British died during the Boer Wars. Many teachers like to remove all of this responsibility from their own shoulders and throw the blame where ever if lands.

Though I am a teacher and not an area officer, I take offense to 4:53 calling the staff in the area offices minions. Sounds more like jealousy; why doesn't anyone pick me to be an area coach! Just like in any profession (ironically though, except teaching), these employees are subject to the whims of the boss and/or the political winds changing. There are also many who aren't very good at what they do, and in my experience, they can and do get fired.

I agree that the city should get the best possible teachers they can, and pay them well, but who is going to decide what standards the best are to measured by? NBCT's? The Union? CPS? I don't think so.

[Sean]

Paulie, I absolutely disagree that you can tell what is going on in a classroom by spending 10 minutes in there. What if a great teacher is having a bad day? What if a lousy teacher is having a great day? Hey, they both have the same decorations as mandated by the area, so all you're going by is that 10 minute period? Any idiot can walk their class through an assignment, just to get good results and have something to hang on a board.

And no Paulie, its not jealousy, it's anger at watching the working of a very bloated bureacracy. I've been in the military, where there is plenty of waste, and I have to say, CPS rivals it.

I'm not sure who you are talking about, "they can and do get fired." The minions? I disagree. I've received nonsensical handouts at a conference from an area reading coach. It was directions for the students on how to write an extended response. The document actually made no sense at all. I carried it around with me, asking people if it made sense to them. No one understood. How the coach expected kids to follow it was even more ridiculous. This coach should have been fired, but for whatever reason, the "political wind" didn't blow that way.

Anyone can visit my classroom. And I'm always open for advice and constructive criticism. Just don't expect me to decorate your way. And, if your job consists of checking how teachers decorate, then you have one sad job.

My beef is that there is not ENOUGH accountability. A ten minute walk through? Thats an insult! I spent how much time getting my class ready? And you're going to judge it in 10 minutes?

So calm down, Paulie. Go work at the virtual charter school if you don't like your fellow teachers so much.

Paulie:

Please do not admit to being a teacher; and if you are some CO/AREA person hiding behind the words "I am a teacher," do not do that either.

Stop kissing up to the AREA folk: Your breath is stinking.

If I am a history teacher, why should I teach reading? I am a HISTORY TEACHER, dummy!

The beauty of this blob is its structure that emboldens writers to express themselves openly--honestly or otherwise--without fear of repercussion.

I'm going to go out on a limb:

If you really know instruction, if a good teacher is having a bad 10 minutes, you still know he/she is a good teacher.

If a bad teacher is having a good 10 minutes, you still know that, too.

====================

If you are a K-8 teacher and you know that walkthroughs are just the area staff following a wallpapering checklist (oooh, what a nice word wall you have!) would anyone reading here email Flavia Hernandez or Barbara Eason Watkins? Or would we send them that nonsensical extended response handout? My sense is that THEY WOULD WANT TO KNOW. Are we willing to hold the Area accountable for being the instructional support they are meant to be?

1:32 am They do NOT want to know. They do know and they endorse/condone it. Flavia did it. BEW just looks the other way.

I think we should do walk throughs at 125 South Clark Street.

Good idea--there should be walk throughs of 125, and for the area offices too--they should see what it is like.
Our walk through was a waste and just about insulting. The school I teach at--the former assitant principal was on the team; disrupted my class because students were saying hello to her and talking with her--interupting my lesson. I was told I had too many words on the wall--too many! And the principal was told that the team was not allowed to say anything positive. Not allowed. So we were doing everything wrong. 7 people in my room for 10 minutes and they know my whole instructional plan--I want that job!

[Sean]

1:32, you should stay out on a limb, and not in a classroom. How are people just going to "know" if someone is a good or bad teacher based on 10 minutes in a classroom??? Why the hell don't we just grade our students that way, too?! Give them the books, then twice a year we talk to them for 10 minutes, and pass or fail them based on the information we gather. Sounds sensible, huh? Come on, people, you all have college degrees, you must have taken a science course sometime in your life, you should know objective data CANNOT be gathered in such a limited fashion!

I LOVE the idea of doing a walkthrough of 125 S. Clark! We'll give them annual ratings based on 10 minutes in their office.

In our school, the middle grade teachers are a having fit about having to put their classroom library books into bins, like we do in the primary and intermediate grades. Their argument, which to me is completely valid, is that public and university libraries don't do that and if our students are not accustomed to finding books by reading the spines by 8th grade, rather than browsing bins, how will they ever deal with using a public library? My library was also docked for having bookshelves in 2 separate parts of the classroom. It is physcially impossible to have all the shelves together due to the permanent placement of windows, doors, etc. These two points prove how bureacratic and dumb the AIOs are. They find a decorating formula and apply it to every grade, every teacherm, every classroom, despite limits from the laws of physics. Our principal has tried to reason and argue with them, but they are so entrenched, and get so absolute support from their superiors we are unable to hold them even 1/10th as accountable as they do us.

