Classroom Assessment Scoring System

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is a widely used observational tool focused on providing information about the quality of early childhood classrooms. The CLASS examines quality in early childhood classrooms in terms of teacher–child interactions. Several tools and methods exist to assess various aspects of quality in early childhood education classrooms; the CLASS focuses on the process variables related [Page 258]to teacher–child interactions. Several different dimensions of behavior between teachers and children and among children can be assessed using the CLASS in classrooms contexts serving young children. There are different versions of the CLASS used with classrooms serving different ages of children ranging from classrooms for infants to secondary classrooms. Although the examples and contexts differ across age levels, several core dimensions are similar ...