Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works:
A Formula for Effective Educator Evaluation -Foundation for Power Walk Through Facilitation
Patrick Crowthers
Fall 2012
Fundamentals of Curriculum Development
Dr. Jay Dugan
Rowan University
Educational Specialist Degree in School Psychology
The New Jersey Department of Education has determined Dr. Robert Marzano's Causal
Teacher Evaluation Model to meet the requirements of a research-based teacher practice
evaluation system and to be eligible for the state's $1.16 million teacher evaluation pilot grant.
Learning Sciences International, partner of Dr. Marzano, is the model's provider. This model is
slowly being integrated and developed into various school districts throughout the state. The
Marzano Model has already been used as the evaluation criteria of administrators and teachers in
other states like FLORIDA and DELAWARE for instance. There are nine identified strategies
that will help to accomplish student achievement and organization in the classroom based on
Marzano’s Model of Teacher Evaluation; therefore every teacher would find them helpful when
planning lessons. The criteria that is observed in the evaluation includes: identifying similarities &
differences, summarizing & note taking, reinforcing and providing recognition, homework &
practice, nonlinguistic representations, cooperative learning groups, creating objectives/goals &
providing feedback, generating and testing hypothesis (Educational Guesses), and finally the use of
cues, questions, and organizers to supplement and maximize the students’ learning experience.
The Purpose of the Marzano Model of Teacher Evaluation is intended to to help define best practices in
instruction for educators and in order for students to become successful and achieve. Furthermore,
is meant to provide educational professions with empirically sound data of effective instructional
practices in order to maximize student success and achievement in the classroom environment.
Additionally, it was designed for student success and the teacher is seen as the active participant and
facilitator of the learning environment; leading to a student centered evaluation of the instructional
environment on behalf of the evaluators. The evaluation model was created so that educational
administration and supervisors would be able to complete a series of observation & assessments
during an educator’s instructional period to gain insight into the students’ learning as well as the
effectiveness of the teacher's instructional practices. The planned and systematic walkthroughs with
administration/evaluators doing observations is a means to having a productive and effective assessment
of the teacher's professional duties, along with a conversation with the teacher about their educational
instructional practices for student success on multiple occasions in order to provide sound instructional
practices and alleviate areas that are deficient. Furthermore, the walkthroughs are intended to help
administrators/evaluators as well as educators/evaluatees develop best practices for instruction in the
following academic subjects in schools on behalf of the students. They include: Math, Science,
Language Arts, Social Studies, World Languages, & PE/Music/Art specials.
There are specific instructional issues related to conducting observations based on the Marzano Model
of Teacher Evaluation for student achievement. They include: classroom environment strategies,
primary instructional strategies, secondary instructional strategies, as well as connections and links to
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. Along those lines, educators are evaluated using the model based on
their professional duties and instructional practices including. The following are list of criteria that
the Marzano Model takes into consideration in its evaluation of teacher effectiveness. Specifically,
does the educator have evidence of the following during their assigned assessment and
observation that includes: effective and appropriate communication with other school staff, parents, and
students. The teachers also are evaluated on their ability to provide sound reinforcement for students
while providing recognition and praise. Educators are also assessed to be competent in their efforts to
be able to successfully incorporating cooperative learning and effective positive peer relations in their
lessons with students. Using Marzano’s Model allows evaluation of the educator’s ability to
incorporate the following into their lessons as well as creating a learning environment to achieve
student success. The criteria for achieving successful instructional practice on behalf of educators
for students includes the following for classroom teachers: communicates specific learning
objectives and goals that you want the student to work toward, be accurate when teaching content; but
not inflexible or open to student ideas, be able to successfully connect to prior experience or access
students’ prior knowledge; schema, and finally be able to appropriately encourage and engage students
in creating in establishing and implementing their goals for both the classroom as well as throughout the
entire school setting.
When providing effect feedback and evaluations to students based on their performance,
proponents of the Marzano Model suggest that teachers use the following approaches when working
with students: provide students with specific and elaborate feedback that is constructive and intended to
focus on what the student did well(praise) and their effort vs. what they did wrong; also teachers can
provide a framework of how the student can move on from here by establishing positive and attainable
goals. Second, when assessing students and their work or effort, provide consistent and timely
feedback; waiting to long will not provide the same effective reinforcement. Next, give students rubrics
along with the assignments in order for them to be able to do well and have a complete understanding
of what it is they are supposed to do in order to achieve high marks; this way students can monitor their
own understanding of what is needed to be successful on a project. Finally, always allow students to
engage in and develop reflective and analytical practices in terms of feedback and evaluation. Teachers
can facilitate this for students in the following means: individual editing or using a peer/buddy.
