Courtney Bell
Biographic Data
| ID | 6270751 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Courtney Bell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Courtney |
| FAMILY NAME | Bell |
| SIGNATURE | BELL C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Educational Testing Service |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8743-5573 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 156 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Validating automated assessments of teaching effectiveness using multimodal data
For enhancing student learning in classrooms, high-quality teaching is essential. Research highlighted core dimensions of effective teaching, including classroom management, student support, and cognitive activation. However, traditional methods of assessing teaching effectiveness dimensions (e.g., student surveys) have limitations, including rating biases and resource intensiveness. To overcome these challenges, we explored machine learning (ML)…
Measuring returns to experience using supervisor ratings of observed performance: The case of classroom teachers
We study the returns to experience in teaching, estimated using supervisor ratings from classroom observations. We describe the assumptions required to interpret changes in observation ratings over time as the causal effect of experience on performance. We compare two difference‐in‐differences strategies: the two‐way fixed effects estimator common in the literature, and an alternative which avoids potential bias arising from effect heterogeneity.…
Building the field’s knowledge of teaching and learning: Centering the socio-cultural contexts of observation systems to ensure valid score interpretation
Danielson’s Framework for Teaching: Convergence and Divergence With Conceptions of Effectiveness in Special Education
Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FFT) is currently used in more than 20 states to inform teacher evaluation and professional learning. To investigate whether FFT promotes instruction that appropriately responds to the needs of students with learning disabilities, we conduct a systematic content analysis of the instructional approach emphasized in the FFT’s Instructional Domain (Domain 3) of Danielson’s FFT. We frame our study using cognitive l…
Qualities of classroom observation systems
Observation systems are increasingly used around the world for a variety of purposes; 2 critical purposes are to understand and to improve teaching. As observation systems differ considerably, individuals must decide what observation system to use. But the field does not have a common specification of an observation system, nor does it have systematic ways of thinking about how observation systems are similar and different. Given this reality and…
Teaching Through Interactions in Secondary School Classrooms: Revisiting the Factor Structure and Practical Application of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary
Valid measurement of how students' experiences in secondary school classrooms lead to gains in learning requires a developmental approach to conceptualizing classroom processes. This article presents a potentially useful theoretical model, the Teaching Through Interactions framework, which posits teacher-student interactions as a central driver for student learning and that teacher-student interactions can be organized into three major domains. R…
Effect of Observation Mode on Measures of Secondary Mathematics Teaching
Classroom observation of teachers is a significant part of educational measurement; measurements of teacher practice are being used in teacher evaluation systems across the country. This research investigated whether observations made live in the classroom and from video recording of the same lessons yielded similar inferences about teaching. Using scores on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary (CLASS-S) from 82 algebra classrooms, w…
An Argument Approach to Observation Protocol Validity
This article develops a validity argument approach for use on observation protocols currently used to assess teacher quality for high-stakes personnel and professional development decisions. After defining the teaching quality domain, we articulate an interpretive argument for observation protocols. To illustrate the types of evidence that might compose a validity argument, we draw on data from a validity study of the Classroom Assessment Scoring…
Substance and show: Understanding responses to teacher education programme accreditation processes
When policy instruments combine to promote coherence: An analysis of Connecticut’s policies related to teacher quality
This paper explicates the elements of several policy instruments used in Connecticut, the political conditions under which they were chosen, and their intended targets and expected effects on teacher quality and student learning. The purpose of the paper is to explain how the Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) and the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) were able to implement and sustain a set of integrated policies related to teachi…
Geography in Parental Choice
If we are to fully understand the demand side of school choice, we have to understand geography. But geography is not simply distance and commute time. It is also neighborhood and community. Using two conceptions of geography—space and place—I investigate how and when geography factored into parents’ thinking. Drawing on spatial analyses of parents’ choice sets, the schools within two miles of their homes, and longitudinal in‐depth interviews, I …
All Choices Created Equal? The Role of Choice Sets in the Selection of Schools
Reformers suggest that parental choice will improve equity by making it possible for parents to select better schools for their children. A key assumption behind this claim is that parents choose from a set of schools that range in quality. Data from this longitudinal interview study suggest this assumption may be false. In one Midwestern city, parents of different social class backgrounds did not consider schools of similar quality. The set of s…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Informing the Future of School Choice Policy
Space and Place: Urban Parents’ Geographical Preferences for Schools
All Choices Created Equal? The Role of Choice Sets in the Selection of Schools
Reformers suggest that parental choice will improve equity by making it possible for parents to select better schools for their children. A key assumption behind this claim is that parents choose from a set of schools that range in quality. Data from this longitudinal interview study suggest this assumption may be false. In one Midwestern city, parents of different social class backgrounds did not consider schools of similar quality. The set of s…
Geography in Parental Choice
If we are to fully understand the demand side of school choice, we have to understand geography. But geography is not simply distance and commute time. It is also neighborhood and community. Using two conceptions of geography—space and place—I investigate how and when geography factored into parents’ thinking. Drawing on spatial analyses of parents’ choice sets, the schools within two miles of their homes, and longitudinal in‐depth interviews, I …
Space and Place: Urban Parents’ Geographical Preferences for Schools
