Factors of the curriculum determinants of school results

Abstract

The article presents the decision process about which factors are most appropriate to identify the relationship between the level of curriculum development of schools and pupils’ academic  performance. We believe that the quantitative and coordination aspects which common research
on effective schooling are usually based do not explain all the substantive aspects of the  urriculum.
Therefore, we have developed a justified identification of content fields that seem central to the curriculum and we concrete in educational and organizational factors, those that determine the time and learning opportunity and those that determine the curricular practice. The contribution is part of a research in which individual and group interviews, focus groups, observations, documentary analysis and three questionnaires on organizational development, school curriculum and classroom curriculum as well as two specific questionnaires about family and students’ participation and involvement. The study involved a total of 16 schools (8 primary schools and 8 schools of Secondary Education) of the autonomous communities of Catalonia and the Basque Country.
The results show how specific curricular proposals influence the curriculum development of schools and the academic performance of the students through aspects such as time and learning opportunities and even of organizational factors on the development of curricula. It is also evidenced an overt will of the educational community to become involved in collaborative work that foster the improvement of educational processes. However, our ultimate aim is to offer a useful contribution to those who intend to evaluate the academic performance of students with the most relevant curricular factors.