What's the difference between a walkthrough and a formal observation?
A formal observation is typically scheduled in advance, lasts an entire lesson, and results in documentation that goes into a teacher's employment file. It's a summative event — often high-stakes and, as a result, often unrepresentative of daily practice. Teachers prepare differently when they know you're coming.
A walkthrough, as I practice it, is brief, unannounced, and low-stakes. It's not about catching anyone doing something wrong. It's about building your own understanding of instruction and creating opportunities for professional conversation. No ratings, no scores, no formal write-ups.
The two serve different purposes, and both have a place. But if your only window into classrooms is two or three formal observations per year, you're making high-stakes judgments based on almost no evidence. Frequent walkthroughs give you the context you need to make those formal evaluations fair and accurate.
I explain how the two practices complement each other in Now We're Talking!, Days 3 and 17.
From the Book
Now We’re Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership
About the Author
Justin Baeder, PhD
Justin Baeder, PhD is Director of The Principal Center, where he helps senior leaders in K–12 organizations build capacity for instructional leadership. A former principal in Seattle Public Schools, he is the creator of the Instructional Leadership Challenge, which has helped more than 10,000 school leaders in 50 countries around the world:
- Confidently get into classrooms every day
- Have feedback conversations that change teacher practice
- Discover their best opportunities for school improvement
Dr. Baeder directs the Instructional Leadership Association, the premiere professional membership for school leaders, and is the author of three Solution Tree books on instructional leadership:
- Now We’re Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership
- Mapping Professional Practice: How to Develop Instructional Frameworks to Support Teacher Growth (with Heather Bell-Williams)
- Cultivate and Activate: Building Teacher Capacity for Instructional Leadership (with Keith Fickel)
Justin is the host of Principal Center Radio, a long-running audio podcast featuring more than 400 education thought leaders and more than 500 books, as well as The Teaching Show and The Eduleadership Show. A prolific education commentator, he has more than 250,000 followers and 30,000,000 annual impressions on social media, and is frequently consulted by major media outlets on issues of education research, policy, and practice.
As a consultant, trainer, and speaker, Dr. Baeder has worked onsite with groups across the US, Canada, and Central America, and virtually with groups across the Middle East, Australia, and around the world. He is a frequent speaker at conferences, and regularly provides administrator professional development on classroom walkthroughs, teacher evaluation, and instructional leadership.
He holds a PhD in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies from the University of Washington and an MEd in Curriculum & Instruction from Seattle University, and is a graduate of the Danforth Program for Educational Leadership at UW.