Examining Fidelity of Implementation of a Year-Long Curriculum in 9th Grade Physics
Abstract
"Curriculum materials play a key role in improving science education; however, curricula alone will not lead to enhanced student learning. Factors such as students' opportunity to learn and the way in which teachers present science content can influence student learning. Therefore, attention to teachers' fidelity of implementation of new curricula is an important consideration in evaluating impacts on student learning. As part of an NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership, thirty-seven school districts throughout a Midwestern state were engaged in the implementation of a year-long course in freshman physics. We examined teachers' curriculum implementation through three different indices, which we used to develop 'typologies' of implementation. These implementation data are currently being linked with student outcome data."
