Ms. Tulika Anand Charan
Academic Leadership, Seth M. R. Jaipuria Schools
“It's not us versus them. We never have surprise audits.”on the old audit reflex
Session recap
From audit to Jaipuria Classroom EDGE — monitoring as a coaching cycle
Tulika Anand Charan closed JLP 2026 with the session that quietly retires a four-year-old word from the Jaipuria vocabulary: *audit*. "It's not us versus them. We never have surprise audits — I don't think any surprises work." The next ninety minutes were a working session on what replaces it.
She opened with an exercise rather than a slide: think of three teachers in your school — one who is struggling, one who has been sincere but unchanged for two years, and one who has visibly grown. Then write down, in the last six months, what *you* contributed to each of their journeys. The room surfaced Rahuls and Sunils and Swatis — teachers re-slotted into easier grades, given exam-department charge, or pushed from Grade 4 class teacher to Class 8 class teacher and social science for 9–10. The pattern in every "growth" story was the same: a principal who had a specific, structured conversation, gave a specific intervention, and came back to review.
The reframe then arrived: **monitoring teacher growth is not monitoring teacher activity.** What they do in the classroom is a reflection of mindset. Growth of a school, the room agreed, is not just results — it is satisfaction of stakeholders, ownership, culture, a feedback mechanism without fear, and most of all, teaching quality in the classroom. "A school can only be as good as the weakest student or the weakest teacher in it."
“The word 'audit' is out of the system. It is called the Classroom EDGE now. No points, no marks, no scores — only a growth plan.”
She then named the trap: principals are seen as judges, teachers fear observation, self-assessment is broken because no one rates themselves below a 4. Classroom observation has to change lens — stop watching the teacher's preparation, start watching the students' response. And critically: **observe, don't infer.** "The students were not responding because the teacher was not loud" is an inference. "The teacher's voice was not audible at the back" is an observation. Evidence first, coaching conversation second.
The Teacher A vs Teacher B scenario landed the model: annual appraisal-in-March ticking boxes (Teacher A, quietly disengaging) vs a July 20-minute goal-setting conversation, September observation, October evidence reviewed together, November coaching, December practice changed and students asking better questions (Teacher B, seen and energised). The principals named what made the difference — coaching approach, goal setting, constant follow-up, clear expectations, observing rather than inferring, delegation, making the time because teacher quality *is* the vital sign (a deliberate callback to V P Singh's morning session).
Then the new framework: every teacher now sits on the **NPST growth cycle — Beginner, Developing, Proficient, Expert**. This is skill-set, not tenure. A ten-year teacher can be a Beginner; a two-year teacher can be Proficient. You cannot move a Beginner to Proficient in three months — so each teacher gets a co-created development goal and a pathway. The principal's loop is **See → Support → Reflect**, two-way, never one-way.
Arijit Ghosh came up to close the framework piece. Four years of longitudinal audit data showed teachers were *not* improving year on year. Either the teachers genuinely weren't, which the team rejected — or the lens itself was wrong. After internal brainstorming, external consultants, and a battery of three-year observers, the team went deep into research and triangulated four frameworks: **Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction, the World Bank TEACH framework, Stallings Snapshot (Stanford / World Bank), and India's own NPST (NCTE)**. From these, six domains were carved — four fundamental and two advanced — each with three subdomains, each mapped against the four NPST levels and the four learning stages (Foundational, Preparatory, Middle, Senior). The result is the booklet now in every principal's hand.
The headline change: **from this year, the audit is called Jaipuria Classroom EDGE.** No surprise visits. No marks. No scores for teachers. Observations are delinked from appraisal — "it's unfair on the teachers." Principals will co-observe with the central team and build a growth plan per teacher. A full-day orientation workshop on 24–25 June in Lucknow and 6 July in Delhi will walk through the new observation register, after which classroom observations begin on 1 July.
Editorial summary compiled by the LDP team — not a verbatim transcript. Spotted an inaccuracy? Let us know.
