Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Curriculum Implementation Following the Completion of Curriculum Field Tests: A Follow-Up Study

• In Event: Division H Vice-Presidential Invited Session: Fresh and Innovative Graduate Student Work in School-Based Research, Evaluation, and Assessment

Abstract

Curriculum developers often design and conduct field tests to yield useful information and sound evidence about the effectiveness of new curricula before publishing. While data collected during the field test time is comprehensive and support through professional development is common, curriculum developers do not tend to revisit the site of a field test once it has concluded. As a result, it is unknown whether teachers continue to use aspects of the field test curriculum once the developers are no longer a presence in the school. A cohort of 44 teachers from a mathematics curriculum for high-ability students were contacted 5 years after the conclusion of the field test to investigate their continued use of curriculum materials and instructional strategies. Of the 22 responding teachers, about half reported continued use of the curriculum materials and all teachers continued using some of the instructional strategies of the original curriculum. These results are indicative of the importance of high-level content and instructional strategies for gifted learners.

Author

• Kelly Lynn Kearney, University of Connecticut