Why TPR?

Does the Teaching Performance Record (TPR) measure effective teaching or teaching that influences student learning? Yes. Results of an experiment with 680 randomly assigned students suggests that if a teacher demonstrates Strategic Teaching — a concept with strong support in the literature — that he or she will have students who perform better academically than students with teachers who do not teach strategically. Strategic Teaching explained 20% of the variance in middle-school students' test scores in mathematics — a remarkably large influence by anyone's standards.

Teachers who teach strategically do the following: (1) concentrate on "focus" or the objectives of the lesson, (2) attend to "syntax" or the sequence of activities in a lesson, (3) use "principles of reaction" or tactics to maintain and enhance student participation, (4) establish and maintain a "social system" that encourages students to work productively, and (5) provide opportunities to "evaluate" students' contributions.

Make no mistake, research on effective teaching has a rich history, but it has only really begun. As people investigate teaching and learning in communities across the nation new ideas will emerge. The TPR puts users in an excellent position to help shape these ideas and to support effective teaching.