Curricular Constraints, High Stakes Testing and the Reality of Reform in High School Science Classrooms

Through a series of open-ended interviews, this study investigated the beliefs of six third year high school science teachers about how they implement science education reform ideals in their practice and the contextual challenges they face as they attempt to implement reform. The teachers argue that the lack of connection between their curricula and students lives serves as a significant obstacle to them utilizing more inquiry-based and student-centered strategies. In their science classes that are not subject to a high stakes exam, the teachers shared instances where they engage students in inquiry by reframing the focus of their curricula away from the decontextualized factual information and onto how the information relates to human experience. In their science classes subject to a high stakes test, however, the teachers confessed to feeling no choice but to utilize more teacher-centered strategies focused on information transmission. This study provides an in depth analysis of how the presence of high stakes tests discourages teachers from utilizing reform based teaching strategies within high school science classrooms