La presente investigación constituye un estudio de caso único cuyo propósito es comprobar la calidad del currículum de Educación Física en primer curso de Bachillerato en el IES "Alfonso X El Sabio", de la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia, para implementar, en caso necesario, las mejoras pertinentes. Los resultados obtenidos muestran altas valoraciones en la evaluación del diseño en los tres niveles de concreción curricular. Referente a la consecución de los objetivos de la materia, se determina el nivel de logro adecuado en cinco de ellos, bastante adecuado en dos y muy adecuado en los cuatro restantes. Acerca de la eficacia y funcionalidad del currículum, destaca entre las dimensiones evaluadas el grado de satisfacción que muestra el alumnado a la finalización del mismo, el cambio de opinión favorable que se produce hacia la asignatura tras su aplicación y la percepción de utilidad de los contenidos desarrollados. / This research is a case study whose only purpose is to check the quality of the curriculum in Physical Education in the first year at "Alfonso X El Sabio" Secondary School of the city of Murcia, to implement, if necessary, appropriate improvements. The results show high ratings in assessing the design at all three levels of detail curriculum. Concerning the objectives of the subject, the appropriate level of achievement is determined in five of them, being quite adequate in two and very appropriate in the remaining four. About the effectiveness and practicality of the curriculum, among the assessed dimensions, some emphasis must be placed on the satisfaction shown by students at the end of it, their favourable attitude to the subject after its application and the perception of usefulness of the developed contents.

Since the American Revolution free public education has been a discussion of political debate. The purpose that such an institution should play in society is a debate fervently argued when the founding fathers wanted to build a republic based on meritocracy. The problem this study addresses is the undefined relationship between the goals of schooling relevant to Georgia and the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) which is a critical piece to creating a complete systemic view of public schooling in Georgia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the alignment between the GPS and schooling goals. The guiding question and sub-questions are: How well are the GPS, or the intended curriculum of Georgia schools, and each of the various stated goals of schooling aligned? How relevant are the eighth-grade GPS to the latent themes of each of the stated goals of schooling? How balanced are the latent themes of each of the stated goals of schooling in the eighth-grade GPS? Through a historical investigation of the literature and current policy the author establishes the currently relevant goals of schooling which serve as the latent goals for which the method will seek to find evidence within the Georgia Performance Standards. The study employs a quantitative content analysis of a significant section of the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) looking for themes associated with various stated goals of schooling as indicated by the literature review. The manifest themes, developed from the latent goals of schooling, are incorporated as the dependent variables in the study, while the GPS serve as the independent variable. Neuendorf’s (2001) framework for content analysis is used to develop a new method for investigating the goal-curriculum alignment relationship through new measures of Curricular Balance, Curricular Relevance, and Manifest Theme Presence. This study presents a new visual model to compare a curriculum’s alignment to multiple goals of schooling called the Goal-Curriculum Alignment Measures (G-CAM) model. This study finds that the GPS are strongly aligned to the goals of Americanization, high student test scores, post-secondary enrollment, and national gain, while poorly aligned to democratic participation and social justice. Evidence for these conclusions are discussed and related to the current socio-political literature.

This study aims to provide a general picture of newly adopted IT program in vocational high schools. Through this aim, the issues of to what extent are the objectives and content of Vocational high schools&rsquo / new IT curriculum satisfied the needs, how it is implemented in schools, how it is practiced under different circumstances and which factors influence its implementation process are examined. This study was designed as a formative evaluation based on CIPP Model-Process valuation. In order to grasp perceptions of vocational high school IT teachers and 11th grade IT area students&rsquo / two self-reported questionnaires were developed by the researcher. The sample constituted of 683 Grade 11 students and 83 IT teachers from 28 vocational high schools in the 7 urban district of Ankara. Heavily, descriptive and statistics and quantitative data analysis techniques were utilized to analyze the data however in some parts, inferential statistics were also employed. Results of the study indicated that the objectives of the new IT program are responsive to the local, national and global IT sector and catching the demanded skills in the world of work. Moreover it is determined that the new program supports flexibility in principle however in action there are some obstacles those barriers the adequately functioning of the new program. Therefore, this study also attempts to reveal the problems related to students, teachers, schools quality indicators and program modules in order to supply the deficiencies in the early stages of program implementation.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--James Madison University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Arts One is an interdisciplinary, first year program in the Faculty of Arts at The University of British Columbia which combines English, History, and Philosophy into one course worth 60% of a full-time program. Since its inception in 1967, over 5000 students have participated in Arts One; however, no formal evaluation from the student perspective has been undertaken. The objective of this study was to investigate Arts One's impact on students academically, socially, and with respect to their careers. The study was divided into two parts. First, a mail questionnaire was sent to 500 individuals who participated in Arts One between 1967 and 1988. Of the two hundred respondents, the majority recalled Arts One positively, with 90% indicating that they would recommend the program. A number of questions emerged from the questionnaires which were investigated in the second part of the study, personal interviews with 21 former Arts One participants. Together, the questionnaires and personal interviews revealed that Arts One has been a success from the perspectives of the study participants. Many had chosen Arts One for its small-sized classes, and most identified the seminars and tutorials as the highlights of the program. In particular, many credited Arts One with having taught them how to think, write, and be open to different perspectives. Participants also recalled the benefits of being part of an intense learning community and the friendships formed as a result. Some found the transition into second year difficult, particularly because of the larger, lecture-style classes. However, the strongest theme to emerge was the impact of the Arts One seminar professor on the experience of his/her students. To a large extent, the success of Arts One seems rooted more firmly in the faculty members involved in the program than in the curriculum itself. In most cases, participants spoke highly of their Arts One seminar professors, and many considered them to have been their mentors. However, some individuals felt that their seminar professors were unsuited to teaching in Arts One and negatively affected their experience. The study concludes with five recommendations, as well as some suggestions for further research.

