Understanding How Teachers Adapt Research-Based Curriculum in a Test-Driven Era

• In Event: 15.059 - Fairmont Royal York Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: 15.059-9 - Philosophical and Methodological Explorations of Complex Phenomena

Abstract

Scholars (Anderson, 2017; Olszewski-Kubilius & Steenbergen-Hu, 2017) encourage researchers to create studies that focus on why participants make adaptations to interventions so that they can fully understand all aspects relating to positive (or negative) change. The purpose of this study was to examine how and why teachers make adaptations, particularly in regards to state testing, when implementing a language arts curriculum for gifted learners. We found that testing had a major impact on how teachers implemented the curriculum throughout the school year in various ways. Despite this problem, the majority of teachers implemented the units with moderate or high fidelity.

Authors

• Melanie Caughey, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

• Carolyn M. Callahan, University of Virginia

• Amy Price Azano, Virginia Tech