Defining Best Practice: Teaching that results in repeated, high levels
of student growth
What makes something a best practice? How can you begin to recognize the features of
a practice that produce better student outcomes? Definitions of best practice focus on a
set of procedures or techniques that reliably produce optimum results. The expectation
is that a consistent set of behaviors will yield consistent results. Now think about your
own experiences as an educator. Have you ever prepared a lesson that worked
amazingly well with one group of students, but fell flat when you tried it with another?
Teaching is complex. It requires you to attend to the needs of students, learning
environment, content, and methods of instruction along with many other factors. The
Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession clarify important domains of teacher
practice and provide a focus for professional growth, yet the challenge is to put these
principles into practice. Our work with high-performing teachers provides an alternative
way to think about best practice. It provides a framework to identify and develop best
practices that are aligned to the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession.
Learning from Highly Effective Teachers (HETs)
In the fall of 2007, Battelle for Kids provided the first round of classroom-level valueadded results for a subset of teachers in Ohio. Since that time, researchers at Battelle
for Kids have convened focus groups of teachers who consistently produce the highest
value-added gains with their students. The purpose of these focus groups has been to
better understand the practices of highly effective teachers (HETs) and to support them
in producing even better results. This research has been carried out with urban,
suburban, and rural teachers from Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and South Carolina.
Regardless of the setting, the results from this research have been very similar.
Highly effective teachers view teaching as a complex activity that simultaneously takes
four different dimensions or perspectives of effectiveness into account. These
perspectives are illustrated in the BFK• Connect® Framework (Figure 1). While these
perspectives may compete or
interfere with each another in
some teachers’ classrooms, they
tend to reinforce one another in
the classrooms of HETs. We call
the integration of these
perspectives powerful practice
because of the jump in
effectiveness that occurs when
educators utilize the skills and
attributes of all four quadrants as
the building blocks of their
teaching practice. Some aspects
may be more prevalent than
others based on the strengths of
the teacher, the purpose of a
particular activity, and the needs
of the students, but all four are
Figure 1: The BFK•Connect® Framework
present. This also accounts for why
specific practices do not look exactly the same even in HET’s classrooms. Most teachers
feel a greater affinity towards at least one of the quadrants, and this preference can
provide a starting point for the development of more integrative, effective practice.
Redefining Best Practice
By characterizing best practice as the capacity to integrate four distinct dimensions of
effectiveness, effective teaching is defined less as a particular set of behaviors and more
as a form of action that harmoniously blends these perspectives. Based on this definition
of best practice, a one-dimensional practice is less effective than when that same
practice incorporates multiple perspectives.
As an example, classroom management is a core skill of the red quadrant
and is part of Standard 5: Learning Environment. If classroom management
is viewed simply as a red quadrant issue, it is primarily about establishing
order and control. Warnings, detentions, rewards, and phone calls to
parents are all strategies that can be used to improve student behavior.
Considering the other perspectives can transform classroom management
into a more effective set of practices. The yellow quadrant reframes
classroom management as a collaborative endeavor; the green quadrant
reframes classroom management as an unfolding process that develops
over the course of a year; the blue quadrant reframes classroom
management as a set of routines that enhance learning. This more
expansive approach to classroom management focuses less on
compliance and more on teaching students to monitor and assume
responsibility for their own behavior.
The Connect Framework can also be used as a tool for reflection. Each quadrant
provides a lens to examine current teaching practices and to develop more integrative
practices. One shift as you move from the accomplished to distinguished level of
practice in the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession is a move from what
teachers know and are able to do to what students know and are able to do for
themselves. Student-led learning approaches, such as cooperative learning, projectbased learning, and inquiry-based learning, are most closely associated with the top half
of the Connect Framework. These approaches typically involve teamwork (yellow
quadrant) and give students more opportunities to exercise creativity and choice (green
quadrant). But to be effective, teachers need to prepare students to engage in these
types of learning experiences and gradually release responsibility to the students. The
bottom half of the Connect Framework―the blue and red quadrants―emphasizes order
and control. Clear procedures and goals focus students’ creative and collaborative
efforts. Frequently when HETs describe student-led or student-centered learning as a
best practice, they also talk about the structures and processes they’ve put in place to
make these approaches effective.
For example, an elementary teacher wrote about her practice of utilizing math
stations, and the integration across all four quadrants is evident.
An effective practice in my classroom is the use of math stations. Students
are given choices among the stations (green), yet clearly established
procedures keep them on-task and focused (red). They are held
accountable for their learning at each station (blue) and are encouraged to
work together to play math games (yellow). Team leaders change weekly
(red) to give all students an opportunity to lead (blue). This daily process
allows me time to differentiate math instruction (yellow) while providing
meaningful practice (red).
Often teachers must navigate the tension between allowing students the flexibility to be
creative and take their learning in new directions and ensuring that they maintain a
connection with content standards. One way to address this is by first ensuring that
students have adequate baseline knowledge before beginning small group or selfdirected learning activities. HETs describe a variety of approaches to prepare students
for student-led activities including giving an introductory lecture, teaching foundational
skills, working through sample problems with the entire class, and having student
complete pre-work. A high school teacher who conducts Socratic seminars provided an
example: “Students must come to seminars prepared: having read the text, generated
higher order thinking questions, and set personal goals for that particular seminar.” A
number of positive outcomes stem from student-led learning approaches including
increased student engagement, ability to differentiate pace and complexity of learning,
and the opportunity to promote independence, curiosity, and individual achievement.
The Connect Framework is resource that teachers can use to plan and implement
complex practices such as these with success.