Educational Researcher 43卷8期

1.  “Teaching to the Test” in the NCLB Era: How Test Predictability Affects Our Understanding of Student Performance

Author: Jennifer L. Jennings and Jonathan Marc Bearak

Source: Educational Researcher 43.8 (November 2014 ): 381-389.

Abstract:What is “teaching to the test,” and can one detect evidence of this practice in state test scores? This paper unpacks this concept and empirically investigates one variant of it by analyzing test item–level data from three states’ mathematics and reading tests. We show that NCLB-era state tests predictably emphasized some state standards while consistently excluding others; a small number of standards typically accounted for a substantial fraction of test points. We find that students performed better on items testing frequently assessed standards—those that composed a larger fraction of the state test in prior years—which suggests that teachers targeted their instruction towards these predictably tested skills. We conclude by describing general principles that should guide high-stakes test construction if a policy goal is to ensure that test score gains accurately represent gains in student learning.

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2. Stemming the Diffusion of Responsibility: A Longitudinal Case Study of America’s Chemistry Teachers

Author: Gregory T. Rushton, Herman E. Ray, Brett A. Criswell, Samuel J. Polizzi, Clyde J. Bearss, Nicholas Levelsmier, Himanshu Chhita, and Mary Kirchhoff

Source: Educational Researcher 43.8 (November 2014 ): 390-403.

Abstract:National initiatives to expand the aggregate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce reflect America’s goals to increase global competitiveness. However, the aggregation of STEM stakeholders may elicit a diffusion of responsibility because individuals assume others are already acting. Here, we perform a longitudinal case study of U.S. public school chemistry teachers to illustrate a diffusion of responsibility within the STEM community regarding who is responsible for the teacher workforce. Utilizing the 1987–2007 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data, we determine how chemistry teacher demographics compare to other disciplines. Our results suggest that the aggregate success of STEM education initiatives may mask the need for discipline-specific reform. We describe reforms in the context of boundary objects and discuss implications for policy decisions as boundary crossings.

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3. What Makes for Powerful Classrooms, and How Can We Support Teachers in Creating Them? A Story of Research and Practice, Productively Intertwined

Author: Alan H. Schoenfeld

Source: Educational Researcher 43.8 (November 2014 ): 404-412.

Abstract:This article and my career as an educational researcher are grounded in two fundamental assumptions: (a) that research and practice can and should live in productive synergy, with each enhancing the other, and (b) that research focused on teaching and learning in a particular discipline can, if carefully framed, yield insights that have implications across a broad spectrum of disciplines. This article begins by describing in brief two bodies of work that exemplify these two fundamental assumptions. I then elaborate on a third example, the development of a new set of tools for understanding and supporting powerful mathematics classroom instruction—and by extension, powerful instruction across a wide range of disciplines.