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 states in math, 7 in ELAR, 4 in science; NSE & NCTM

Results Average 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