Through the use of Instructional Specialists, Ashford provides an excellent model for ensuring active classroom participation and engagement of faculty with students. This model has required all faculty to perform at their maximum levels. It also ensures that students receive quick responses to their queries and quick, helpful feedback to their assignment posts, that grades are posted in a timely manner, and that faculty have a responsive point of contact with the university for their questions or concerns related to the classroom. An ongoing need as identified throughout the WASC self study document is a formal process for evaluation of faculty performance, faculty peer evaluation, and professional development. (WASC 1.3, 2.0, 2.1, 3.1) WASC standard 3.3.1 specifically states "Evaluation processes are systematic, include appropriate peer review, and for instructional faculty and other teaching staff, involve consideration of evidence of teaching effectiveness, including student evaluations of instruction". The following proposal describes a pilot study of an observation and feedback process for online faculty based on the work of the College of Education at Ashford University. Ashford developed a 5 x 5 Online Course Observation Instrument that is simple to use and may be implemented as a part of a peer review and mentoring support system to provide reliable, meaningful feedback for improving teaching practices in the online classroom. Documented information from the pilot has aided in devising, implementing, monitoring, and modifying specific staff development training sessions based on the areas of need as identified by the observations. Results of the observation data have been triangulated with other forms of assessment used by the university such as the End of Course Surveys, academic preparation of the faculty member, course level, QM course approval, grade distribution and failure/drop rate. Specific course enrollment will also be noted in order to observe any differences that may exist on any of these items. Items to be observed within the online classroom include; Develop Relationships Maintain High Expectations, Foster Critical Thinking, Demonstrate Instructor Expertise, and offer Constructive Feedback. 30 College of Education faculty members were randomly selected for observations. Observers reviewed three sections of the same course taught by the same instructor. The course was either currently being taught or previously taught by the professor. The faculty evaluation for each course utilized the rubric for each of the three sections yielding a total of three observation scores. The three scores will be averaged to yield a baseline against which to compare averages from a second set of three observations. In addition, faculty members being observed were asked to complete two self-evaluations of their own practice. Following their self-evaluations, independent, specific, standardized feedback was provided to the observed faculty members. Following the self-assessment and the observer feedback, the results have been analyzed to determine whether any areas of improvement resulted from the self-assessment and feedback.