Teachers’ use of new standards, frameworks, and assessments: Local cases of NYS elementary grade teachers

Abstract

The authors investigated how primary grade teachers in four upstate New York districts used the state standards in a summer cross‐district curriculum development institute funded in part with federal initiatives. Using document and interview analyses, the authors interpreted teachers’ perceptions of the standards and described the teachers’ curriculum products in light of the four district contexts in which the teachers worked. Next, a cross‐case comparison of teachers from two of the districts with similar demographics but differing expectations for teachers’ work further illustrated the influence of district context in determining what teachers understood to be their responsibility. The study also reported that teachers held a more narrow view of learning than that set forth in the state standards, a view that the authors attributed to teachers’ real‐life experiences with the subject matter of beginning reading instruction, an area not adequately addressed by the standards.