Teachers and Tests— Changes in the New York State Testing Program

Authors

  • S. G. Grant State University of New York at Buffalo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v8n14.2000

Keywords:

Educational Change, Educational Practices, Elementary Secondary Education, Focus Groups, Professional Development, State Programs, Teacher Attitudes, Teachers, Test Use, Testing Programs

Abstract

How do teachers change their pedagogical practices? While many current initiatives seek to raise educational standards and improve student academic performance, there is a curious gap in national and state reforms. Considerable attention is given to defining higher expectations for what students will know and be able to do, yet little attention is given to how teachers should learn new pedagogical ideas and practices. This exploratory study uses focus group interview data collected over two years to examine how cross-subject matter groups of elementary and secondary New York State teachers respond to one way of learning to change their classroom practices: state-level testing. Analysis of the data highlights three issues: the nature and substance of the tests, the professional development opportunities available to teachers, and the rationales for and consequences of the state exams.

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Author Biography

S. G. Grant, State University of New York at Buffalo

S. G. Grant is an assistant professor of Social Studies Education in the Department of Learning and Instruction. He has published papers in both social studies and general education journals. His most recent journal publications have been in Theory and Research in Social Education and the American Educational Research Journal. In the fall of 1998, he published his first book, Reforming Reading, Writing, and Mathematics: Teacher's Responses and the Prospects for Systemic Change. An article on the influence of state-level tests on teachers' classroom practices is forthcoming in Teachers College Record.

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Published

2000-02-24

How to Cite

Grant, S. G. (2000). Teachers and Tests— Changes in the New York State Testing Program. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8, 14. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v8n14.2000

Issue

Section

Articles