All Things CLASS

Hello everyone, 

I have been observing PreK classrooms for several years now and am about to start observing in ECSE rooms. Can anyone share a Teachstone resource you have found regarding these types of observations? I am hoping there is guidance about using this tool in an ECSE room. Thanks!

HI @Susan Gill

Thank you for reaching out! You may find this report helpful: Recommendations for Using the CLASS in Inclusive Early Childhood Programs, Birth-Age 8. The report specifically addresses working with non-verbal students and students with limited verbal communication.  These recommendations focus on children birth through age 8, but the key ideas would be applicable to older students as well. The main thing to remember is to focus on the interactions, but to also think about how interactions may look different based on how a student communicates. Emotional Support and Classroom Organization are pretty clear cut; most concerns focus on the Instructional Support domain. When you look at the recommendations paper, be sure to look at the section towards the back that illustrates how interactions might look when children have limited vocal communication. And also turn to the back and look at some data from self-contained classrooms in Arizona. You'll see that the scores in the self-contained classrooms are very similar to those in their regular classrooms.

You may also want to check out resource, Observing in Settings Serving Children with Special Needs-Birth to Five. I really hope this helps, and if you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! 

Best,
Allison