School and Classroom Practices in Washington State During Two Years of Education Reform

In 1999 and 2000 RAND researchers surveyed Washington state principals and teachers to understand how the state’s education reforms, which included standards and assessments, were being enacted at the school level. Teachers and principals reported that they understood the reform and were making changes to support it. However, the changes were not uniform, and they were occurring gradually. The teacher surveys, which focused on curriculum and instruction in mathematics and writing, revealed changes in the way these subjects were taught that suggested the state tests were more salient to the teachers than the state standards. Furthermore, there was a mixed pattern of relationships between reported teaching practices and school-level test scores.