Full text release has been delayed at the author’s request until December 3, 2017.

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Educational Leadership, 2012.

Abstract

This qualitative research project is a narrative case study. I construct a case study of multiple teachers who resist teaching to the test. I chose this format as a way to tell the stories of these teachers, to document the narratives of their experiences and beliefs about education. Schools play both a cultural role and a political role in our society. Currently, public schools have adopted a curriculum that favors the dominant culture and a pedagogy that demands students be compliant and submissive. Annual scores on high-stakes tests have become the sole indicator of student learning and school success. The hegemonic structures and practices of public schools are complicit in the process of social reproduction and privilege certain types of knowledge that reinforces dominant ideologies. The purpose of this research study is to gain an understanding of the beliefs, values, and educational theories that inform the curriculum and pedagogies of teachers who resist teaching to the test. What informs and constitutes the practices of teachers who resist teaching to the test? How and why do these teachers resist the standards-based business model reforms in school? How do they make the day-to-day decisions that embody resistance to teaching to the test? My research attempts to explore these and other questions, using the stories, experiences, and lives of resisting teachers to frame potential answers. My hope is that the reader will see possibilities for resistance, and ultimately for the renewal of the curriculum, teaching, and schooling in the 21st century.

Subject Headings

Education

Keywords

teacher narratives; high-stakes testing; pedagogy; curriculum

Committee / Advisors

Thomas Poetter, PhD (Committee Chair)
Sally Lloyd, PhD (Committee Member)
Raymond Terrell, PhD (Committee Member)
Tom Romano, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

143p.

Document number: miami1354218011
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1354218011