Vol.:(0123456789)
1 3
ZDM (2018) 50:427–444
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-018-0916-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Instructional Quality Assessment as a tool for reflecting
on instructional practice
Melissa D. Boston
1
· Amber G. Candela
2
Accepted: 19 January 2018 / Published online: 29 January 2018
© FIZ Karlsruhe 2018
Abstract
The Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) identifies the nature and quality of classroom instruction by considering stu-
dents’ opportunities to engage in cognitively demanding mathematical work and discussions. The IQA assesses ambitious
mathematics instruction based on the following dimensions: potential of the task, task implementation, rigor of the discus-
sion, teacher’s questions, and accountable talk (e.g., teacher’s and students’ talk moves related to linking and press). The IQA
rubrics have been tested for reliability and validity by the IQA team and external researchers. The IQA has previously been
used in research to assess ambitious mathematics instruction. Through looking at three episodes of classroom instruction,
this article will highlight how the IQA can go beyond assessing instruction and serve as a tool to enhance instruction by
providing formative feedback to mathematics teachers targeted towards planning and implementing cognitively demanding
tasks. While the IQA’s specific focus on assessing ambitious mathematics instruction may limit its applicability in research,
when used as a professional learning tool, the IQA rubrics can provide explicit pointers to frame teachers’ learning, self-
reflection, and instructional change.
Keywords Classroom observation · Instructional quality · Cognitive demand · Teacher reflection · Professional
development
1 Introduction
Classroom observation tools can provide direct assess-
ments of students’ opportunities to learn mathematics by
capturing what teachers and students do in classrooms in
the process of teaching and learning mathematics. Such
direct assessments are needed to examine and improve
students’ learning of mathematics (Stein and Matsumura
2008), as intense testing efforts over the last few decades
have yielded little gain in student achievement (National
Research Council 2011). What is assessed becomes what is
valued, hence classroom observation tools have the power
to shape and support instructional reforms by highlighting
or foregrounding specific features of instructional practice.
Classroom observation tools can also foster teachers’ growth
and change by providing feedback, direction, and focus for
instructional improvements (Boston et al. 2015). Ideally,
classroom observation tools can enable teachers to engage
in self-assessment and analysis, where teachers have agency
to consider and design their own pathways for instructional
change.
This article presents the Instructional Quality Assessment
(IQA) Mathematics Toolkit and illustrates how the IQA
can be used to provide feedback for teachers’ professional
growth. Previous reports have described the use of the IQA
as a research tool to analyze the potential of instructional
tasks (Kotsopoulos et al. 2011), instructional practices of
mathematics teachers following participation in profes-
sional development (Boston and Smith 2009, 2011), and
instructional quality and opportunities to learn mathematics
in large school districts (Boston and Wilhelm 2015; Quint
et al. 2007). In this analysis, we use the IQA to assess three
mathematics lessons, not to evaluate the teachers or teach-
ing in the lessons, but to describe how the IQA can be used
explicitly as a tool for professional learning and reflection.
By design, the IQA can provide feedback to impact teachers’
* Melissa D. Boston
bostonm@duq.edu
1
Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh,
PA 15282, USA
2
College of Education, University of Missouri-St. Louis,
1 University Blvd. 305 Marrillac Hall, St. Louis,
MO 63121-4400, USA
@Phil_Robichaud
@deepthiw
@JoseServera