Standards-Based Reform in Practice: Evidence on State Policy and Classroom Instruction from the NAEP State Assessments

The movement for higher standards in American education has attracted considerable public and scholarly attention during the past decade. Largely due to significant methodological challenges, however, there has been limited empirical investigation of the structure and operation of this movement on a nationwide scale. This paper develops an empirical strategy for studying broad-based educational change employing quantitative methods and an extensive database consisting of state policy indicators and data on schools and classrooms from a large number of states participating in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) State Assessments in Mathematics. Two main elements of standards-based reform are examined: (a) correspondence between the structure of the national standards movement and patterns of state-level policy activism, and (b) linkages between state policy and classroom instructional practices. The results of a Rasch measurement analysis indicate that patterns of state policy activity closely resemble standards-based reform, as it is known as a national movement. Multilevel statistical modeling using data from a large longitudinal panel of schools further shows that state activism has a significant independent effect on teachers’ use of classroom practices consistent with a standards-based model of mathematics education. While of a modest size, this state policy effect remains robust after taking into consideration other conditions at the classroom, school, and state levels, including the prior use of standards-based instruction for schools and states. Evidence also suggests that these policy effects on instruction may operate by promoting greater teacher receptivity to reform, particularly through relevant professional development experiences.