The Effects of the Washington State Education Reform on Schools and Classrooms. CSE Technical Report.

The effects of Washington state education reforms on schools and classrooms were studied through surveys completed by about 150 elementary and middle school principals and about 400 writing and mathematics teachers in grades 4 and 7, the grades in which students take the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) tests. The surveys asked about the respondents' familiarity with the reform and their opinions about it. Principals were also asked about the implementation of the reform, including changes to standards, curriculum, and assessments. Teachers were asked about participation in professional development and changes in their classroom practices. Surveys showed districts and schools in transition, with change not always occurring uniformly. Principals and teachers had studied the reform, and believed they understood it. Teachers were changing classroom practices with the most visible changes being those related to the WASL results. Mathematics teachers and elementary school teachers had made more changes than writing teachers and middle school teachers. The surveys also show a mixed picture about the relationship between school practices and WASL scores. Four appendixes contain examples of essential academic learning requirements for writing and mathematics, survey items included in the regression analyses, and results of the regression analyses. (Contains 35 tables, 20 figures, and 29 references.) (SLD)