TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF AND RESPONSE TO WRITING POLICY IN THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS: A FOCUS ON WRITING TASKS

[摘要] The Common Core State Standards (CCSS; CCSSO, 2010) are a promising response to the call for 'a writing revolution” (National Commission on Writing, 2003). They aim to position students on the path to college and career readiness by foregrounding analytic text-based writing. While the standards are clear on the writing products students are expected to generate, however, they provide little guidance regarding the learning opportunities teachers should offer to reach those ends (Graham & Harris, 2015). As a result, districts and teachers are left to interpret how to implement the standards. In this two-study dissertation, I investigate how 4th- and 5th-grade teachers in one district respond to the CCSS, specifically with respect to the writing tasks they assign. In the first study, I elicited teachers’ understanding and interpretation of the standards with a set of task sorts. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) of the data suggests that teachers have a sound understanding of the CCSS; however, many teachers are not inclined to assign tasks they identified as most aligned with the standards. In the second study, I employ a multi-case design to examine how six teachers interpret and implement the CCSS in their writing instruction. Specifically, I conducted qualitative analyses of interviews with teachers and the writing tasks they assigned. Results show that teachers struggle with what it means to integrate reading and writing. Their struggle is complicated by the district’s attempt to address the CCSS by endorsing two curricula – one focusing on reading skills (ELA), and one on writing skills and process (Writing Workshop). Teachers perceive the parallel curricula as contradicting the intent of the standards. They negotiated the conflicting messages in various ways, including adhering to one curriculum while rejecting the other, and assimilating one program into the other. Teachers’ interpretation of the standards is reflected in their assigned writing tasks. Most tasks did not resemble the type of analytic text-based writing intended in the reform. A reformulation of the CCSS to clarify the relationship between reading and writing, and to signal instruction that might support the standards could help districts and teachers to implement the standards as intended.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh