For Ohio principals and assistant principals

OTES 2.0 walkthroughs that count

Under the state OTES 2.0 model, every fully evaluated teacher gets at least two walkthroughs. Make them count. Walk from your phone, tie each visit to the teacher's focus area, and send the feedback the same day.

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Add the OTES 2.0 template

Pick it from the template library. The rubric components you can see in a visit are already built in.

Walk your first classroom

Open it on your phone, note what you see, and send the feedback to the teacher.

otes 2 ohio walkthrough template education walkthrough

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An OTES 2.0 walkthrough, ready to use

The six rubric components a walkthrough can see, from Lesson Delivery, Classroom Environment, and Assessment of Student Learning
The four OTES 2.0 levels, Accomplished, Skilled, Developing, and Ineffective
Add comments, photos and video, then send the feedback before dismissal

Go deeper

The OTES 2.0 rubric, and what a walkthrough can see

The rubric has six domains and fifteen components. The state model names walkthroughs as evidence for Lesson Delivery, Classroom Environment, and Assessment of Student Learning.

What a walkthrough can see

Communication with students

Clear directions and explanations, and questions that get students thinking. (Lesson Delivery)

Monitoring student understanding

The teacher checks who is getting it and adjusts in the moment. (Lesson Delivery)

Student-centered learning

Students are doing the work, talking about it, and owning their learning. (Lesson Delivery)

Classroom routines and procedures

Transitions and routines that protect learning time. (Classroom Environment)

Classroom climate and cultural competency

A respectful room where every student is known and included. (Classroom Environment)

Use of assessments

Quick checks and student work used during the lesson. (Assessment of Student Learning)

What lives outside the walk

Instructional Planning

Focus for Learning and Knowledge of Students show up in plans, data, and conferences.

Evidence of student learning

Built from student data over time, not a single visit.

Professionalism

Families, colleagues, district policies, and professional learning. Outside the room.

From focus area to walkthrough to summative conference

Under the state model, a full evaluation includes a Formal Holistic Observation, walkthroughs on the identified focus areas, a Formal Focused Observation, and a summative conference, all complete by May 1.

Set the focus area

After the Formal Holistic Observation, you and the teacher agree on the focus area.

Walk to the focus area

At least two short visits tied to the focus area, with feedback the teacher sees the same day.

Bring it to the conference

By May 1, you and the teacher are looking at months of classroom evidence, not one lesson.

How Ohio schools are organized

Ohio has 51 Educational Service Centers, each with its own superintendent and governing board. Every city, local, and exempted village school district with 16,000 or fewer students must have a service agreement with an ESC of its choice, and larger districts may choose to have one. ESCs provide professional development, specialized instructional programs, technology, and fiscal and administrative services to the districts they serve.

Find your ESC

Built for every grade level

This year Ohio moved the kindergarten reading diagnostic to September 30, the same deadline as grades 1 to 3, so your K-3 reading data is already in hand. The diagnostic tells you who. A walkthrough tells you why.

Look-fors for your next literacy block

Students are reading, writing, and talking about the text (Student-centered learning)
The teacher checks understanding and regroups (Monitoring student understanding)
Routines keep the block moving (Classroom routines and procedures)
Directions and modeling are clear (Communication with students)