The Marzano Model, in its quest to provide the highest level of quality educators to teach
students, addresses the need for educators to be able to do the following: show students that the effort is
just as important in problem solving or completing their academic work as is the outcome or answer;
the idea that teachers need to praise the effort and not the final answer at times. It also calls for
educators to be able to encourage students to develop a love of learning and find out what their
strengths and weaknesses may be in the classroom; along with the idea of developing classroom
conversations with students to set goals and objectives of how to succeed and achieve their goals. The
evaluation model by Marzano also considers if teachers are actively taking every opportunity to
engage students in positive interactions and experiences during instructional periods in the classroom
environment. Indicators to look for based on this model of teacher evaluation by Marzano can include
the following: educators taking every opportunity they can to teach the students the relationship
between effort and achievement in order to be successful and how it effects their attitude toward
education as mentioned above. Next, encouraging and supporting students with explicit guidance of
how to meet their educational goals and how they can attain those goals in the classroom setting and in
the school. Finally, educators need to allow for opportunities for students to track their effort and
achievement once they set their educational goals ex. charting their progress so that students can easily
refer to what they are working for and keep their focus.
Based on the Marzano Model of Effective Educator Evaluation there are specific
indicators associated with recognition and praise of students that administrators and evaluators
will look for to promote student achievement and success in the classroom on behalf of the
teacher. They include: teachers be able to provide opportunities for each student to develop,
implement, and work towards a set of mastery goals that could reflect academic, social, or
emotional growth depending on the particular student and situation. Second, educators taking the time
to develop, implement, and b recognize student successes when a student meets and or
exceeds expectations, performances, and behaviors. Teachers are encouraged to develop a
system to track and monitor progress along with a means for students to self-monitor their own
behavior by creating positive behavior supports that may connect to the entire school or other
teachers systems. This can be accomplished by using concrete and specific means to
track their behavior ex. behavior plan - group or individual along with tangible and appropriate
reward. Furthermore, teachers can help students to engage in cooperative to enhance their learning by:
provide small attentive groups that promote learning in a student centered environment. They can also
use and have the students become familiar with the PIE Acronym in order to promote cooperative
learning in student achievement in the classroom environment. This stands for -
P ositive Interdependence
I ndividual Accountability
E qual roles/work load
Under the Marzano Model of Teacher Evaluation, evaluators/administrators look
to see that teachers design and implement cooperative learning groups for student success should
also include: a variety of data and criteria to thoughtfully plan and group students in cooperative
groups, institute best practices that shows that students can learn best when they are working
with mixed ability groups, and establish cooperative partnerships that include high achieving and low
achieving students. This also includes groups including general education students along with ESL and
special education to be included in the group; Marzano’s Model of Teacher Evaluation cites that all
students can maximize their learning experience in mixed ability grouping. Finally, evaluators
and administrators using Marzano’s Model, will look to see that teachers are frequently and
appropriately using cooperative learning, peer work, and mixed ability groups throughout all
academics in the classroom to make it a classroom wide event that takes place daily.
Benefits of the Marzano Evaluation Model of evaluation can include how it is used to identify the
direct cause-and-effect relationship between teaching practices and student achievement. It also
supports and guides teachers and leaders to make informed decisions to yield the greatest benefits
for their students. The research and data are empirically sound; based on 40 years of collected
research and five years of real-classroom experimental/control studies. Along those lines,
it has been tested for inter-rater reliability and offers intensive training for accuracy and
fairness. Finally, the last benefit of the model is that it makes steady, measurable increases in
student achievement an achievable goal. Concerns associated with the Marazano Model of
Teacher Evaluation includes how it addresses and focuses on teacher behaviors, rather than descriptions
of professional practice to be evaluated. Furthermore, any system of evaluation, such as the
Marzano Model of teacher evaluation that penalizes teachers for failing to use a specific strategy
is troubled because research and studies have been done to establish links between elements of
the Marzano Model (that is, ones effecting particular teaching practices) and student learning
outcomes. With that being said, it is not true that the model itself has been proven to cause or effect
student learning in a positive or negative context.
References:
- Haystead, M. W., & Marzano, R. J. (2010a) Final report: A second year evaluation study of Promethean ActivClassroom. Englewood, CO: Marzano Research Laboratory marzanoresearch.com.
- Haystead, M. W., & Marzano, R. J. (2010b). Meta-analytic synthesis of studies conducted at Marzano Research Laboratory on instructional strategies. Englewood, CO: Marzano Research Laboratory (marzanoresearch.com).
- Marzano, R. J., Frontier, T., & Livingston, D. (2011). Effective supervision: Supporting the art and science of teaching. Alexandria VA: ASCD.
