Instructional Rounds

Adapted from the medical rounds model that doctors use, the Instructional Rounds process is a compelling, implementable vehicle for school-based teacher learning.

The team at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education (City, Elmore, Fiarman, Teitel) frames rounds in four parts: A school identifies a problem of practice, an observation team collects low-inference data and discusses it, and then the next level of work begins, which may involve the school developing a theory of action, (Teitel 2009).

Even though the Harvard faculty admits that instructional rounds, by itself, will not produce increases in student learning, it can be a key accelerant. “Its focus on what goes on in classrooms anchors improvement efforts in the instructional core—the complex relationships among teachers, students, and content,” (Teitel 2009).

City, Elizabeth A., Richard F. Elmore, Sarah E. Fiarman, and Lee Teitel. (2009) Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education, Print.

Fowler-Finn, Thomas. (2013) Leading Instructional Rounds in Education: A Facilitator's Guide. Cambridge: Harvard Education, Print.