Preparation for state -mandated testing: *Policy implications for teacher-students' interactions during classroom literacy practices.

Background. State-mandated testing has influenced classroom teaching and learning in a variety of ways as teachers prepare students for their tests. State-mandated tests and the perceived need to prepare students for them often cause districts and teachers to alter their curriculum and pedagogy. These changes often resulted in a narrowed curriculum and more limited pedagogy. At times, though, testing had more beneficial effects, such as state performance assessments that were supportive of school restructuring efforts. Virtually no studies, however, have addressed test preparation as it is enacted in the day-to-day context of the classroom. Aims. The aim of this study is to show how teachers and students enact testing policy. This dissertation investigated teacher-student interactions during the run-up to fourth grade students' participation in Michigan's state-mandated literacy tests. Theoretical frame. The investigation is grounded theoretically by the anthropological concepts of culture and meaning making and the discourse analytic concept of positioning. Methods. I used an ethnographic approach to collect data in one classroom of fourth grade teachers and students. To analyze the data, I used data mapping, constant comparative, and discourse analytic methods. Findings. Teachers and students co-constructed a literacy community with routine practices such as reading selected books, writing about thinking about books, and writing memoirs. The teachers attempted to cultivate normative dispositions by positioning students as thoughtful, industrious, quality-minded, independent readers and writers. During the fall, the teachers integrated other test preparation with routine literacy practices without informing the students. In the month and half prior to the test, however, the teachers brought test preparation into the open. Compared to integrated test preparation in the fall where most students worked diligently, during open test preparation, some students were resistant to being positioned as test takers who needed to be prepped for the state test. Implications. As testing policy influences teachers' practices, policymakers need to ensure that tasks on state tests productively drive instruction. Teachers need to carefully think how they position students during routine and test preparation practices so students will be prepared for life outside of classrooms.Ph.D.Curriculum developmentEducationEducational tests and measurementsElementary educationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/125392/2/3192667.pd