Search

Fidelity of curriculum implementation (FOI) is an important area of research because of the critical role it plays in understanding how and why curriculum materials work and how they can be improved. This analysis explores written features within the Math Trailblazers curriculum that may influence the ways teachers implement mathematics curriculum materials. In particular, we examine FOI data from prior research in order to identify features within the materials themselves that may influence why teachers adhere to the intended curriculum to varying degrees. This paper reports on our analysis of examining five whole number lessons previously analysed for level of FOI alongside an analysis scale of written curriculum features. Our purpose in this analysis is to examine features of the written curriculum that potentially mediate teachers’ implementation of the materials in line with the intended curriculum. In doing so, our analysis further emphasises the critical role teachers play in curriculum implementation, and thus may provide some insight for curriculum developers as they consider ways in which to design the written curriculum that increase the likelihood that teachers will adhere to the intended curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is consensus in the international mathematics teacher education literature that teachers should, at the most basic level, have mastery of the content knowledge they are required to teach. In this paper we test this assumption empirically by analyzing the South African SACMEQ 2007 mathematics teacher test data which tested 401 grade 6 mathematics teachers from a nationally representative sample of primary schools. With items matched to curriculum grade bands, findings indicate that 79% of grade 6 mathematics teachers showed content knowledge levels below the grade 6/7 band, and that the few teachers with higher-level content knowledge are highly inequitably distributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]