Is There a De Facto National Curriculum? Evidence from State Content Standards

1
Is There a De Facto National Curriculum? Evidence
from State Content Standards

• Andrew Porter and Morgan Polikoff, University of
  Pennsylvania
• John Smithson,
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

2
Background

• Success of standards based reform depends on
  alignment
• National vs. state content standards
• Policy attributes theory

3
Questions

• To what extent does there exist a de facto
  national curriculum, as represented by state
  content standards?
• How focused are state content standards?
• How demarcated is content across grade levels?
• To what extent are state content standards
  aligned with national professional standards?

4
Procedures

• Surveys of Enacted Curriculum
• Two-dimensional (content cognitive demand)
• ELAR, science, mathematics
• Coarse- and fine-grained analysis
• Alignment
• Scale from 0 to 1 with 1perfect alignment
• Calculated at the fine grain

5
Data

• Completed since 2003
• Grades 4 8
• 14 states in mathematics, ELAR 13 states in
  science NSE NCTM
• Grades K-8 or 1-8
• 10 states in math, 7 in ELAR, 4 in science NSE
  NCTM

6
Results
Average alignment, maximums, and minimums among
state content standards and national
professional standards
7
Coarse-grained content maps for the two most
aligned states, ELAR grade 4
Alignment .48
8
Coarse-grained content maps for the two least
aligned states, ELAR grade 8
Alignment .07
9
Coarse-grained content maps for the most aligned
state, Science grades 4 and 8
Alignment .52
10
Coarse-grained content maps for the least aligned
state, Science grades 4 and 8
Alignment .12
11
Coarse-grained content maps for the two most
aligned states, Mathematics grades 1-8
Alignment .62
12
Coarse-grained content maps for the two least
aligned states, Mathematics grades 1-8
Alignment .36
13
Coarse grained content maps for the most aligned
state to NSE Standards, Science grades 1-8
Alignment .50
14
Coarse grained content maps for the least aligned
state to NCTM Standards, Mathematics grades 1-8
Alignment .35
15
Contrast of most and least focused states, coarse
grained, ELAR grade 4
16
Conclusions

• No evidence of a de facto national curriculum
• Alignments moderate when aggregated across
  grades, low for individual grades
• Some evidence of small core curriculum
• 8-13 cells per subject with emphasis gt .01
• Capture 10-36 of content depending on
  state/subject

17
Fine-grained content maps for Comprehension for
the two most aligned states, ELAR grade 4
18
Fine-grained content maps for Writing Components
for the two most aligned states, ELAR grade 4
19
Fine-grained content maps for Comprehension for
the two least aligned states, ELAR grade 8
20
Fine-grained content maps for Writing Components
for the two least aligned states, ELAR grade 8
21
Fine-grained content maps for Earth Systems for
the most aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8
22
Fine-grained content maps for Ecology for the
most aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8
23
Fine-grained content maps for Earth Systems for
the least aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8
24
Fine-grained content maps for Ecology for the
least aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8
25
Fine-grained content maps for Number Sense for
the two most aligned states, Mathematics grades
1-8
26
Fine-grained content maps for Basic Algebra for
the two most aligned states, Mathematics grades
1-8
27
Fine-grained content maps for Number Sense for
the two least aligned states, Mathematics grades
1-8
28
Fine-grained content maps for Basic Algebra for
the two least aligned states, Mathematics grades
1-8
29
Contrast of most and least focused states, fine
grained for Comprehension, ELAR grade 4
30
Contrast of most and least focused states, fine
grained for Writing Components, ELAR grade 4
31
Fine grained content maps for Earth Systems for
the most aligned state to NSE Standards, Science
grades 1-8
32
Fine grained content maps for Ecology for the
most aligned state to NSE Standards, Science
grades 1-8
33
Fine grained content maps for Number Sense for
the least aligned state to NCTM Standards,
Mathematics grades 1-8
34
Fine grained content maps for Basic Algebra for
the least aligned state to NCTM Standards,
Mathematics grades 1-8
35
Conclusions, continued

• Within-state 4-8 alignment as high or higher than
  between-state alignment
• State alignment with national professional
  standards no greater than among states
• Considerable variation across states in level of
  focus
• States use between 2-14 of the cells to capture
  80 of the total curriculum