Straddling the Fence: Implementing Best Practices in an Age of Accountability

Abstract

Educators in contemporary public schools face tremendous challenges: implementing classroom practices aligned with their beliefs about effective teaching and learning while still balancing the need to prepare students for success on state-mandated, high-stakes tests. Teachers, attempting to straddle the fence between what they believe to be the most sound curricular and instructional practices and test-focused experiences for learners struggle to find a path that balances these seemingly contradictory demands. However, increased pressure to meet state testing goals appears to directly affect teachers' instructional and assessment behaviors, as they increasingly provide students with experiences that closely resemble, if not directly mimic state tests (McNeil, 2000; McNeil & Venezuela, 2000; Moon, 2001; Quality Counts, 1999; Shepard, 2000).