Causes of the Gap between Junior High School Intended, Implemented, and Attained Curricula and Ways of Bridging It

To identify the causes of the perceived gap between junior high school intended, implemented, and attained curricula, a group of 30 curriculum planners, 50 educational experts, and a set of 10 evaluation studies conducted within the previous 5 years were consulted through the use of a questionnaire and an observation list. Data analyses revealed that bridging the existing gap between the three curricula requires adjusting the intended curriculum to the learners’ levels of development, emphasizing the applicability of the content, attending to the social values and cultural beliefs, and avoiding highly abstract and difficult concepts. As for the implemented curriculum, it is the expansion and improvement of the in-service courses (real & virtual) and the training of specialized teachers for subjects that require specialized knowledge that need to be prioritized. Familiarization of teachers with methods and principles of evaluation and test construction, in the light of individual differences among learners, can help with the improvement of the curriculum outcome.