Cover Deep Curriculum Alignment : Creating a Level Playing Field for All Children On title: High-stakes Tests of Educational Accountability author: English, Fenwick W.; Steffy, Betty E. publisher: Scarecrow Press isbn10 | asin: 0810839709 print isbn13: 9780810839700 ebook isbn13: 9780585386379 language: English Curriculum planning--United States, Educational tests and measurements--Social subject aspects--United States, Educational accountability--United States. publication date: 2000 lcc: LB2806.15.E52 2000eb ddc: 375/.001/0973 Curriculum planning--United States, subject: Educational tests and measurements--Social aspects--United States, Educational accountability--United States. Page i Deep Curriculum Alignment Creating a Level Playing Field for All Children on High-Stakes Tests of Educational Accountability Fenwick W. English Betty E. Steffy The Scarecrow Press, Inc. A Scarecrow Education Book Lanham, Maryland, and London 2001 Page ii Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the netLibrary eBook. SCARECROW PRESS, INC. A Scarecrow Education Book Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecroweducation.com 4 Pleydell Gardens, Folkestone Kent CT20 2DN, England Copyright © 2001 by Fenwick W. English and Betty E. Steffy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data English, Fenwick W. Deep curriculum alignment: creating a level playing field for all children on high-stakes tests of educational accountability / Fenwick W. English, Betty E. Steffy. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8108-3970-9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8108-3971-7 (alk. paper) 1. Curriculum planning—United States. 2. Educational tests and measurements—Social aspects—United States. 3. Educational accountability—United States. I. Steffy, Betty E. II. Title. LB2806.15 .E52 2000 375'.001'0973—dc21 00–051613 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992. Manufactured in the United States of America. Page iii Contents Introduction v 1Facing the Scourge of the Test Score Zeitgeist 1 • Culprits • Some popular myths about tests • The nature of curriculum alignment • Key concepts of this chapter • Applications • References 2Understanding the Dynamics of the Playing Field 25 • The basic construct: the curriculum and the test • The United States: one nation—except for a curriculum • The genius of the norm-referenced standardized test: an exam that doesn't need a curriculum or political decisions to determine passing or mastery scores • Understanding the forces that comprise the “playing field” • The fallacy of “value added” measures: using test score gains to pay teachers • The ‘‘teaching to the test” conundrum: what is ethical? • Key concepts of this chapter • Applications • References 3Initiating Actions to Level the Competitive Playing Field 55 • Frontloading or backloading? Page iv • Curriculum as organizational memory • Where to start the alignment process? • Steps in developing a frontloaded curriculum • Key concepts of this chapter • Applications • References Engaging in Deep Curriculum Alignment 4 87 • The emerging research on curriculum alignment • The Zellmer study • The Price-Baugh study • The Moss-Mitchell study • The practice of pedagogical parallelism • A step-by-step guide to pedagogical parallelism as the key to deep curriculum alignment • Key concepts of this chapter • References Creating a Viable Alternative to Testing as Mass Inspection 5 115 • Problems with current forms of high-stakes accountability tests • Positive trends in state assessment programs • Re-asserting the primacy of curriculum in the testing debate • The terrain of struggle: what does it mean to teach social justice? • Colleges of education: solutions or problems? • Key concepts of this chapter • Applications • References Author Index 145 Subject Index 149 About the Authors 157 Page v Introduction When one considers in its length and in its breadth the importance of this question of the education of a nation's young, the broken lives, the defeated hopes, the national failures, which result from the frivolous inertia with which it is treated, it is difficult to restrain within oneself a savage rage. —Alfred North Whitehead (1959) A cross the landscape of America, high-stakes testing continues to leave in its cyclonic path defeated hopes and broken lives. It has been estimated that between 114 and 320 million tests are given per year in American schools (Madaus and Kellaghan, 1992, p. 126). Like Alfred North Whitehead (1959), we have worked along this highway for nearly three decades, bolstering the shaken confidence of dedicated teachers and administrators by showing that nothing is “wrong” with them, and certainly nothing “deficient” or “inferior” about their children. If ever there was a misguided policy initiative, it is that somehow high- stakes testing can drive quality into the public schools by ratcheting up the consequences for not doing well on them. This approach is nothing more than mass-legislated inspection decried and condemned by the father of quality, W. Edward Deming (1986), who said that “Inspection to improve quality is too late, ineffective, costly” (p. 28). Legislators, and those who advise them, appear to believe that the solution is to simply scare the daylights out of teachers and administrators so that they teach better. Improvement means better test scores. The confusion that such emphasis on tests creates in the minds of teachers and administrators is legion. The temptation to engage in drill and kill exercises is nearly overwhelming and drowns out even common sense.