Echo Effects and Curriculum Change

Abstract

Background/Context

This project is framed by a critical pragmatism, which is evident in the questioning of how social conditions and events outside schools influence classroom practice and in exploring the question of who benefits, collectively and individually, socially and politically, as well as pedagogically.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

The intent of this work is to better our understanding of the school-society nexus generally and, more specifically, of curriculum practice and change in relation to societal conditions and events. This goal is pursued by means of analysis of relevant research to illustrate what might be called “echo effects” in order to account for changes in curriculum policy and practice in response to external press.

Research Design

Methodologically, this is an analytic article that reexamines data and interpretations from several relevant research projects. In addition to media research relevant to the conception of “echo,” four cases/studies provide illustration of echoes and apparent “echo effects” on curriculum policy and/or practice: state-level curriculum policymaking; school administrator perceptions and practices regarding censorship challenges; teachers’ responses to new or increased state testing in academic subject areas; and teachers’ responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Echoes and apparent echo effects on curriculum policy and classroom practice are important because they demonstrate one means by which events and “social forces” enter into public and professional discourses, and that discourses matter, in part by framing issues, focusing attention, and rendering legitimacy. Echo effects appear to be dependent on the echoes being received or “heard” and on the extent to which they are perceived or interpreted in ways (1) compatible with one's values and priorities, and (2) feasible to act on in current circumstances (given one's assessment of the situation, one's political and professional skills, and so forth). Next steps include examining the conditions under which echo effects are stronger or weaker and perhaps attempting to manage (e.g., deflect) the echoes themselves. Notably, the cases of echo effects offered here all contribute, though in varying degrees, to the narrowing of curriculum policy and practice. The cumulative curriculum effects of these echoes appear to sustain more than challenge the status quo. With greater awareness and understanding of how external influences enter in and operate, we are better able to raise questions and attempt to reshape curricular and other educational issues, not merely to participate in the debates on terms set by others or to be swept along by default.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adler

(1993). Curriculum challenges in California: Third statewide survey of challenges to curriculum materials and services. Fullerton: California State University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED375475)

Airasian

P. W.

(1987). State mandated testing and educational reform: Context and consequences. American Journal of Education, 95, 393—412.

Airasian

P. W.

(1988). Symbolic validation: The case of state-mandated, high-stakes testing. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 10, 301—313.

Alterman

(1992, July 19). The triumph of the punditocracy. Image, pp. 14—23.

Anastasio

P. A.

, Rose

K. C.

, and Chapman

(1999). Can the media create public opinion? A social-identity approach. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(5), 152—255.

Avery

P. G.

, and Johnson

(1999). How newspapers framed the U.S. history standards debate. Social Education, 63, 220—224.

Cimbricz

(2002). State-mandated testing and teachers’ beliefs and practice: A review of research. Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 10(2), 1—31.

Cornbleth

(1990). Curriculum in context. London: Falmer Press.

Cornbleth

(Ed.) (2000). Curriculum politics, policy, practice: Cases in comparative context. Albany: State University of New York Press.

10.

Cornbleth

(2000). Viewpoints. In and and Cornbleth

(Ed.), Curriculum politics, policy, practice: Cases in comparative context (pp. 289—328). Albany: State University of New York Press.

11.

Cornbleth

(2001). Climates of constraint/restraint of teachers and teaching. In and and Stanley

W.B.

(Ed.), Critical issues in social studies research for the 21st century (pp. 73—95). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.

12.

Cornbleth

(2008). Climates of opinion and curriculum change. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40(2), 143—168.

13.

Cornbleth

, and Waugh

(1999). The great speckled bird: Multicultural politics and education policymaking. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. (Original work published 1995)

14.

Craig

C. J.

(2006). Why is dissemination so difficult? The nature of teacher knowledge and the spread of curriculum reform. American Educational Research Journal, 43, 257—293.

15.

Dillon

(2006, March 26). Schools cut back subjects to push reading and math. The New York Times, pp. A–1, 16.

16.

Foucault

(1970). The order of things: An archaeology of the human sciences. New York: Pantheon.

17.

Gilens

(1996). Race and poverty in America: Public misperceptions and the American news media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 60, 515—541.

18.

Hutcheson

, Domke

, Billeaudeaux

, and Garland

(2004). U.S. national identity, political elites, and a patriotic press following September 11. Political Communication, 21, 27—50.

19.

Leahey

C. R.

(2004). Examining media coverage: A classroom study of Iraq war news. Social Education, 68, 280—284.

20.

McLaughlin

M. W.

, Talbert

J. E.

, and Bascia

(1990). The contexts of teaching in secondary schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

21.

McNeil

L. M.

(1986). Contradictions of control. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

22.

Merryfield

M. M.

(1993). Responding to the Gulf War: A case study of instructional decision making. Social Education, 57, 33—41.

23.

Nelson

J. L.

(1983, September). Teacher self-censorship and academic freedom. The Social Studies Professional, pp. 1, 2.

24.

Nelson

J. L.

(1991). Communities, local to national, as influences on social studies education. In and and Shaver

J.P.

(Ed.), Handbook of research on social studies teaching and learning (pp. 332—341). New York: Macmillan.

25.

Onosko

, and Newmann

(1994). Creating more thoughtful learning environments. In Mangieri

, and Collins-Block

(Eds.), Creating powerful thinking in teachers and students: Diverse perspectives (pp. 27—47). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.

26.

Romanowski

M. H.

(1996). Issues and influences that shape the teaching of U.S. history. In and and Brophy

(Ed.), Advances in research on teaching (Vol. 6, pp. 291—312). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

27.

Rothstein

(2002). Conservatives, teachers unions and poisoned debate. The New York Times. Retrieved September 4, 2006, from http://www.nytimes.com/

28.

Segall

(2006). Teaching in the age of accountability. In and and Grant

S.G.

(Ed.), Measuring history: Cases of state-level testing across the United States (pp. 105—132). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.

29.

Simon

(2006, February 22). Emphasis on English, math to be increased. The Buffalo News. Retrieved February 24, 2006, from http://www.buffalonews.com

30.

Stodolsky

S. S.

, and Grossman

P. L.

(1995). The impact of subject matter on curricular activity: An analysis of five academic subjects. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 227—251.

31.

Talbert

J. W.

, McLaughlin

M. W.

, and Rowan

(1993). Understanding context effects on secondary school teaching. Teachers College Record, 95, 45—68.

32.

Wise

(1979). “Paradigm dramas” in American studies: A cultural and institutional history of the movement. American Quarterly, 31, 293—337.