Examination of criterion that parents consider for selecting elective courses in middle school

Purpose of this study is to examine the criteria that parents consider while they are electing courses for their children in middle school. This is a survey study. Parents' perceptions on purposes, content; teaching, evulation, selection processes of elective courses and parents' general perception on elective courses were asked. Universe of study defined as parents of middle school fifth grade students who were living in centrum of Diyarbakır during 2012-2013 education year. Four hundred parents participated the study. Data collected through questionnaires. Investigater developed the questionnaire. Investigater provided expert evaluation for questionnaire to establish content validity. Questionnaire contains two parts. First part asks demographic information and second part is about selection process of elective courses. Findings revealed that rather then students' interests and abilities parents consider physical conditions of school while selecting elective courses. Parents emphasized the importance of elective courses. They believed that elective courses are useful and neccesary for their children's dvelopment. Parents demanded improvement in effectivenes of the courses. Parents critized the fact that elective course were not taught by it's own branch teacher. Findings also exhibited that school administration demand parents to alter their choice of elective cource because of physical inadequencies of school. Gender did not show up as a factor for elective course selection. Elective course applications need improvement. Keywords: elective courses, secondary school, curriculum, courses, program evaluations