The Association of State Policy Attributes With Teachers’ Instructional Alignment

Abstract

States vary greatly in their implementation of standards-based accountability under No Child LeftBehind, yet little evidence is available to guide policymakers on what attributes of state policy advance more tightly aligned instruction. This study uses survey data and content analyses from the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum to describe elements of state policy that are associated with tighter alignment between teacher-reported instruction and state standards and assessments. The author reports substantial variation on policy attributes across states, with increasing use of power (rewards and sanctions) and low overall consistency between standards and assessments. Several of the policy attributes are related to instructional alignment, with the strongest fit in mathematics.

State Education Standards for Tobacco Prevention and Classroom Instruction

“…Although we lack data on school-level or district-level adoption of evidence-based prevention curricula, standards may shape these curricular decisions and these decisions, in turn, may influence instruction. 11 Future work using qualitative interviews of teacher awareness of the content of state standards, content analysis of health education textbooks, and/or district purchasing decisions of various educational materials would provide a nice complement to the evidence presented here.…”

PK‐3: What Does It Mean For INstruction?

“…(p. 528) Supporting their claim of the importance of alignment, Schmidt et al (2005) found in their cross-national study of learning standards that countries with hierarchically structured standards, with topics in each grade building on those in previous grades, had the highest-performing students in math and science. Similarly, Polikoff (2012a) found in a study of eight states that the overall level of alignment between standards and assessments was low, but teachers' instructional practices were more aligned with both standards and assessment instruments in states where standards and assessments were relatively well aligned with one another. Presumably, misalignment forces teachers to choose between standards and assessments, whereas alignment makes a teacher's job of aligning instruction to standards and assessments easier.…”

Impact of Instructional Alignment Workshop on Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Perceived Instruction Performance

“…As discussed previously, one of the factors is the effective construction of the standards and the strength of the alignment of the standards with state standardized assessments. Another factor is the question of how teachers integrate and align the standards for instruction, planning, and delivery (Polikoff, 2012a). All of these alignment factors influence the results of the standardized assessments.…”

“…The alignment disparity among state standardized assessments has been the focus of multiple research efforts, with researchers concluding that instructional alignment is a key factor affecting student learning (Polikoff, 2012a(Polikoff, , 2012b. A strong alignment between the state standards and the state assessments is required for valid assessments of student knowledge.…”

“…The standardized national educational trend delineated the demand for academic accountability of teachers and students coming from different levels of authority (Polikoff, 2012a). Educational policies such as standards-based reform demark the accountability requirements of each state, district, and school (Polikoff, 2012b).…”