The best pre-observation conference questions do two things at once: they gather evidence for the planning domain of your rubric, and they tell you where to point your attention during the lesson. Five good questions in fifteen minutes will do it. What separates a useful pre-conference from a compliance meeting is not the question list - it is whether you change how you observe based on the answers.
Why do most pre-observation conferences feel like paperwork?
Search for pre-observation conference questions and you will find dozens of state and district handouts listing twenty or thirty questions. They are not wrong. They are just unusable. No principal is walking through thirty questions before a 45-minute lesson, so most people skim the form, ask three questions, and file it.
The deeper problem is that the answers go nowhere. A teacher describes their lesson objective, the principal writes it on the form, and then the observation proceeds exactly as it would have without the conversation. The conference produced a document, not a different observation.
A pre-conference earns its fifteen minutes when the answers reshape what you look for. If a teacher tells you they are worried about three specific students, your notes should have those three students in them.
What does the research say about pre-conferences?
The strongest evidence here is not about pre-conferences specifically - it is about the broader leadership practice they belong to. Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe's meta-analysis of 27 studies, published in Educational Administration Quarterly, found that "planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and the curriculum" had a moderate effect on student outcomes, with an effect size of 0.42 drawn from 80 indicators across nine studies. It was one of the two strongest dimensions in their analysis after teacher professional learning.
One finding in that paper is worth quoting directly, because it cuts against the assumption that teachers resent evaluative attention:
Staff welcomed leaders' involvement in teacher evaluation and classroom observation because it resulted in useful feedback.
Teachers do not object to being observed. They object to being observed pointlessly. The pre-conference is where you demonstrate that this particular observation has a purpose.
Which rubric domain does the pre-conference actually score?
For most frameworks, the pre-conference is the primary evidence source for the planning domain, because planning is largely invisible during the lesson itself. You cannot watch a teacher decide how to sequence a unit.
- Danielson Framework for Teaching puts this in Domain 1: Planning and Preparation. In the 2022 edition, the components are 1a Applying Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy, 1b Knowing and Valuing Students, 1c Setting Instructional Outcomes, 1d Using Resources Effectively, 1e Planning Coherent Instruction, and 1f Designing and Analyzing Assessments. The 2013 edition covers the same ground with different verbs, which our guide to the two Danielson editions breaks down.
- T-TESS uses Domain 1: Planning, covering standards and alignment, data and assessment, knowledge of students, and activities. Texas principals can see the full dimension breakdown on our T-TESS framework page.
- Marzano covers comparable ground through its standards-based planning elements.
This matters practically. If you skip the pre-conference, you are guessing at an entire domain of the rubric, and a guessed rating is the kind that falls apart when a teacher challenges it.
Is a pre-observation conference required?
It depends on your state and, more often, your district. Two examples show how much the answer varies:
In Texas, T-TESS requires a pre-conference only for announced observations. Because how many observations are announced is largely settled at the district level, whether you owe a pre-conference for a given visit usually comes down to local policy rather than a blanket state mandate.
In North Carolina, the requirement is written into administrative code. Under 16 NCAC 06C .0503, before the first formal observation the principal must meet with the teacher to discuss the teacher's self-assessment, their most recent professional growth plan, and the lessons to be observed, and the teacher must provide a written description of the lessons. Subsequent observations do not require one.
Check your district's evaluation handbook rather than your state's, since districts routinely add requirements the state does not impose.
What are the five questions worth asking?
If you only have fifteen minutes, ask these. Each one produces evidence for a rubric domain and changes what you watch for.
- The outcome. "If this lesson goes well, what will students be doing that tells you so?" This gets at instructional outcomes far better than "what is your objective," because it forces the teacher to describe observable student behavior. You now know what success looks like, which means you can report on whether it happened.
- The focus. "Is there a specific thing you want me to collect data on?" Wait time, questioning distribution, how a particular routine lands. This single question converts the observation from something done to the teacher into something done for them, and it costs you nothing.
- The students. "Which students are you most concerned about in this lesson, and what are you planning to do for them?" Names, not categories. This is your best evidence for the knowledge-of-students component, and it tells you where to sit.
