Teacher Observation Project (TOP)

Research Team: Professor Simon Burgess (Principal Investigator), Dr Shenila Rawal, Eric Taylor (Stanford University)

LTSA Contact: Matthew Dunn (Monks' Dyke Tennyson College)

Funder: Education Endowment Foundation

Monks' Dyke Tennyson College are involved as one of the schools nationwide who were selected for this project. The project will use existing research on effective peer lesson observation to develop a rubric for lesson observation. The programme will involve short, frequent, unannounced observations by peers and heads of departments, but the observations would not involve incentives attached to performance.

The project will have different treatment groups, allowing the impacts of being both observed and observing to be assessed.

Teachers who are observers will be trained in effective observation approaches using videotaped teaching examples. Evidence from observations will be recorded on an electronic system, ensuring that information is logged and researchers can easily access this.