A fundamental claim for Common Core State Standards (CCSS)-aligned assessments is that they will lead to better teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to seek evidence in support of this claim by surveying teachers about their instructional practices, test preparation strategies, and test score use both before and after the introduction…

This study used a theoretical framework rooted in student voice to explore the perceptions, experiences, and recommendations of African American students at an elementary school that had implemented a test-centered curriculum. The study used data from focus group interviews conducted with a purposefully selected group of fourth- and fifth-grade…

Critics of test-based accountability warn that test preparation has a negative influence on teachers' instruction due to a focus on procedural skills. Others advocate that the adoption of more rigorous assessments may be a way to incentivize more ambitious test preparation instruction. Drawing on classroom observations and teacher surveys, we do…

In this paper we report on the process, outcomes, and impact of a weekly homework assignment for which students write about the mathematics they do in their everyday lives. Data from 17 fifth-grade students suggest that after doing the assignment for a full school year, students clearly communicated their beliefs about the assignment having…

The purpose of this study was to explore and reveal the process behind how teachers that administer standards-based tests implement instructional practices in the classroom according to the accountability measures of NCLB. The study revealed how teachers in two different school settings prepared their students for the yearly standardized test. In…