Evaluating the Quality of Mindfulness Instruction Delivered in School Settings: Development and Validation of a Teacher Quality Observational Rating Scale

As interest increases in mindfulness in education programs for youth, there is a need to develop reliable measures of the quality of program implementation. This paper describes the development and psychometric properties of a measure that can be used to assess and monitor quality of implementation of mindfulness programs/curricula in typical classroom or out-of-school settings. The Teaching Mindfulness in Education Observation Scale (TMEOS) is a 28-item instrument that integrates qualitative and quantitative aspects of mindfulness instruction. Items focus on procedural adherence as well as aspects of implementation that reflect embodiment during instructional delivery (e.g., alignment with the attitudinal foundations of mindfulness). Reliability and validity data were examined and indicated that the four major scoring domains and key features showed adequate inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. We conclude that observational assessment of multiple dimension of implementation quality, including adherence and process-oriented aspects of implementation such as embodiment, can be reliably used to assess implementation quality of mindfulness programs in education settings. However, adequate preparation and training are critical. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.