Curriculum Alignment Among the Intended, Enacted, and Assessed Curricula for Grade 9 Mathematics.

Abstract

This study examined curriculum alignment among the intended, the enacted, and the assessed curricula in Grade 9 mathematics in two domains: content/operations and cognitive processes. The Program of Studies was used to determine the content/ operations and the Delphi method was used to identify the cognitive levels for the intended curriculum. Classroom observations were used to capture the enacted curriculum. End of unit tests were used to determine the assessed curriculum. Results indicated that curriculum alignment among the intended, enacted and assessed curricula for the mathematics content/operations was high (97% alignment). In contrast, curriculum alignment among the intended, enacted, and assessed curricula for the cognitive processes was low (7.3% alignment). This study makes a contribution towards understanding the quality of the relationship among the intended, enacted, and assessed curricula in mathematics education. The methodological framework provides a model for subsequent research on curriculum alignment among the three components of the education system.