The appropriateness of the ninth grade mathematics textbooks regarding the high school mathematics curriculum

This study aims to analyze the appropriateness of the ninth grade mathematics textbooks approved by the National Board of Education regarding the high school mathematics curriculum that put into implementation during the 2013-2014 academic year. As a qualitative study, the data were collected through document analysis. The main data sources were High School Mathematics Curriculum for 9th-12th grades, and two 9th grade mathematics textbooks published by two different (MEB [MMK] and DİKEY [DMK]) publishers and approved by National Board of Education. The main data collection tool was the Textbook Analysis Framework (TAF) developed by the researcher. It was consist of 55 items under the four aspects of curriculum as learning objectives, content/strands, teaching and learning process and evaluation. In order to find out all relevant data, the curriculum guide and textbook series were carefully examined through content analysis using the TAF. To ensure trustworthiness of the data collection and analysis process, thick descriptions, line by line analysis, examination of previous research findings, and Miles and Huberman's (1994) inter-coder reliability were taken into consideration. The results indicated that both of the mathematics textbooks included in the almost all of the learning objectives and their explanations as determined in the curriculum. With regard to the learning strands/content of the curriculum, it has been concluded that the DMK was more appropriate than the MMK. The findings of the study also indicated that the teaching and learning approaches embedded in the DMK were not appropriate for the curriculum itself; on the other hand, the MMK was mostly designed in line with the teaching and learning approaches of the curriculum except some deficits. As far as the assessment aspects of the curriculum concerned, the results clearly indicated that the MMK was more appropriate than the DMK.