OTL (Opportunity to Learn) Consistency Reconceptualized and Why There Might Be No Curriculum for All

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Holistic Education and Curricular Histories (Table 5)

Abstract

Measure of student opportunity to learn (OTL) first emerged in international comparison studies in 1960s. Over time, its scope expanded to encompass various aspects of the educational process, serving purposes of accountability and policy evaluation. While dimensions such as content coverage, instructional time, and instructional quality are extensively examined to ensure equal learning opportunities, the critical dimension of content structure, particularly for subjects like mathematics, has been overlooked. This study introduces a tentative measure for OTL consistency, aimed at assessing the impact of curriculum structure on mathematics achievement across students with varying levels of prior achievement. The findings indicate that there may be no universally effective curriculum structure that benefits all students equally.

Authors

• Jiachen Liu, Michigan State University

• William H. Schmidt, Michigan State University

• Richard T. Houang, Michigan State University