In New York city they are slowly but surely phasing out their version of the AIOs, as they have caused as many problems as they solve. We can only hope Chicago becomes as enlightened.

Do I agree with what the AIOs are aiming for? Absolutely. Unfortunately, the AIOs are half-blind and shouldn't be the ones aiming. It should be the individual schools.

[paulie]

First to 11:38, keep teaching those kids the meaningless factoids you probably have been filling your meaningless lessons with for as long as you have been dreaming of being a teacher. I'm sure you're really helping kids. Keep giving them the same tests that measure nothing but your own laziness. The real dummies are those ridiculous history teachers who think they'll always have a job. History as a class has been reduced to near meaningless but instead of adapting and fighting for their course, the dummies want to teach kids what they want and what they think is important. The education of children be damned because I specialized in some trivial personal aspect of history that I think kids should know about.

Oh, and I've been a teacher for 10 years. Never an area person. I seriously hope you won't be teaching very much longer and based on your comments, you won't be able to hack it one way or another considering the fine display of mental healthiness you put on in this blog. You must be an aspiring NBCT.

Sean, you argue like a baby. Keep screaming about decorations. An intelligent person can tell a lot of things about a teacher just by walking by, or looking in, or just hearing an interaction between a teacher and student. It is teachers like you who want everyone else to leave them alone and let them do whatever you want. Like that would fly in any other profession. Try becomeing a doctor. Hey, I want to perform this surgery MY WAY, you don't mind do you. I might kill you but, then again I do know best.

I love teachers. Good teachers. Not embarassing frauds who help reinforce that hated old saying that those who can't do, teach.

[Sean]

Wow, Paulie, I hope you haven't taught your students to misread opinions as much as you did here! I never said I wanted AIOs or anyone to leave me alone. In fact, if you READ my postings you will see that I said I would like MORE accountability. I would like it if they spent more than 10 minutes in my room. MORE, Paulie, not less. To only spend 10 minutes in my room and judge my teaching on that is an insult. Get it? If you still don't understand I'll draw you a picture.

And, when AIOs make their suggestions, they should take into account the laws of physics and not expect me to move my classroom library to where space and time do not allow it to exist. I' pretty sure that's not crazy talk....my perspective is mentally healthy, theirs and definitely yours is not.

I don't expect my students to all think, act and look the same, just as I wouldn't expect my colleagues to, either.

Paulie, I actually agree with you that history teachers should teach students reading and writing. But I would never degrade history as "useless factoids". But then, I argue like a "baby", right....?

"It's teachers like you..." Seriously Paulie, apply to the virtual charter school if you dislike your coworkers so much. Only 10 years teaching? Wow, I'd hate to hear you after 20! I may rant a bit about the pointlessness of walkthroughs, but I would never degrade an entire field of research like history.

[Sean]

Hey Paulie, check out this quote, "I would like to see more follow-up supervision and advice. After walk-throughs are completed, teachers who need help (which there are plenty of) rarely get anything more than a checklist of what physical items they need to have in their room; rarely is there explanation of WHY they need to have it, or HOW to incorporate it into their teaching. Walk-throughs can only be credited with changing the window-dressing of classrooms."
I said that in my first post on this topic. A well-educated person would be able to infer that I did not mean I wanted to be left alone; rather, I wanted more collaboration and direction, for myself and all teachers. How-about that for a FACTOID? Or was that too babyish for you to understand?

By the way Paulie, here is the website for the virtual charter school: http://www.chicagovcs.org/

"you must have taken a science course sometime in your life, you should know objective data CANNOT be gathered in such a limited fashion!"

Have you read Blink? 10 minutes IS enough time, if you are an expert (too bad more AIOs and ARCs and OMS coaches aren't).

[11:38]

Hi Paulie, this is 11:38.

You got some serious issues.

But let's put it to the test--Identify your school and self. I'd like to see your record on the teaching of reading.

Failure to comply would surely indicate your dishonesty as a contributor to this blog.

As for me, I love teaching the constitution, civil war, segregation, space and earth, pyramids, mankind, the beginning of time, the bible, etc.

My question: if you think history is “meaningless factoids” and have been not being filling your lessons with fact, what have you been doing for 10 years? Please don’t say teaching reading without letting me see those scores.

[Sean]

12:29, no, I have not read Blink, who is it by? I agree, a well-practiced expert might be able to get SOME data, but I'd be hard pressed to believe you could get much. And I agree, you'd have to be an expert with a doctorates degree, preferably in a science with plenty of experience in field research.

In psychology you can sometimes diagnose someone, depending on the disease or disorder, in 10 minutes. But even then you need to have follow-ups to make sure, and to measure the severity.

Here's a better challenge: name one other field where professionals are judged in 10 minutes? Oooh, I just thought of two....beauty contests, and American Idol. Any others?