Status of Education Reform in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: Teachers' Perspective
NCES: 1999045
February 1999

Reform Activities Teachers Are Using in Various Subject Areas

The survey asked teachers to report about the use of the seven reform activities in four core subject areas: English/language arts, history/social studies, mathematics, and science (Table 3 and appendix Table B-3, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5). The activities most often reported in history/social studies were incorporating instructional strategies aligned with high standards and assisting all students to achieve to high standards (73 and 78 percent). Assisting all students to achieve to high standards was reported by 82 percent of English/language arts teachers. In all four subject areas, teachers reported the use of innovative technologies least often, when compared to the use of other reform activities (less than 30 percent).

There were some significant differences by subject areas in teachers" reports of the use of authentic student assessments, such as portfolios, that measure performances against high standards.Teachers were less likely to report using authentic student assessments in history/social studies (38 percent), science (42 percent), and mathematics (51 percent; Table B-3, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5).

Proportionately more teachers reported using curricula aligned with high standards in English/language arts (69 percent) than in history/ social studies (59 percent), but no significant differences were reported between teachers of English/language arts and mathematics and sciences classes (67 percent and 66 percent, respectively).

Teachers were more likely to report using textbooks and other instructional materials aligned with high standards in mathematics (69 percent) than in science (59 percent) or history/social studies classes (57 percent).

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