Teaching to and Beyond the Test: The Influence of Mandated Accountability Testing in One Social Studies Teacher's Classroom

Abstract

Background/Context

The nature of the impact of state-mandated accountability testing on teachers’ classroom practices remains contested. While many researchers argue that teachers change their teaching in response to mandated testing, others contend that the nature and degree of the impact of testing on teaching remains unclear. The research on the relationship between testing and teaching in social studies follows this pattern. For example, some researchers argue that mandated testing fosters a “just the facts, ma'am” approach to teaching social studies. Others, however, contend that factors such as teachers’ personal beliefs about social studies and about what learners need to know are equally, if not more, determinative influences on teaching as are testing pressures.

Focus of Study

This article presents an extended and fine-grained analysis of the influence of state-mandated accountability testing on one social studies teacher's classroom practice.

Research Design

Grounded in the narrative inquiry tradition, this case study spans approximately two and a half years of fieldwork, including approximately 110 days of observations of one eighth-grade U.S. history classroom.

Conclusions

The findings from this study shed light on the problems and frustrations that one teacher faces when confronted with a testing apparatus that limits her instructional time with students and an accountability exam that emphasizes a “bare bones” approach to content. While no generalizable conclusions are intended to be drawn from this study, the data presented in this article nonetheless add support to the viewpoint that while state-mandated accountability testing does influence classroom teaching, teachers’ beliefs about subject matter and their goals for students play an equal, if not larger, role in shaping their classroom practices.