CLASS Quality Improvement
Explore the resources on this page to find information useful to directors, education managers, coaches, teachers, and others who want to improve the quality of instruction for children in Head Start programs.
Teaching Practices
Effective, nurturing, and responsive teaching practices and interactions are key for all learning in early childhood settings. They foster trust and emotional security; are communication and language rich; and promote critical thinking and problem-solving. They also support social, emotional, behavioral, and language development; provide supportive feedback for learning; and motivate continued effort. Teaching practices and interactions are responsive to and build on each child’s pattern of development and learning. They can be measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) and other adult-child interaction tools. These observations may then be used to support professional development. Teaching practices also include how schedules and routines are carried out, how settings are managed, and how children’s challenging behaviors are addressed.
CLASS QI for Instructional Support
Check out these resources that Head Start directors, education managers, coaches, teachers, and other education staff can use to improve teacher-child interactions in the CLASS® Instructional Support domain.
ELOF Effective Practice Guide/CLASS Pre-K Crosswalk
Check out the crosswalk to learn about domain-specific teaching practices that support children’s development. The guides show what these practices look like in early learning settings.
Learn More About the CLASS
Check out these resources to learn more about the CLASS® tool, Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support domains, and resources that support effective teacher-child interactions across all domains.
Head Start and CLASS Quality Improvement
Learn more about how the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS): Pre-K® observation tool helps improve teacher-child interactions program quality and child outcome.
CLASS QI for Emotional Support
Check out this collection of resources that Head Start directors, education managers, coaches, teachers, and other education staff can use these resources to improve teacher-child interactions in the CLASS® Emotional Support domain.
CLASS QI for Classroom Organization
Check out these resources that Head Start directors, education managers, coaches, teachers, and other education staff can use to improve teacher-child interactions in the CLASS® Classroom Organization domain.
CLASS QI for Leaders
Explore this collection of resources that program leaders can use to ensure key components of systems work together, cultivate collaboration, and foster a culture of continuous quality improvement so that children and families thrive.
Resources on CLASS Pre-K®
Explore the resources on this page, which may be useful to Head Start directors, education managers, coaches, teachers, and others who work with preschoolers.
Improving Teacher-Child Interactions: Using the CLASS® in Head Start Preschool Programs
Explore this guide that describes how the CLASS® relates to school readiness, and how using it to collect and apply data, including case studies that show how programs have applied CLASS® for support and improvement.