When the Pressure Is On, Science Is Gone: Effects of State and Federal Policy on Elementary Science

• In Event: 63.057 - When the Pressure Is On: Effects of Accountability on Instruction

Abstract

Federal and state education policies have created a laser focus on performance measures based on high-stakes tests. School districts have responded to this focus by directing school curriculum, often to the exclusion of teacher and principal input and control. Science, seen as a peripheral core subject, is not a major focus in testing and accountability practices and often suffers reduced instructional time and resources. Using interviews from over 100 teachers and administrators, a phenomenological picture was constructed of decision making and political choices school administrators and teachers must make to operate in this high stakes accountability environment. Teachers and principals overwhelmingly feel constrained by testing practices to the limitation and, in some extreme cases, elimination of science from instruction.

Authors

• Andrew Jacob Keck, George Mason University

• Cheryl O'Connor, George Mason University

• David E. Long, George Mason University