The Relationship Between State and District Content Standards:Issues of Alignment, Influence and Utility

Abstract

At the core of standards-based reform are content standards--statements about what students should know and be able to do. Although it is state standards that are the focus of much public attention and consume substantial resources, many local school districts have developed their own content standards in the major subject areas. However, we know very little about the role state standards have played in local standards efforts. In this article we report on a study of the relationship between state and local content standards in reading in four states and districts. Through interviews with key personnel in each state, and district and analyses of state and local content standards in reading, we explored the alignment between state and district content standards, the path of influence between the two, and the role of high-stakes tests in state and districts reform efforts. Our findings suggest that alignment had multiple meanings and that state standards had differential utility to districts, ranging from helpful to benign to nuisance. This wide variability was influenced by the nature of the standards themselves, the state vision of alignment and local control, districts’ own engagement and commitment to professional development, and student performance on high-stakes tests. We explore implications for the future of content standards as the cornerstone of standards-based reform and argue that states must promote district ownership and expand accountability if state content standards are to have any relevance for local efforts to reform teaching and learning.

Constructing Policy Knowledge: Contradictions, Communication, and Knowledge Frames

“…In these cases, contradictions are viewed as negative features of the policy context that lead to negative outcomes for implementers and beneficiaries alike. Additionally, previous research has revealed that there can be contradictions between public policies that create problems in implementation contexts (Burton et al;Dutro & Valencia, 2004). Taken in conjunction with previous communicationbased research, these studies indicate that much remains to be explored regarding communication and contradictions in the policy knowledge process.…”

Curriculum Materials for Elementary Reading: Shackles and Scaffolds for Four Beginning Teachers

“…Here we are reminded of the origin of standards-based reform and a focus on the ends or outcomes, giving school districts and schools flexibility on the means (National Research Council, 1999). We can imagine a return to common curriculum frameworks or content standards that are at a moderate level of specificity (Dutro & Valencia, 2004). These could guide, rather than prescribe, instruction and could encourage multiple instructional strategies and programs.…”

Common core writing and language standards and aligned state assessments: a national survey of teacher beliefs and attitudes

“…Keywords Survey Á Teacher attitudes Á State writing standards Á State writing assessments Intoduction Educational policy research suggests that both learning standards and large-scale assessments in the domain of writing influence teachers' writing instruction (Albertson, 2007;Hillocks, 2002;McCarthey, 2008;O'Neill, Murphy, Huot, & Williamson, 2006;Scherff & Piazza, 2005;Stecher, Barron, Chun, & Ross, 2000;Taylor, Shepard, Kinner, & Rosenthal, 2003), though assessments may exert a stronger effect on teacher behavior because accountability tests have ''teeth'' and because standards are more open to interpretation as the intended curriculum and are filtered through teachers' experiences, beliefs, and attitudes (e.g., Dutro & Valencia, 2004;Klein, Hamilton, McCaffrey, & Stecher, 2000). In the survey study reported here, we focus on teachers' perceptions of one of the recent widespread educational policy changes in the United States-the adoption and implementation of the Common Core State Standards and aligned accountability assessments.…”