As new research suggests that teacher practices are integral to student success, there is a push to discover exactly which practices correlate most highly to achievement. The Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observations (PLATO) is a classroom observation protocol focused on middle and high school English/Language arts instruction that was developed as part of a research study on classroom practices. PLATO specifically aims to discover more effective teacher practices as measured by their impact on student achievement. The PLATO instrument is currently being used in 2 large-scale education studies; additionally professional development is being developed based on previous research findings.