An Uncertain Lever: Exploring the Influence of State-Level Testing in New York State on Teaching Social Studies

Abstract

In this paper, the author presents case studies of two high school social studies teachers and the influence of state-level testing on their teaching practices. Based on classroom observations of a unit on the U.S. civil rights movement and teacher interviews before and after that unit, he examines the role the eleventh grade New York State Regents test in U.S. History and Government plays in each teacher's instructional planning, delivery, and assessment. His analysis suggests that while the state test figures into each teacher's instruction, it does so by interacting with a range of other factors, especially the teachers’ views of subject matter and learners. From these findings, he argues that state tests may be an uncertain lever and that, while reformers continue pinning their hopes on new tests, faith in tests as a means of instructional change may be hard to sustain.

State-Mandated Testing and Teachers' Beliefs and Practice

“…These studies will be examined in this article. (Grant, 2001) change as activity and difference vs. change as improvement (Corbett & Wilson, 1991) and teachers as policybrokers vs. teachers as implementors (Schwille et al, 1983), emerged as key to the second level of analysis. All of these ideas and phrases prompted consideration of two types of policy: teacher policy and external policy.…”

“…Some of the research, on the other hand, suggests that the influence of state-mandated testing is overstated and limited (Firestone, Mayrowetz, & Fairman, 1998;Glasnapp, Poggio, & Miller, 1991;Grant, 2000Grant, , 2001Zancanella, 1992). These researchers posit that the influence of state tests and/or testing programs-as motivators of curricular and instructional reform at the local level-may be non-existent or of very low intensity.…”

“…These researchers posit that the influence of state tests and/or testing programs-as motivators of curricular and instructional reform at the local level-may be non-existent or of very low intensity. They also contend that teachers' perceptions about state-mandated testing are mixed and that state-mandated testing is one of many interacting influences (Grant, 2001 Based on the results of their survey, Glasnapp, Poggio, & Miller (1991), report that one action-increasing the emphasis of the state's objectives in the curriculum-was reportedly taken by more than half or 57% of the teachers in 1987. This result importantly varied across grade levels.…”

“…both of the studies by Grant (2000Grant ( , 2001 indicate that while state testing may influence teachers' decisions about what to teach, it does not necessarily influence how teachers teach it. Based on a larger multi-year and multidisciplinary study of the relationships between national, state, and local education reform efforts and school/classroom practices in New York State, Grant (2001) reports on the relationship between high-stakes state-level testing and two high school social studies teachers who teach in the same suburban school and prepare students for the same state test in eleventh-grade. Based on information he gained through interviews and classroom observations of these two teachers teaching a civil rights unit, he found little direct influence of state-mandated testing on either teacher's content or pedagogical decision making.…”

Loss of the Creature: The Obscuring of Inclusivity in Classroom Discourse

“…In his study of New York teachers' perceptions of changes in their state's testing program, S.G. Grant (2001) reviewed the literature on the relationship between high stakes test scores, professional development and classroom instruction. Grant found that few empirical studies represent the relationship between instruction and the tests they administer.…”