Development of an observation instrument to measure flourishing learning environments

The present study expands the array of learning environment instruments by developing a walkthrough observation instrument that examines the five elements of flourishing classroom learning environments: (a) positive emotion, (b) engagement, (c) meaning, (d) positive relationships, and (e) accomplishment. The Flourishing Classroom Observation Measure was used to observe 202 classrooms from 22 rural schools located in Texas. The findings indicate that these classrooms were not “flourishing” to a great extent on the five key elements. None of the mean values for the five scales were found to be higher than 1.53 on the 3-point rating scale. The findings from this study also indicate that there were few significant differences by content area, grade level, or school.