Initial validation of the Classroom Management Observation Tool (CMOT).

Abstract

Effective classroom management is critical for student and teacher success. Because teachers receive limited preservice preparation and in-service support in classroom management, educational leaders (e.g., school psychologists, behavior coaches, mentor teachers, and administrators) need efficient and effective tools to identify teachers’ strengths and needs and to guide professional development. Current approaches to assess teachers’ classroom management are either (a) simple and efficient, but have unknown psychometric properties, or (b) psychometrically sound, but resource intensive. Thus, a Classroom Management Observation Tool (CMOT) that is simple, efficient, and has promising psychometric properties would fill a critical need in the field. This article describes the initial development and validation of the CMOT—a four-item rating of teachers’ active supervision, opportunities to respond, specific praise, and positive to corrective ratio—and presents promising evidence of content validity, factor structure, interrater reliability, construct validity, and generalizability. Further research is needed to develop this tool for screening, progress monitoring, and other assessment purposes.

Components of a Successful Classroom: A Factor Analysis for Initial Validation of a Measure Assessing Tier 1 Classroom Management

“…This unidimensional construct was best measured with three factors (i.e., preventive supports; feedback provision and engagement; and items related to rules, expectations, and consequences). This factor structure fits well and provides a thorough and comprehensible structure that is in accord with theoretical frameworks utilized to determine tool development (Simonsen et al, 2019(Simonsen et al, , 2020(Simonsen et al, , 2021) and items to be included in the current iteration of the CSC observation tool. Specifically, the factors were labeled based on Simonsen and colleagues' (2021) Tier 1 PCBS foundational practices as they relate to the classroom environment.…”

“…When certain items on the CSC were unclear or ambiguous, the team, including the experts in school PBIS, refined the items to ensure consistency across consultants using the observation tool. While Simonsen and colleagues’ (2019, 2020, 2021) Tier 1 guidelines served to highlight positive classroom practices and determine the potential constructs being measured, additional information was needed to determine general commonalities in the items observed. An EFA was then conducted to determine the factor structure of the classroom management observation tool utilizing observations of teachers’ classroom management.…”

“…Simonsen and colleagues (2020) highlighted the need to utilize a brief and validated measure of PCBS strategies to guide professional development. They emphasized that available measures are either simple but not psychometrically validated or psychometrically validated but too complex to be sustainably implemented.…”

“…Because the Components of a Successful Classroom (CSC; Fischer et al, 2019) was created based on the aforementioned foundational Tier 1 guidelines of Simonsen and colleagues (2019, 2020, 2021), Simonsen’s work is the theoretical framework this study is based on. Furthermore, given that the current study looks to begin the validation of the CSC measure, another framework used as a reference for the initial validation of this measure is Kane’s (2013) four-pillared validity framework for an interpretive argument.…”

Benchmarks of Equality? School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and the Discipline Gap

“…Gregory et al (2016) found that a relationship between classroom coaching and racially equitable discipline rates was mediated by teachers’ use of instructional strategies promoting problem-solving and higher level thinking that communicate high expectations for students. Despite PBIS scholarship indicating the potential of these practices (e.g., Sugai & Horner, 2009), such practices lie outside the intended scope of commonly used measures of PBIS implementation fidelity (e.g., BoQ, Kincaid et al, 2010; Classroom Management Observation Tool, Simonsen et al, 2020; and School-Wide Evaluation Tool, Sugai et al, 2001).…”