Key takeaways
- 1
Retire the word 'audit'
From this year it is the Jaipuria Classroom EDGE — a collaborative observation, never a surprise visit, with no marks or scores for any teacher.
- 2
Change the lens: watch the students, not the teacher
A perfectly prepared lesson plan tells you nothing if the students aren't responding. Observe student response first; that tells you whether the teaching landed.
- 3
Observe, never infer
'The teacher was not loud, so students didn't respond' is an inference. 'I could not hear the teacher at the back of the room' is an observation. Specifics earn the right to coach.
- 4
Plot every teacher on the NPST growth cycle
Beginner → Developing → Proficient → Expert is about skill-set, not years served. Co-create one development goal per teacher and a realistic timeline — Beginner doesn't become Proficient in a quarter.
- 5
Delink observations from appraisal
Mixing the two punishes honesty and turns observation into policing. Keep the growth conversation clean; run appraisal on its own track.
- 6
Make the time — teacher quality is the vital sign
'Where do we get the time?' is the wrong question. Set your KRAs, delegate, prioritise — improving two teachers compounds, because they then carry the load that frees you up further.
What he spoke on
From audit to Classroom EDGE
Why the word audit had to go, what stays the same in the school visit, and what changes about the lens, the register, and the conversation.
Observe vs infer — the evidence rule
Specifics earn the right to coach. Generic statements ("classroom management is weak") cannot drive improvement; observations ("five students were off-task during the worksheet") can.
The NPST growth cycle
Beginner → Developing → Proficient → Expert as a skill-set ladder, not a tenure ladder, with co-created goals and realistic timelines for each step.
Four frameworks, one booklet
Rosenshine's Principles, World Bank TEACH, Stallings Snapshot and India's NPST — triangulated into six domains, eighteen subdomains, mapped across four learning stages.
Delinking observation from appraisal
Why putting growth feedback and annual ratings on the same instrument punishes honesty — and how to keep the two tracks clean from this academic year.
Making the time as a principal
Set KRAs, delegate, pick your priority teachers, coach the two who are closest to a shift. Teacher quality is the vital sign — V P Singh's morning point, lived in the afternoon.
Q&A captured
Q. Where do we get the time for all this coaching?
Wrong starting question. Set your KRAs and priorities as a principal, delegate, and pick the two teachers closest to a shift. If coaching moves two of four, the other two become next month's priority — and the two who improved now carry load that frees you up further. Teacher quality is the vital sign; make the time.
Q. How do we choose which teacher to coach first?
Take the same coaching plan to a small group. The two who respond and improve even 5–10% prove the plan works. The two who don't become your priority next — same coaching, more deliberate application. Bring everyone to the same baseline, then move the baseline up.
Q. Why are observations being delinked from the annual appraisal?
Because mixing them punishes honesty. If a poor observation lowers an appraisal score, no teacher will ever be candid in front of you or rate themselves below a 4 in self-assessment. The growth conversation has to be safe to be useful. Appraisal runs on its own track from this year.
Q. Why was the entire audit framework changed after four years?
Four years of longitudinal data showed teachers were not improving year on year under the old lens. Either the teachers genuinely weren't improving — which the evidence elsewhere rejected — or the lens was wrong. After internal brainstorming, external consultants, three-year observers and deep research into Rosenshine, World Bank TEACH, Stallings Snapshot and NPST, the team triangulated a new framework. That is the Classroom EDGE booklet now in your hands.
Q. Will we still get a rubric to work with?
Yes — the booklet is the rubric. Six domains, three subdomains each, mapped across the four NPST levels and the four learning stages (Foundational, Preparatory, Middle, Senior). It is deliberately bulky because it covers every combination. Read three to four pages a day before the 24–25 June (Lucknow) / 6 July (Delhi) workshop — this is not a one-sitting read.
Q. What about teachers who have been rated low simply because they came in late?
That is exactly the problem we are fixing. Observation must not be punitive. From this year, the principal's job is to map each teacher on the NPST cycle, co-create one goal, and design a pathway — not to score them. Appraisal handles the punctuality and conduct piece on its own track.