Abstract
Do state curricular standards and examinations constrain the behavior of public school teachers? More specifically, do they interfere with teachers' responsiveness to local district preferences? We explore these questions in the highly contested arena of instruction in evolutionary biology. Drawing upon an original national survey of high school biology teachers, we find that their classroom practices conform to community preferences. This responsiveness occurs largely through a process of assortative employment. However, we show that teachers are less responsive to public opinion when state curricular standards are supported by high-stakes testing. We therefore offer a general model of how policy implementation can be influenced by local community sentiment and, more generally, how the architecture of public policy can attenuate responsiveness to local public opinion.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 610-635 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Journal | Publius |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2011 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Sociology and Political Science
- Public Administration
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Local autonomy versus state constraints : Balancing evolution and creationism in U.S. high schools. / Berkman, Michael Barth; Plutzer, Eric.
In: Publius, Vol. 41, No. 4, 01.10.2011, p. 610-635.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Local autonomy versus state constraints
T2 - Balancing evolution and creationism in U.S. high schools
AU - Berkman, Michael Barth
AU - Plutzer, Eric
PY - 2011/10/1
Y1 - 2011/10/1
N2 - Do state curricular standards and examinations constrain the behavior of public school teachers? More specifically, do they interfere with teachers' responsiveness to local district preferences? We explore these questions in the highly contested arena of instruction in evolutionary biology. Drawing upon an original national survey of high school biology teachers, we find that their classroom practices conform to community preferences. This responsiveness occurs largely through a process of assortative employment. However, we show that teachers are less responsive to public opinion when state curricular standards are supported by high-stakes testing. We therefore offer a general model of how policy implementation can be influenced by local community sentiment and, more generally, how the architecture of public policy can attenuate responsiveness to local public opinion.
AB - Do state curricular standards and examinations constrain the behavior of public school teachers? More specifically, do they interfere with teachers' responsiveness to local district preferences? We explore these questions in the highly contested arena of instruction in evolutionary biology. Drawing upon an original national survey of high school biology teachers, we find that their classroom practices conform to community preferences. This responsiveness occurs largely through a process of assortative employment. However, we show that teachers are less responsive to public opinion when state curricular standards are supported by high-stakes testing. We therefore offer a general model of how policy implementation can be influenced by local community sentiment and, more generally, how the architecture of public policy can attenuate responsiveness to local public opinion.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80053509323&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80053509323&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/publius/pjr008
DO - 10.1093/publius/pjr008
M3 - Article
VL - 41
SP - 610
EP - 635
JO - Publius
JF - Publius
SN - 0048-5950
IS - 4
ER -