How do schools and teachers mediate the influence of state testing policies on arts education? The case in Virginia
Open Access
- Author:
- Mishook, Jacob Joseph
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Theory and Policy
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 30, 2006
- Committee Members:
- Mindy L Kornhaber, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
David Alexander Gamson, Committee Member
Hoi Kin Suen, Committee Member
Dr Christine Thompson, Committee Member - Keywords:
- school reform
assessment
arts education
NCLB - Abstract:
- Testing policy theory predicts that assessment, and particularly high-stakes assessment, will drive curriculum towards particular disciplines (Frederiksen & Collins, 1989; Popham, 1987). Conversely, untested areas of the curriculum will receive less emphasis and fewer resources than tested areas (Madaus, 1988). This theory would thus predict that the arts, as an untested area, would find resources and instructional time reduced. Arts educators and supporters argue that the arts provide unique cognitive and affective benefits for students (Eisner, 2002), and that a loss of the arts in schools would deny students access to these benefits. While quantitative studies have explored the impact of testing on the arts (von Zastrow, 2004; Center on Education Policy, 2006), there is a lack of qualitative research in this area. In this dissertation, I address three questions: 1) How are visual arts teachers in four elementary schools, two that have a strong focus on the arts and two that do not, across a range of poverty levels, responding to Virginia’s high-stakes Standards of Learning (SOL) exams? 2) Are visual arts teachers’ responses to these high-stakes exams consistent or incongruous with principals’ views of the tests’ impacts on instruction, resources, and classroom assessment? 3) If the views and practices of both visual arts teachers and principals are consistent in their positive outlook towards the SOL exams, what principal and teacher practices allow schools to maintain their arts instruction? To answer these questions, I interviewed and observed visual arts specialists at the four schools, and also interviewed principals, classroom teachers, and district personnel. Interviews and observations were analyzed with the help of N6® qualitative software. Findings yielded a mixed picture. Strong district support of the arts, strong arts missions at arts-focused schools, a belief in the efficacy of the arts at non-arts-focused schools, and a willingness among specialists to connect art lessons with tested content led to a general lack of negative testing influence on the visual arts specialists’ practice. However, art as practiced by classroom teachers had been either reduced or highly modified to serve the tested areas, and communication between specialists and classroom teachers was constrained by common classroom teacher planning time. Thus, this study provides confirming and disconfirming evidence for testing policy theory, depending on where one looks in the school. This supports the idea of the uneven implementation of reform (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). Future studies on testing policy impact should examine these intra-school differences.