Study participants included a convenience sample of 222 working teachers who reported 7.2 years of teaching experience, on average. Sixty-eight percent of the teachers taught at the elementary school level, 19% taught at the middle school level, and 13% taught at the high school level. Subjects taught by the participants included language arts, reading, writing, music, social studies, mathematics, science, algebra, foreign languages, English as a second language, and physical education. All respondents were employed in two large public school districts in the metropolitan Houston area. These two districts were selected because the researchers have had prior research experience with them and have developed relationships with district administrators. Approval to conduct this research was obtained from the researchers’ university institutional review board and from each district.

The study unfolds in two phases and phase one is reported on here. A qualitative research design was used to address the research question in phase one of the study. In phase two of the study, qualitative teacher responses from phase one will be quantified using a seven-point Likert-scale. The resulting quantitative data will be used as independent variables in a multiple regression analysis to predict average student gains for each teacher.

Open-ended protocol questions were piloted one week prior to full implementation by principals chosen from each district’s human resource personnel. Principals were asked to announce the opportunity for participation in the study during a staff meeting. Principals followed up the announcement with an email invitation to teachers. Participation was voluntary and respondents were asked to complete the interview protocol online. The full interview protocol is presented in the Appendix. All teachers on the campus were given the opportunity to individually answer or decline to answer the protocol questions. Each district electronically delivered responses from participating teachers to the researchers. The open-ended responses will be used to generate Likert-scale protocol-items for phase two of the research study.

The interview questions for this research study were developed by the researchers, in cooperation with the principals participating in the study. The questions addressed key qualities of effective teachers (teacher behaviors) as defined by Stronge, Tucker and Hindman (2004). There were four teaching behaviors selected:

1. Classroom management and organization.

Included in this category are student behavior expectations, classroom organization (physical environment), and classroom climate.

2. Organizing for instruction.

This category includes focus on instruction, maximizing instructional time, high student expectations, and instructional planning and preparation.

3. Implementing instruction.

This includes effective utilization of instructional strategies, communication of content knowledge, contextual understanding, questioning strategies and student engagement.

4. Monitoring student progress and potential.

This final category includes collecting evidence of student learning, assessment design and strategies, aligning instructional strategies to assessment, and differentiating instruction (Stronge et al., 2004).

The above four areas were the foundation for developing a set of proposed “behavior-based” interview questions for the teacher research interview protocol. Behavior-based interview questions have been identified as being very effective in predicting a candidate’s future behavior based on their responses to past performance (Clement, 2009). To aid in the further development of an instrument with strong predictability in identifying high levels of teaching performance during the hiring process, round table discussions occurred with each participating district. A three-hour workshop was conducted with principals and the assistant human resource director in a large, metropolitan Houston school district. During this dialogue, each question was read to determine readability, meaning, and format. The same type of forum ensued during a three-hour session with principals, superintendent, assistant superintendent, special education director, and the director of human resources in a large, metropolitan Milwaukee school district. After both sessions, the questions were revised according to recommendations and comments.

Two of the researchers presented the revised questions to 30 existing teachers in their graduate-level, administrative preparation courses for critical feedback for improving the quality and efficiency of each question. Students were given the opportunity to answer the questions so researchers could determine the amount of time it took to complete the protocol. Upon completion, a class discussion on question ambiguity, question difficulty, and order of questions took place. Based on student dialogue and responses, some questions not answered as expected were re-worded. Pertinent information on the magnitude of variation of responses emerged during this process as well.

After revisions based on multiple forums of input, the interview protocol utilized in this study consisted of nine questions under classroom management and organization, two questions for organizing instruction, three questions under implementing instruction, and five questions for monitoring student progress and potential (see Appendix).

During this first phase of research, open-ended questions in the four identified areas were presented to existing teachers from participating districts in the form of an online questionnaire. Themes were identified from the open-ended questions. The reoccurring themes that emerged are identified in the following section.

The first few days of school are crucial when developing effective classroom management and organization throughout the entire school year (Wolfgang, 2009). Just as an effective teacher carefully designs a quality lesson, the same time and preparation must be applied when organizing the classroom. Organization of the classroom includes such areas as room arrangement, discipline, and creating routines (Stronge, 2007). Arthur-Kelly, Lyons, Butterfield, and Gordon (2006) developed a classroom management model with strategies classified into two categories: (a) creation of a positive learning environment in order to yield positive student behaviors, and (b) handling student disruptive behaviors.

Successful teachers in our study utilized one or more of the following strategies when handling the area of classroom management and organization. The students as a community of learners decided the guidelines for acceptable behaviors and consequences. Appropriate expected behaviors were modeled, taught, and re-taught along with visual reminders at the beginning and throughout the year. Classroom contracts containing academic and behavioral expectations were issued to students for parent signatures. These teachers also organized the classroom so that at the beginning of class students were accustomed to entering class, gathering necessary materials, taking their seats, and working on the bell ringer while the teacher performed daily administrative tasks. The last five minutes were left for wrap-up, filling out their personal conduct sheets, and completing an exit ticket to assess understanding of the lesson’s objective.

Taking time to plan engaging and effective lessons is a critical piece of successful teaching. Effective lesson planning allows teachers the opportunity to critically think about how to deliver instruction, develop varied activities so students can comprehend the subject matter, and determine how individual students can best master the content (Shen, Poppink, & Cui, 2007). Two important activities effective teachers engage in prior to the delivery of instruction are material preparation and time organization (Stronge, 2007).

In the area of organizing instruction, key elements such as the objective, individual or group activities, and assessments were included in the daily lesson plan. The structure of the lesson delivery, the different learning styles of students, and critical concepts and skills students needed to learn by the end of the lesson were considered when planning a lesson.

Once a teacher has organized the classroom and developed the lesson, teaching must occur. How a teacher presents the material to a student is critical to the success of a student. Research supports that one teaching strategy does not fit all students (Gregory & Chapman, 2002; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001; Silver, Strong, & Perini, 2000). Therefore, an effective teacher must implement a variety of activities that takes into account different learning styles and multiple intelligences.

In this research, teachers utilized various instructional strategies when implementing instruction to challenge all learners, accommodate different learning styles, and to ensure student success. These strategies included small group instruction, cooperative grouping, various activities that incorporate visual, tactile, and audio intelligences, think-pair-share, peer tutoring, manipulatives, video clips, and choices on forms of assessments and projects.

Constantly determining if a student understands the content and finding a way for a student to express understanding are behaviors effective teachers exhibit daily. It is imperative in the age of high stakes testing that teachers know the strengths and deficits students possess on taught content. This knowledge can only be gained by developing strategies to consistently monitor student progress.

Teachers in this study indicated that they monitored student progress and potential through observations, portfolios, weekly assessments, disaggregated data from testing, exit tickets, higher order questioning techniques, peer explanations (teaching), summaries in learning logs, and graphic organizers.