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Classroom Observation Instrument for Educational Environments Serving Students with Deaf-Blindness

Ella Taylor, Kathleen Stremel, Nancy Steele, 2006


The Classroom Observation Instrument (COI) for Educational Environments Serving Students with Deaf-Blindness is a research-based tool designed to help guide and inform educators’ decisions about their students with severe and profound disabilities including deafblindness. The COI is comprised of three main sections: a teacher interview, a review of the student’s cumulative folder, and an observation rubric. A scoring guide is also provided to assess individual sections and the total instrument. Using this comprehensive tool can help teams more clearly identify a model classroom for deafblind students and streamline the overall classroom observation process.

The video linked below was developed by Morgan Hendon during a course hosted by California Deaf-Blind Services and the South Dakota Deaf-Blind Project. In the video, Morgan describes this tool and how it can be used. 

Classroom Observation Instrument Video