"Wait Till After the Test!" How Teachers Navigate Between Test Pressure and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

• In Event: Challenges and Benefits of Culturally and Community-Responsive Education

Abstract

What does it mean to teach in a school committed both to culturally sustaining pedagogy and high-stakes test achievement? This study explores how teachers perceive and navigate that tension over a school year, before and after the annual state test. Analysis of interviews and artifacts from nine middle school ELA teachers indicates that teachers play “culturally sustaining catch-up” after the state exam, more actively centering topics of equity, justice, and race. Teachers also described “making up for” test-driven instruction by increasing reader response opportunities and student-centered, intrinsically-motivated learning later in the year. These findings contribute to growing evidence that high-stakes tests are culturally inequitable not just in content but in their influence on teachers’ and students’ entire school experience.

Author

• Daniel P. Moore, Stanford University