This thesis examines how one might evaluate the justice of educational resource distribution. It focusses on the criteria of institutional justice formulated by John Rawls: according to these criteria inequality in the distribution of resources is only allowed if it can be shown to benefit all groups, including 'the least favoured'. The thesis also demonstrates how qualitative and quantitative research methods can be combined in order to reach a more accurate and 'just' evaluation. The research, which was conducted at a private post-secondary English - language liberal arts institution in British Columbia for Japanese students, compares annual student growth in English, both before and after the implementation of a three-to-ten-month leveled, modular, mastery-learning program for entry-level students. The research also includes interviews to determine teacher attitudes about the previous and present programs and their effect on students. In both the qualitative and quantitative studies, program effects on high-, medium-, and low-entry ability students are looked at separately (in order to use Rawls' criteria). The context of the research is clarified with short summaries of issues around mastery learning, leveling versus tracking, and Japanese versus western education. The quantitative research finds that, contrary to teacher impressions, the mean improvement for students in the present program is not significantly different from that in the previous program. The qualitative research however, points out important justice implications not revealed by the other study. The thesis concludes that (1) there are some problems with using Rawls' criteria in an educational setting; (2) looking at program effects on three separate ability groupings can reveal trends having justice implications; and (3) assessments of the justice of educational resource distribution should attempt to triangulate with both qualitative and quantitative studies which attempt to answer the same question.

This study explores the meaning of relevant science in two townships in Cape Town. Reform in science education, both nationally and internationally has placed much emphasis on the fact that science education should be relevant. The research conducted in this study attempts to interpret different dimensions of relevance. This study explores not only how learners make meaning of their everyday lives, but what 'science' they deem to be relevant and worth learning within this context. It acknowledges the important role of teachers in establishing what learners perceive to be relevant. The theory of social constructivism is suited to this investigation, in its recognition of the roles of children's knowledge, purposes, social groups and interactions in learning. The children in this study often have personal lives steeped in poverty, abuse and violence. The curriculum design is also guided by social constructivist theories. However, a second version of constructivism, critical constructivism, is used to frame the second phase of the study. A critical constructivist approach raises questions about the type of knowledge learners interact with. In critical constructivism, science and its methods, the curriculum and the classroom are opened up to critical inquiry. Teachers' knowledge of their learners is used to design science lessons that are more meaningful, relevant and personalised. The individual lessons, as well as the lesson series that are used in this study are designed as examples of relevant science, while the lesson series also serves as a tool to elicit deeper understandings of what learners in this particular context experience as relevant to their lives. Although the main focus of this research is the relevance of using everyday knowledge in the classroom, bringing everyday knowledge into the classroom allows for the inclusion of a number of dimensions of relevance. The different ways in which learners respond to the science lessons in both phases are discussed as five outcomes. The findings of the research show that the essence of a relevant science curriculum lies in a particular design. This design accommodates many dimensions of relevance, such as relevant content, context and purposes. Such as design helps learners to negotiate the difficult border between the formal school environment and the informal home environment. A relevant curriculum acknowledges that science education is more than only science, but also recognises the implications for science curriculum development. This study is part of a larger project which is a comprehensive evaluation of the Primary Science Programme (PSP). The PSP gave the research its full support as the investigation of relevance may have an influence on curriculum design. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1984.

The present study evaluates the language improvement courses in the undergraduate curriculum of the Department of English Language Teaching (ELT) at Eastern Mediterranean University. The language improvement courses are: Oral Communication Skills I and II, Reading Skills I, II, and Advanced Reading Skills, Writing Skills I, II and Advanced Writing Skills, and English Grammar I and II. In this evaluation study, the adapted version of Bellon and Handler&rsquo / s (1982) curriculum evaluation model was employed. The participants of the study were six instructors teaching the language improvement courses and students enrolled in these courses. The data, both qualitative and quantitative, were collected through course evaluation questionnaires for students, interviews with students and teachers, classroom observations, and examination of relevant written documents such as course policy sheets, course materials, and assessment tools used in the courses. The results of the study show that generally the language improvement courses were effective in terms of five aspects specified in the evaluation model employed in the study, as perceived by the students and the instructors. However, the students and the instructors suggested making some changes to the existing language improvement courses to make them more effective and better adjusted to the students&rsquo / needs and expectations. Some important conclusions drawn and recommendations made were: Practice (i.e. practice and production) component in the language improvement courses should be enhanced, a wider variety of authentic materials should be used in the courses, various methods and activities should be utilized in teaching-learning process, and intra-subject and inter-subject relationships (i.e. continuity and coherence) between or among the courses need to be strengthened.