Urban Secondary Teachers ' Value Orientations: Delineating Curricular Goals for Social Responsibility

This research examined content and task decisions of 11 urban secondary physical educators who placed a high priority on social curriculum goals. Transcript data from a stimulated-recall protocol were analyzed using con-stant comparison to determine the extent to which content and task decisions represented social justice and reform goals of social reconstruction or of citizenship and positive interaction more consistent with social responsibility. Results suggested that teachers ' content decisions were consistent with the goals of cooperation, teamwork, and involvement within the social responsi-bility value orientation. Task structures for middle school programs involved large group activities, while high school tasks focused on individual activities performed as a member of a small group. Value orientations represent educational values or beliefs influential in curricular decision making. These orientations determine, in part, which content topics will be emphasized during instruction and the extent to which the content will be learned. In urban school districts the decisions are often dominated b