Rigor for All? The Enduring Tension Between Standardization and Differentiation in the Era of the Common Core State Standards
Open Access
- Author:
- Hodge, Emily Marie
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Theory and Policy
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 06, 2015
- Committee Members:
- David Alexander Gamson, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mindy L Kornhaber, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Erica Frankenberg, Committee Member
Anne Whitney, Special Member - Keywords:
- standards-based reform
education policy
tracking
curriculum - Abstract:
- This study explores how middle school literacy teachers across a metropolitan district in the South negotiate the tension between standardization and differentiation in the context of a new set of educational standards—the Common Core State Standards. The study explains the policy and organizational factors that shape teachers’ decisions about curriculum and instruction during Common Core implementation, including curricular tracking, a standardized curriculum, state testing, and beliefs about student ability. This district case study of literacy teachers’ decision-making is grounded in three bodies of literature: the literature on the unintended consequences of standards-based reform, the literature on tracking and detracking, and the conceptual literature on sense-making. This study uses qualitative methods to explore three related research questions: (1) How, if at all, did messages about the Common Core State Standards and equity shift from the national level to the district and teacher levels? (2) In the context of Common Core implementation and a standardized, Common Core-aligned curriculum, how are curriculum and instruction similar or different across curricular tracks? (3) In this district context, what factors shape teachers’ decisions about curriculum and instruction (e.g., state and district level policies, teachers’ beliefs)? Findings suggest that the dominant message about how the Common Core will create equity in this district is through instructional practices such as asking text-dependent questions, rather than through structural change. Findings also demonstrate that teachers receive mixed signals about the nature of student ability from Common Core implementation, testing policy, and curricular tracking. These mixed signals influence teachers' decisions about curriculum and instruction in ways that raise key questions about the potential of standards to ensure educational equity when standards are implemented in tracked school environments. These findings suggest that school and district leaders should carefully consider how the policy and organizational environment can send mixed signals to teachers about the nature of student ability and how to interpret the “rigor for all” rhetoric of the Common Core.