eWalkThrough Fuel

The latest on eWT from Dr. Gillespie

From the CEO...

From the CEO...

Welcome to eWalkThrough Fuel, Volume 2 No. 2, a quarterly communique for the SWPRSC digital eWalkThrough system. We are pleased to be in our second full year of this electronic support for eWalkThrough users!


The digital eWalkThrough system is a research-based, best practice model for effective and efficient instructional leadership. If student success is the destination, education is the engine, and eWalkThrough is the fuel.


This system generates powerful feedback for growth, for decision-making, and for continuous improvement. Additionally, it is customizable, affordable, user-friendly, and the data are available instantaneously. An added value of eWalkThrough observation is that the integrated reports can serve as electronic evidence for Kansas Educational System Accreditation (KESA). The result: exponential gains in the quest for "Kansans Can!" Kansans will lead the world in the success of each student.


Because eWalkThrough observation has such potential as a catalyst to support both excellent instruction and a positive shift in learning (Walk-Through as Powerful, n.d.), this process is quickly establishing itself as best practice (Hopkins, 2010; David, 2008). When real-time observation data are collected and analyzed, they become a powerful source of fuel to support self-reflection and collaborative dialogue. The final results are clear (Protheroe, 2009). Program initiatives are actualized. Instructional strategies improve. Student achievement increases.


The team at Southwest Plains Regional Service Center is committed to continually supporting teachers in the effort to deliver excellent instruction. As professional learning is designed and implemented to support this vision, it is absolutely essential that student success remain the center of all our endeavors.


Expect the eWalkThrough Fuel quarterly from Dr. Kelly Gillespie, CEO of Southwest Plains Regional Service Center. Our professional learning team is dedicated to the design of innovative solutions that will deliver the results you require for your staff and your students.

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eWT Fuel - Volume 2 Number 2

Data for Growth and Continuous Improvement


The research is clear.

  • Quality of teaching is the number one factor affecting student learning.
  • Collaborative dialogue is the number one factor affecting quality of teaching.
  • Collaborative dialogue requires data.


The Digital eWalkThrough system will delivers these data.

  • Data to transform instructional leadership.
  • Data to nurture self-reflection and collaborative conversation.
  • Data to metamorphose professional learning into differentiated, personalized support.
  • Data to provide targeted, evidence-based feedback for growth.


Instructional leaders (district leaders, building leaders, coaches, and consultants) can now access a customized, comprehensive, and efficient method to:

  • collect, disaggregate, analyze, and archive data; and
  • deliver instantaneous feedback to teachers.


This is instructional leadership at its best. Quality of teaching improves, Student achievement increases.

It's More Than Test Scores

What is excellent teaching? What does excellent teaching look like? What are the behaviors that excellent teachers exhibit and the rules that excellent teachers follow to enhance student success?


Student scores on achievement tests are not the sole indicator of excellent teaching. Best practice prescribes multiple measures of assessment and Southwest Plains Regional Service Center has taken action. Enjoy this brief video clip captured over 4 years ago! Positive gains in instructional quality across the state since that time stand as evidence that we are right on target! Instructional leaders and teachers receive feedback for growth, for decision-making, and for continuous improvement. Kansans Can ensure the success of every student. Excellent teaching can be delivered!

Kelly eWalkthrough Overview
Quality of teaching? Collaborative dialogue? In order to conduct meaningful professional conversations, instructional leaders need data. As opposed to emotional or subjective suppositions, these data become the basis for instructional conversations. Teachers need objective feedback on their teaching practice. One of the most foundational applications of the digital eWalkThrough system is the power of the data to motivate, nurture, and support self-reflection and collaborative dialogue.


The digital eWalkThrough system allows instructional leaders to observe teaching in action, in real-time. The approach is simple. eWalkThrough teams in school districts and institutions of higher education observe teachers in classrooms over and over and over again, to generate snapshots of the instructional picture. With tireless dedication, teachers across the state of Kansas and throughout the country have been, and are being, observed using the eWalkThrough process; countless teachers, in numerous schools, and multiple districts.

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To be exact, between 2010 and 2015 (eWalkThrough Database, 2015) 13,522 teachers in 726 schools were observed. In total, over 150,000 individual observations were completed including the collection of 6.5 millon pieces of data. By conducting this action research, the eWalkThrough has undergone a test drive. Assuredly, testing and modification are ongoing. The digital eWalkThough system is research-based and includes a continuous improvement component.
eWalkThrough Data Drive Professional Learning

eWalkThrough Data Drive Professional Learning

Gone are the days of drive-by professional learning--great workshop, but no follow-through. Because decisions can now be based on up-to-the-minute data, the eWalkThrough observation system allows instructional leaders to be discriminating in the delivery of support to teachers. Needs are identified. Professional learning is delivered to meet those needs. Observation data are continually collected, as well as periodically and repeatedly reviewed. These data can actually measure and demonstrate change in implementation and fidelity of the research-based strategy or look-for. The instructional leader or administrative team now has the ability to continually monitor and evaluate the success of any given professional learning endeavor.


  1. Did the training make a difference in the quality of teaching?
  2. Have classroom instructional techniques and strategies changed as a result of the support provided?
  3. Do teacher need continuing support to improve the intended outcomes of the training?
  4. Did the professional learning event generate a reasonable return on investment?
Check Your Data

Check Your Data

As an eWalkThrough observer, there is no time like the present to check your data. Follow these easy steps:

  1. Log in to www.structuredwalkthrough.com.
  2. Open your eWalkThrough tool and click on 'Reports'.
  3. Disaggregate the data as you desire (e.g., a teacher or PLC, content area, or grade level). [Note: if you have had a professional learning workshop in the last several weeks, mark the date of that training on the tool calendar so that you can review data collected since that training.]
  4. Generate the report and review using the four questions listed above. What are the data telling you? What do your teachers need?

This is instructional leadership in action!

Call to Action!

Call to Action!

Follow @swplains on Twitter! Please use #eWalkThrough and tweet your questions, share your successes, and find out what other eWalkThrough users are doing in the field!
Data for Growth & Continuous Improvement

Data for Growth & Continuous Improvement

Bottomline, eWalkThrough observation data are:

  • collected live, as instruction is being delivered;
  • available immediately so that results can be viewed at any moment---after each individual observation, weekly, monthly, by semester, or for an entire academic year.


The eWalkThrough data tell the story. These data:

  • provide instantaneous feedback to monitor progress and sustain continuous improvement;
  • ensure that resources target specific instructional priorities and initiatives; and
  • confirm that teachers are being supported with exactly what they need via differentiated professional learning.

Dr. Kelly Gillespie

Dr. Kelly Gillespie

810 Lark Avenue, Sublette, KS, United States kelly.gillespie@swplains.org (620) 353-0130 swprsc.org
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