eCOVE Observation Software is a professional data collection system for gathering data while observing teachers and/or students and using that data to evaluate teacher performance.

The eCOVE Reporter is an eCOVE database where authorized individuals can upload district-wide data into a central secure repository for analysis. Access to the data in the Reporter is through a role-based, district assigned permission tree.

There are three levels of observation tools possible in a professional observation system: evaluative, summary, and descriptive. eCOVE is the leader in providing both developed observation tools and the ability to create unlimited tools at all three levels. With eCOVE the observer can track any observable teaching practice, or student social or academic behavior. This information below describes the relationship between the three types of tools:

eCOVE Evaluative Tools. Rubric based evaluative tools are used to indicate the quality of the performance according to the user-identified scale. eCOVE scale tools can be a 1-to-3 scale to a 1-to-10 scale with user set indicators, i.e. Ineffective, Minimally Effective, Effective, Highly Effective.

eCOVE Summary Tools. For each item in an evaluative (scale) data collection tool there is an aligned summary (checklist) tool to provide a summary of the behaviors observed/not observed that led to the evaluative indicator. This provides the teacher with the details behind the evaluative decision. These ‘checklist’ type tools can be used in isolation or in conjunction with an evaluative tool.

eCOVE Descriptive Tools. There are seven forms of eCOVE descriptive frequency and duration tools, used to collect the objective data on the actual occurrence of the target behaviors. The timer/counter tools can track any teaching practice or student behavior. This solid observation data can provide the teacher with the specific practices to focus on for improvement, as well as an objective way to measure improvement (or lack of). Example tools include Blooms Level of Questions, Teacher Response to Misbehavior, Teacher Talk/Student Talk, Rate of Praise, etc. eCOVE has created over 200 descriptive tools.

This coordinated organization of observation data provides a comprehensive and defensible teacher evaluation system.