- The pivot. "What is your plan if it turns out they already know this, or if they are completely lost fifteen minutes in?" Teachers who have thought about this answer immediately. The answer is evidence for planning, and if the pivot actually happens during the lesson you get to watch responsiveness in real time.
- The connection. "Where does this sit in the unit, and what does it set up next?" A lesson that looks thin in isolation often makes sense as the third day of a five-day arc. This question prevents you from misjudging a lesson because you walked in on the middle of something.
Two practical notes. Ask for the lesson plan and materials 24 hours ahead so the conference can be about the reasoning rather than the summary. And hold the meeting in the teacher's classroom when you can, so they can point at the data wall, the seating chart, or the student work that shaped their decisions.
What if the teacher's answers are thin?
Some teachers reflect easily. Others give you three words and wait. When that happens, the instinct is to fill the silence and move on, which teaches the teacher that the meeting is theater.
Try going more concrete instead of more open. "Walk me through the first five minutes" gets an answer from someone who stalls on "tell me about your lesson." So does asking about a specific student by name. Narrow questions are easier to answer than broad ones, and the answers are more useful anyway.
If you are observing in a subject where the teacher knows far more than you do - AP Chemistry, orchestra, welding - lean into that rather than bluffing. "What should I be looking for that I might not recognize as important?" is a genuinely strong question, and content specialists tend to appreciate being asked.
How do the pre-conference answers show up in the feedback?
This is where most pre-conferences leak value. You gathered good planning evidence on a form, then wrote feedback from your observation notes alone, and the planning domain got a rating with no evidence behind it.
Keep the pre-conference answers with your observation notes rather than in a separate file. When you write up the observation, the planning evidence is already sitting there next to what you saw, and Domain 1 gets scored from what the teacher actually told you.
This is one of the things Observation Copilot handles well: you paste in everything you have, pre-conference notes included, and it sorts the evidence into the right domains of your framework instead of leaving you to remember which form said what.
Observation Copilot has helped me to streamline and speed up the teacher feedback process. I'm able to organize the notes that I take during the lesson into summaries about the different dimensions while I get straight to the work of rating the lesson on the rubric.
The pre-conference sets up the observation. The observation sets up the post-observation conversation. When all three connect, a teacher experiences the cycle as coaching. When they do not, it is three separate pieces of paperwork, and everyone can tell.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions are asked during a pre-observation conference?
Effective pre-conferences cover the lesson's intended student outcomes, which students the teacher is concerned about, what the teacher wants the observer to collect data on, the contingency plan if students are ahead or behind, and where the lesson sits in the larger unit. Five focused questions in fifteen minutes beats a thirty-item form.
How long should a pre-observation conference be?
Fifteen to twenty minutes is enough if you have reviewed the lesson plan in advance. Request materials 24 hours ahead so the meeting is about instructional reasoning rather than the teacher summarizing what you could have read. Longer conferences are not more productive, they are just longer.
Is a pre-observation conference required before every observation?
No. Requirements vary by state and district. T-TESS in Texas requires one only for announced observations, so how many of your observations are announced determines how many pre-conferences you owe. North Carolina requires one before a teacher's first formal observation but not subsequent ones. Check your district evaluation handbook, which often adds requirements the state does not.
What rubric domain does a pre-observation conference provide evidence for?
Primarily the planning domain, since planning decisions are not visible during the lesson. That is Domain 1: Planning and Preparation in the Danielson Framework for Teaching and Domain 1: Planning in T-TESS. Without a pre-conference, that domain gets rated on inference rather than evidence.
Should teachers see the pre-observation questions in advance?
Yes. Sending the questions ahead produces better answers and costs you nothing in authenticity, because you are assessing the quality of the teacher's planning, not their ability to think on their feet in your office. Teachers who prepare give you more evidence to work with.
Start With One Question
If a full pre-conference is not realistic before every observation, add one question to your next one: "Is there something specific you want me to look for?" It takes thirty seconds, and it changes how the teacher experiences the entire observation. Get started free when you are ready to turn those notes into framework-aligned feedback.
Turn your observation notes into framework-aligned feedback the same day.