One size never fits all: Teachers’ responses to standardized curriculum materials and implications for early childhood teacher educators

ABSTRACT

The age of accountability introduced by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 triggered widespread development of local control-oriented policies in an effort to “leave no child behind.” Research makes it clear that such policies directly impact instruction. However, primary grade teachers are rarely included in these studies, leaving teacher educators with little empirical data on which to ground their work with preservice teachers as it relates to such policies. This article reports findings from a study of 15 experienced primary grade teachers who work with standardized curriculum materials. Data from these teachers’ experiences can inform today’s teacher educators as they prepare the next generation of teachers to navigate “one size fits all” curricula. Findings suggest that experienced teachers of young children adapt, augment, and extend the intended curriculum to promote academic proficiency in tested subjects in very specific ways. Implications for preservice teacher education are discussed.

Notes

¹ (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. xiii) This source is the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s position statement on developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs.

² Curriculum guides are documents that typically indicate what content to teach, and they may include lesson plans, suggested materials, references to textbooks, and pacing calendars to show how many days to spend on a given topic.

³ All names are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Donovan and Patton College of Education Impact Grant and an RCAF grant at Texas Christian University