The influence of high-stakes testing on high school teachers’ willingness to incorporate current political events into the curriculum

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Wayne Journell, Assistant Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: This paper describes the findings of a qualitative study of six government teachers from three diverse high schools in the Southwest Chicago suburbs during the 2008 Presidential Election. All of the teachers expressed a desire to cover the election in their classes; however, several experienced difficulty incorporating current events into their curriculum due to a perceived need to prepare their students for an end-of-course assessment that held graduation implications. Overall, the author found that the teachers fell into one of three groups with respect to their inclusion of current events within the curriculum: curriculum-first, disciplined-inclusion, and opportunity-first. The teachers who were categorized as curriculum-first and disciplined-inclusion appeared wary of devoting significant instructional time to the election because they were concerned their students may not perform well on the end-of-course test, a fear that appeared linked to their school's prior academic performance on high-stakes assessments and their perception of their students' academic abilities.

Additional Information

Publication
High School Journal
Language: English
Date: 2010
Keywords
Political science, Study and teaching(Secondary), United States, High schools, Examinations, High school teachers, Attitudes

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