A new GAO report on Student Achievement (located here) concludes that standards-based accountability “influence[s] instructional practices in both positive and negative ways” and counts curriculum narrowing among the “unintended negative consequences.”
From the report:
“[D]epending on the test used, research has shown that teachers may be influenced to use teaching approaches that reflect the skills and knowledge to be tested. …Other research has raised concerns that, to avoid potential consequences from low-scoring assessment results under NCLBA, teachers are narrowing the curriculum being taught—sometimes referred to as “teaching to the test”—either by spending more classroom time on tested subjects at the expense of other non-tested subjects, restricting the breadth of content covered to focus only on the content covered by the test, or focusing more time on test-taking strategies than on subject content.” (pp. 16-17)
The report relies on survey data collected by the Department of Education and the DoE’s Schools and Staffing Survey. We’re not always fans of these GAO reports that are based on no new data and just massage preexisting research in pursuit of new conclusions. GAO produced such a report on arts education this past February that was totally off the mark. But other looks at the Schools and Staffing Survey have come to the same conclusion that they did in Student Achievement. This time we think GAO has it right.
Lynne Munson and James Elias
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