ABSTRACT
Chapter Five, The ELA Classroom in the Context of Contemporary Schooling: Educational Reform, Standards, and Assessment puts the previous chapters’ ideas about creating curriculum in the context of the educational reform movement which includes high stakes tests, increased student and teacher accountably, and the imposition (often by non-teachers) of so-called objective standards and rubrics, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The chapter gives the history and politics behind these reforms and explains how this has influenced in particular the ELA classroom. The chapter contrasts this thinking with how best to assess students with authentic assessment practices.
