Schools are responsible for providing quality education to all students. Researchers have developed and applied various classroom observation tools to define the characteristics of “quality teaching” and to analyze instructional practices based on such frameworks. However, there have been few studies that synthesize different aspects of the use of classroom observation tools, such as how the tools were used for which purposes and the dimensions of the instructional practices that these tools looked at. Given the significance of classroom observation tools for research and practice, such gaps in the literature needed to be addressed. In this study, we analyzed how previous studies used classroom observation tools and the nature of the tools used in multiple studies. We summarized how those observation tools were used, for which purposes they were used, and the characteristics of these tools. We concluded by offering implications for future research on classroom observation.