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The Effectiveness of a Standards-Based Curriculum

Standards-Based Education

“Standards are intended to create more intellectually demanding content and pedagogy, thereby improving the quality of education for all students, and to establish uniform goals for schools, thus producing greater equality in students’ academic achievement”.

What does this mean for states?

Purpose of the Common Core State Standards

(Sandholtz, Ogawa, & Scribner, 2004, p. 1178)

Standards-Based Reform

Common Core State Standards (CCSS):

  • Released in June 2010
  • Goal is to ensure that students across states are being prepared for college and career environments at consistent levels
  • Not a national or state curriculum
  • Not federally mandated: states and teachers are not told how to teach
  • Literacy/English and Mathematics Standards provide a K-12 roadmap

  • States must implement instructional activities and curricula that aim to meet expectations outlined by these federal standards, as opposed to varying state-to-state academic standards
  • "It remains up to each local school district to design curriculum to help their students successfully achieve the standards" (New Hampshire...Education, 2012, para. 2).

“Standards-based reform (SBR) is based on a clear, well-defined theory of change. The model begins with the intended learning outcomes of schooling—the knowledge and skills expected of students. These outcomes are to be outlined in curriculum frameworks, which represent the instructional target for teachers, and supported by aligned assessments, curriculum materials, and professional development. The hypothesis is that the multiple supports, if well aligned, will lead teachers to modify their instruction to increase alignment. Achievement should then rise on the domain expressed by the standards” (p. 278).

"...to establish a single set of clear educational expectations for English language arts/literacy and mathematics that states can share and voluntarily adopt" (New Hampshire...Education, 2012, para. 1).

(Council…Practices, 2010;

New Hampshire...Education, 2012, "About...Core")

(Polikoff, 2012)

(Council…Practices, 2010;

New Hampshire...Education, 2012, "About...Core")

Let's look at New Hampshire...

What does this mean for students?

What does this mean for teachers?

Example of Standard

Alignment of Standards and Assessments:

Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson (2011) Research Study

  • Formative, summative, and cumulative assessments: Increase in standardized testing
  • Ability grouping and tracking differentiation
  • Learning activities with clear outcome/standard
  • Rigorous academic calendar
  • Curricular emphasis on mathematics and ELA content areas
  • Standards-based grading: students graded on mastery of content
  • analyzed 138 standards-assessment pairs across grades
  • found that about half of standards content is tested on corresponding test
  • moderate portion of test at wrong level of cognitive demand as compared to corresponding standards
  • about 17-27% of content on assessments covers topics and concepts not mentioned in corresponding standards

"CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.1

Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text"

English Language Arts, Reading: Informational Text, Grade 2

  • Had partnered with RI and VT to construct curriculum frameworks and Grade Level Expectations (NH GLEs) under the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), 2006
  • Now in process of transitioning: aligning NH GLEs with CCSS, which includes more challenging expectations

(Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson, 2011)

  • Pressure to meet challenge of addressing each standard, as directed by district and/or state
  • Differentiate instruction so that all learners may meet expectations
  • Plan and prepare instruction and assessments so that curriculum supports standards-based education frameworks
  • Effectiveness evaluated through student achievement and "observational ratings of teachers' pedagogical quality" (p. 2)

(Shippy, Washer, & Perrin, 2013)

(Common Core...Initiative, 2014)

(Polikoff & Porter, 2014)

(New Hampshire...Education, 2012, "College...Subjects")

REFERENCES

Accountability and Alignment

  • Research demonstrates that standards-based education reform has greatly impacted change at the local, state, and national levels over the past three decades
  • It is relatively inconclusive how SBR has directly influenced overall student learning and achievement at a general scale rather than a localized level.
  • Further research across states and districts (with varying socioeconomic backgrounds) will be necessary to conclude the overall effectiveness of standards-based curricula.
  • Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2014). English language arts standards: Reading, informational text, grade 2. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/2/
  • Carnoy, M., Elmore, R., & Siskin, L. (2003). The new accountability: High schools and high-stakes testing. Routledge.
  • Council of Chief State School Officers and National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. (2010, June). Common core state standards initiative: Preparing America’s students for college and career [Powerpoint presentation].
  • New Hampshire Department of Education. (2012). About the common core state standards. Retrieved from http://www.education.nh.gov/spotlight/ccss
  • New Hampshire Department of Education. (2012). College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects. Retrieved from http://www.education.nh.gov/spotlight/ccss/ela.htm
  • Polikoff, M. S. (2012). The association of state policy attributes with teachers’ instructional alignment. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 34(3), pp. 278-294.
  • Polikoff, M. S., & Porter, A. C. (2014). Instructional alignment as a measure of teacher quality. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, doi: 10.3102/0162373714531851
  • Polikoff, M. S., Porter, A. C., & Smithson, J. (2011). How well aligned are state assessments of student achievement with state content standards? American Educational Research Journal 48(4), pp. 965-995.
  • Sandholtz, J. H., Ogawa, R. T., & Scribner, S. P. (2004). Standards gaps: Unintended consequences of local standards-based reform. Teachers College Record, 106 (6) pp. 1177-1202.
  • Shippy, N., Washer, B. A., & Perrin, B. (2013). Teaching with the end in mind: The role of standards-based grading. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences 105(2), pp. 14-16.

Has standards-based reform over the last decade addressed this disparity?

Carnoy, Elmore, & Siskin, 2003, p. 5)

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