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Middletown OTL outlines districtwide classroom walkthroughs to track critical thinking
Summary
The district’s Office of Teaching and Learning described a walkthrough system using brief peer and leader visits, Qualtrics data capture and look-fors aligned to the instructional vision to measure critical-thinking indicators and guide professional development.
Dr. Stacy McCann, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, and members of the Office of Teaching and Learning described districtwide classroom walkthroughs (instructional rounds) on March 6 as a tool to gather classroom-level data, support teacher professional development and inform school improvement plans.
McCann said the district is using “look fors” aligned to the instructional vision across content areas and that walkthroughs are conducted by small teams — OTL staff, principals, content coaches and teacher teams — in brief 10- to 15-minute visits. She said teams record observations in a Qualtrics form and immediately debrief to calibrate and capture patterns across classrooms.
OTL staff emphasized the purpose is system improvement rather than individual evaluation. Paul Griswold and Richard (Rich) Cordaway said walkthrough results are used to identify trends that guide district professional development and remove obstacles to instruction. Cordaway and other staff described how practices observed in one content area, such as nonpermanent vertical surfaces used in math, have spread to ELA when walkthroughs showed effective student collaboration and engagement.
The presentation included sample data showing the number of walkthroughs entered into Qualtrics by grade level and a time series from November through March. McCann said look-fors include critical-thinking indicators tied to the district’s illustrative math curriculum and that the evaluation and support plan now requires walkthroughs in place of past observation methods.
Staff said feedback from teachers and principals has been largely positive and described principals arranging peer visits and principals visiting each other’s schools. Procedural clarifications: principals typically coordinate walkthrough scheduling with OTL; visits are part of regular work and schools are visited frequently; OTL normally avoids entering a classroom when a substitute is the teacher that day.
Board members who participated in walkthroughs were thanked for joining, and staff said three more midyear walkthroughs were planned. No formal action was taken; staff requested committee questions and said they would continue to share patterns and use the data to plan supports.
