ERIC Number: EJ1140600
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jun
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0734-2829
EISSN: N/A
Emotional Bias in Classroom Observations: Within-Rater Positive Emotion Predicts Favorable Assessments of Classroom Quality
Floman, James L.; Hagelskamp, Carolin; Brackett, Marc A.; Rivers, Susan E.
Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, v35 n3 p291-301 Jun 2017
Classroom observations increasingly inform high-stakes decisions and research in education, including the allocation of school funding and the evaluation of school-based interventions. However, trends in rater scoring tendencies over time may undermine the reliability of classroom observations. Accordingly, the present investigations, grounded in social psychology research on emotion and judgment, propose that state emotion may constitute a source of psychological bias in raters' classroom observations. In two studies, employing independent sets of raters and approximately 5,000 videotaped fifth- and sixth-grade classroom interactions, within-rater state positive emotion was associated with favorable ratings of classroom quality using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Despite various protections enacted to secure reliable and valid observations in the face of rater trends--including professional training, certification testing, and routine calibration meetings--emotional bias still emerged. Study limitations and implications for classroom observation methodology are considered.
Descriptors: Observation, Bias, Psychological Patterns, Grade 5, Grade 6, Interrater Reliability, Educational Quality, Elementary Schools, Regression (Statistics)
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 5; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools; Elementary Education; Grade 6
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A