Authentic Pedagogy: Its Presence in Social Studies Classrooms and Relationship to Student Performance on State-Mandated Tests

Abstract

Social studies researchers across a wide geographical area assessed the degree of authentic intellectual challenge present in a diverse sample of U.S. classrooms, investigated whether students from different social and academic contexts were more likely to encounter authentic pedagogy than others, and examined how the level of authentic pedagogy experienced related to student performance on high-stakes tests. We found that high levels of authentic pedagogy were rare, with only 21% of students in the sample attending classes that met the standards for even moderately challenging teaching. Smaller class sizes were positively correlated with higher levels of authentic pedagogy. Females were significantly more likely to encounter higher levels of authentic pedagogy than males. Neither ethnicity nor socioeconomic status was found to have a statistically significant relationship to authentic pedagogy. Higher levels of authentic instruction were generally associated with higher student achievement, and students in classes featuring moderate levels of authentic pedagogy had significantly higher success rates on state-mandated tests than their school averages.

Keywords:

• authentic pedagogy
• state-mandated testing
• secondary social studies

Acknowledgments

Authors (in alphabetical order): Brooke Blevins (Baylor University), Whitney Blankenship (Rhode Island College), Prentice Chandler (Athens State University), Michelle Cude (James Madison University), Lorrei DiCamillo (Canisius College), David Gerwin (Queens College, City University of New York), Jill Gradwell (Buffalo State College), John Gunn (Queens College, City University of New York), Rosemary Hodges (Athens State University), Jada Kohlmeier (Auburn University), Andrea Libresco (Hofstra University), Michael Lovorn (University of Alabama), Lamont E. Maddox (Hewitt-Trussville High School), Theresa McCormick (Auburn University), Nancy Patterson (Bowling Green University), Cinthia Salinas (University of Texas-Austin), Susan Santoli (University of South Alabama), John Saye (Auburn University; correspondence should be sent to: [email protected]), Audrey Schewe (Georgia State University), David Shannon (Auburn University), Barbara Slater Stern (James Madison University), Jeremy Stoddard (College of William & Mary), Caroline Sullivan (Georgia State University), Elizabeth Wilson (University of Alabama).

Notes

Support for this work was provided by a Fund for the Advancement of Social Studies Education/College and University Faculty Assembly Social Studies Inquiry grant and by the U.S. Department of Education Teaching American History program (grant U215X060225).

¹According to the No Child Left Behind Act, a highly qualified teacher must (1) have a bachelor's degree, (2) have full state certification or licensure, and (3) demonstrate knowledge of the core academic subjects they teach. States are given discretion in determining how teachers demonstrate content knowledge. In the six study states, teachers can demonstrate content knowledge through a passing score on a state-approved test of content knowledge or by successfully completing, in the academic subject that the teacher teaches, an undergraduate academic major, a graduate degree, or coursework equivalent to an undergraduate academic major. For experienced teachers, a High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE) offers alternate routes to Highly Qualified Teacher status, most commonly measured by state rubrics that give credit for a variety of formal education credentials and professional experience and professional development work. New York and Ohio discontinued the HOUSSE option in 2006–2007.

²Test results are made public and affect the community's perception of schools as well as real estate property values (Haladyna, Nolen, & Haas, 1991). Low-performing schools receive unwanted attention and sometimes sanctions from district and state administrators (Amrein & Berliner, 2002). In 2006, the 6 study states were among the 10 states that linked student graduation to a passing score on mandated social studies or history exams (Grant & Horn, 2006). A small portion of the sample (seven teachers in New York and Texas) had state-mandated tests not directly tied to graduation, although the content taught in these courses was tested at a later grade level with the high-stakes graduation requirement. Even in these instances of mandated tests without graduation stakes, the teachers receive pressure from administrators to produce high pass rates, and teachers whose students consistently fail to do well on these tests may be removed or transferred to grades not subject to mandated state tests.

³This analysis is based on the 38 released test items from the March 2009 test. Ohio's social studies test includes 6 field test items that are not publicly released.

⁴This definition matches the language used in past AIW studies (e.g., Newmann et al., 2001).

⁵ Newmann and Associates (1996) did not report inter-rater agreement for assessment tasks. If the two scorers did not agree on their independent ratings, they discussed the differences until they arrived at a consensus score.