Teaching Through Interactions in Secondary School Classrooms: Revisiting the Factor Structure and Practical Application of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary
Valid measurement of how students' experiences in secondary school classrooms lead to gains in learning requires a developmental approach to conceptualizing classroom processes. This article presents a potentially useful theoretical model, the Teaching Through Interactions framework, which posits teacher-student interactions as a central driver for student learning and that teacher-student interactions can be organized into three major domains. R…
Substance and show: Understanding responses to teacher education programme accreditation processes
When policy instruments combine to promote coherence: An analysis of Connecticut’s policies related to teacher quality
This paper explicates the elements of several policy instruments used in Connecticut, the political conditions under which they were chosen, and their intended targets and expected effects on teacher quality and student learning. The purpose of the paper is to explain how the Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) and the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) were able to implement and sustain a set of integrated policies related to teachi…
Space and Place: Urban Parents’ Geographical Preferences for Schools
When policy instruments combine to promote coherence: An analysis of Connecticut’s policies related to teacher quality
This paper explicates the elements of several policy instruments used in Connecticut, the political conditions under which they were chosen, and their intended targets and expected effects on teacher quality and student learning. The purpose of the paper is to explain how the Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) and the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) were able to implement and sustain a set of integrated policies related to teachi…
Geography in Parental Choice
If we are to fully understand the demand side of school choice, we have to understand geography. But geography is not simply distance and commute time. It is also neighborhood and community. Using two conceptions of geography—space and place—I investigate how and when geography factored into parents’ thinking. Drawing on spatial analyses of parents’ choice sets, the schools within two miles of their homes, and longitudinal in‐depth interviews, I …
All Choices Created Equal? The Role of Choice Sets in the Selection of Schools
Reformers suggest that parental choice will improve equity by making it possible for parents to select better schools for their children. A key assumption behind this claim is that parents choose from a set of schools that range in quality. Data from this longitudinal interview study suggest this assumption may be false. In one Midwestern city, parents of different social class backgrounds did not consider schools of similar quality. The set of s…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Informing the Future of School Choice Policy
Substance and show: Understanding responses to teacher education programme accreditation processes
An Argument Approach to Observation Protocol Validity
This article develops a validity argument approach for use on observation protocols currently used to assess teacher quality for high-stakes personnel and professional development decisions. After defining the teaching quality domain, we articulate an interpretive argument for observation protocols. To illustrate the types of evidence that might compose a validity argument, we draw on data from a validity study of the Classroom Assessment Scoring…
Effect of Observation Mode on Measures of Secondary Mathematics Teaching
Classroom observation of teachers is a significant part of educational measurement; measurements of teacher practice are being used in teacher evaluation systems across the country. This research investigated whether observations made live in the classroom and from video recording of the same lessons yielded similar inferences about teaching. Using scores on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary (CLASS-S) from 82 algebra classrooms, w…
Teaching Through Interactions in Secondary School Classrooms: Revisiting the Factor Structure and Practical Application of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary
Valid measurement of how students' experiences in secondary school classrooms lead to gains in learning requires a developmental approach to conceptualizing classroom processes. This article presents a potentially useful theoretical model, the Teaching Through Interactions framework, which posits teacher-student interactions as a central driver for student learning and that teacher-student interactions can be organized into three major domains. R…
Qualities of classroom observation systems
Observation systems are increasingly used around the world for a variety of purposes; 2 critical purposes are to understand and to improve teaching. As observation systems differ considerably, individuals must decide what observation system to use. But the field does not have a common specification of an observation system, nor does it have systematic ways of thinking about how observation systems are similar and different. Given this reality and…
Danielson’s Framework for Teaching: Convergence and Divergence With Conceptions of Effectiveness in Special Education
Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FFT) is currently used in more than 20 states to inform teacher evaluation and professional learning. To investigate whether FFT promotes instruction that appropriately responds to the needs of students with learning disabilities, we conduct a systematic content analysis of the instructional approach emphasized in the FFT’s Instructional Domain (Domain 3) of Danielson’s FFT. We frame our study using cognitive l…
Building the field’s knowledge of teaching and learning: Centering the socio-cultural contexts of observation systems to ensure valid score interpretation
Measuring returns to experience using supervisor ratings of observed performance: The case of classroom teachers
We study the returns to experience in teaching, estimated using supervisor ratings from classroom observations. We describe the assumptions required to interpret changes in observation ratings over time as the causal effect of experience on performance. We compare two difference‐in‐differences strategies: the two‐way fixed effects estimator common in the literature, and an alternative which avoids potential bias arising from effect heterogeneity.…
Validating automated assessments of teaching effectiveness using multimodal data
For enhancing student learning in classrooms, high-quality teaching is essential. Research highlighted core dimensions of effective teaching, including classroom management, student support, and cognitive activation. However, traditional methods of assessing teaching effectiveness dimensions (e.g., student surveys) have limitations, including rating biases and resource intensiveness. To overcome these challenges, we explored machine learning (ML)…
Psychology (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · School Choice and Performance (8 works) · Mathematics education (7 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (7 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (4 works) · Pedagogy (4 works) · Political science (4 works)