Congruence Function for Measuring the Extent of Coverage of the Enacted Curriculum and District Pacing Calendars to State Assessments

This article presents a mathematical function for measuring the congruence among the strand representation in the enacted curriculum, state assessments, and district pacing guides. Using the Manhattan distance as its basis, this method allows researchers to incorporate the strand coverage of the enacted curriculum (i.e., the curriculum actually experienced by students) into alignment studies even when the analysis of student work is limited to short-term collections. The result is a mathematical instrument involving just basic arithmetic that even those without specialized knowledge of mathematics can understand and apply. Using this instrument, educators should monitor the adherence of the enacted curriculum and district pacing guides to the topics encompassed on state and district assessments. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)