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

Background Success of standards based reform

depends on alignment

National vs. state content standards

Policy attributes theory

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?

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 1=perfect alignment Calculated at the fine grain

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

ResultsAverage alignment, maximums, and minimums among

state content standards and national professional standards

Coarse-grained content maps for the two most aligned states, ELAR grade 4

Alignment = .48

Coarse-grained content maps for the two least aligned states, ELAR grade 8

Alignment = .07

Coarse-grained content maps for the most aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8

Alignment = .52

Coarse-grained content maps for the least aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8

Alignment = .12

Coarse-grained content maps for the two most aligned states, Mathematics grades 1-8

Alignment = .62

Coarse-grained content maps for the two least aligned states, Mathematics grades 1-8

Alignment = .36

Coarse grained content maps for the most aligned state to NSE Standards, Science grades 1-8

Alignment = .50

Coarse grained content maps for the least aligned state to NCTM Standards, Mathematics grades 1-8

Alignment = .35

Contrast of most and least focused states, coarse grained, ELAR grade 4

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 > .01 Capture 10-36% of content depending on

state/subject

Fine-grained content maps for Comprehension for the two most aligned states, ELAR grade 4

Fine-grained content maps for Writing Components for the two most aligned states, ELAR grade 4

Fine-grained content maps for Comprehension for the two least aligned states, ELAR grade 8

Fine-grained content maps for Writing Components for the two least aligned

states, ELAR grade 8

Fine-grained content maps for Earth Systems for the most aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8

Fine-grained content maps for Ecology for the most aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8

Fine-grained content maps for Earth Systems for the least aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8

Fine-grained content maps for Ecology for the least aligned state, Science grades 4 and 8

Fine-grained content maps for Number Sense for the two most aligned states, Mathematics grades 1-8

Fine-grained content maps for Basic Algebra for the two most aligned states, Mathematics grades 1-8

Fine-grained content maps for Number Sense for the two least aligned states,

Mathematics grades 1-8

Fine-grained content maps for Basic Algebra for the two least aligned states, Mathematics grades 1-8

Contrast of most and least focused states, fine grained for Comprehension, ELAR grade 4

Contrast of most and least focused states, fine grained for Writing Components, ELAR grade 4

Fine grained content maps for Earth Systems for the most aligned state to NSE Standards, Science grades 1-8

Fine grained content maps for Ecology for the most aligned state to NSE Standards, Science grades 1-8

Fine grained content maps for Number Sense for the least aligned state to NCTM Standards, Mathematics grades 1-8

Fine grained content maps for Basic Algebra for the least aligned state to NCTM Standards, Mathematics grades 1-8

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