This study examines the effects of the CSCOPE prescribed curriculum on four English language arts teachers. CSCOPE, created for implementation in Texas public schools, is directly aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Research objectives included the effect of implementation on experienced teachers and how it affected their general or personal teaching efficacy, curricular planning, and attitudes about the profession. A qualitative case study research method guided this study. Purposeful sampling was used in order to ensure that the subjects selected would be able to best encompass a true experience of the curriculum being explored. The subjects for these case studies were four teachers from four different school districts in Texas. The four teachers were in schools that had implemented the CSCOPE curriculum at the time of the interviews. Each teacher was required to have three years minimum of teaching experience prior tothe implementation of CSCOPE. In actuality, they all had significantly more experience, ranging from a teacher in her 8th year to a teacher in her 29th year. Because each teacher worked in a different school and had varying experiences, their stories were different, but similarities certainly existed. The similarities of their experiences became apparent and produced three major themes that emerged from this study: 1) CSCOPE is terrific in theory but ineffective in practice, 2) Good teachers teach in spite of CSCOPE, not with it, 3) CSCOPE makes too many false assumptions about students. The findings indicate that while the CSCOPE curriculum is an idea that would work in an idealized educational system, because the teacher is the variable and students have different needs, CSCOPE is an unrealistic mandate for all Texas schools. Additionally, problems arise with gifted education, and Advanced Placement, and other high-performing programs. CSCOPE does not address any differentiation for gifted students. In some schools, due to enrollment levels or scheduling conflicts, all levels are included in one classroom. To mandate a teacher use one curriculum system and serve all students is unrealistic.

Teachers are an essential link between the curriculum and student achievement. Teachers make instructional decisions that (1) determine the success or failure of a curricular intervention and (2) can result in either alignment or disconnect between the written and enacted curricula. Despite overwhelming evidence linking the success or the failure of a curricular intervention to the classroom teacher, little is known about the instructional decisions teachers make when using a standards-based curriculum. The use of standards-based curriculum is becoming common, therefore, it is essential to know how teachers are using it. This study focused on three questions. First, can the factors that influence instructional decisions be consolidated into manageable, representative, and useful categories? Second, what instructional decisions did six science teachers in a rural central Texas school district make when using the standards-based curriculum, CSCOPE? Finally, what steps did one district take to select and adopt the SBC, CSCOPE? This study found that the factors that influence instructional decisions could be clustered into four categories: (1) working conditions, (2) pedagogical content knowledge, (3) prior experiences, and (4) beliefs. Further, that teachers made instructional decisions both to use CSCOPE as intended and to modify CSCOPE lessons. Modifications to CSCOPE were made despite (1) an administrative mandate not to modify CSCOPE, (2) good administrative support, and (3) the stated intention of these teachers to adhere to CSCOPE. Teachers omitted, replaced and/or supplemented lessons and/or parts of lessons in order to (1) accommodate the needs of their students and (2) prepare students for the state assessment. Finally, several steps taken by Bluecat ISD administrators assisted teachers in using CSCOPE as intended. This study makes three contributions to the educational literature. First, no useful categorization exists of the factors that influence teachers‟ instructional decisions. Chapter II provides an initial categorization of these factors that is manageable, representative, and useful. Second, administrators need to be able to anticipate how teachers may use a standards-based curriculum. Chapter III identifies the instructional decisions made by these six science teachers. Chapter IV identifies the measures put in place to support teachers as they adjusted to CSCOPE.