The tyranny of the test: Elementary teachers' conceptualizations of the effects of state standards and mandated tests on their practice

National reform agendas, such as the standards movement and the drive to make teachers accountable through standardized tests, do not address teachers' perceptions of how change affects their own professional lives. Through focus groups and intensive participant observation methods, this study describes why and how elementary teachers from a large district in the Southwestern United States believe they have made significant changes in their professional lives as a result of state standards and the mandated assessments that accompany them. The study gives credence to teachers' own words and supports them wherever possible with findings from other research literature.