Education reform policies have focused on high-stakes assessments primarily utilizing standardized tests for accountability purposes. As testing practices have evolved due to a variety of factors throughout the past century or so, they have become fully integrated into public schooling in the United States. These tests are having a marked impact on teachers and education, as teachers feel pressure to produce exceptional student results and modify their instructional practices, often teaching to the test and narrowing the curriculum in order to focus on the requirements of the mandates. This study examines a survey of public school teachers to ascertain their experiences and perspectives regarding the impact of these testing policies. The results show that teachers are feeling an immense amount of pressure, their instructional planning and classroom practices are impacted by the tests, and they do not find the tests particularly helpful. Differences between teachers gender, education, experience, subject focus, and work with gifted and talented students are also examined. As testing is likely to be a force in public education in America for the foreseeable future, the results of this study can be used to ascertain teacher concerns and develop supports for teachers to help address those concerns.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-04262012-114034 |
| Date | 11 May 2012 |
| Creators | Timmer, Jennifer |
| Contributors | Hendry, Petra, Arbuthnot, Keena, Bach, Jacqueline |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04262012-114034/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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