Like in many other countries, science curricula in Dutch secondary education contended with poor coherence within and across subjects, and with a lack of relevance for students. In addition, most programs were overloaded. As a result, most students showed low interest in science, few students decided to choose these subjects as part of their program in senior secondary education, and a few students enrolled in science-oriented studies at post-secondary level (cf. CRCE, 2003). In an attempt to address these problems, in the period 2002-2010 Committees for the reform of senior secondary Biology, Chemistry and Physics developed new examination programs based on a so-called 'context-based approach'. In this approach students master concepts 'in context' (CRCE, 2003; Goedhart, 2004). These new programs are being implemented nationwide  school year 2013-2014. Evaluation of this implementation is one of the tasks mentioned in the implementation plan (Michels, 2010). The evaluation has both a formative and a summative purpose. The results are meant to make a contribution to further improvement of various implementation activities. It also has the purpose of showing to what extent educational practice succeeds in implementing the intended renewal.

The theoretical background of this study is the typology of curriculum representations (van den Akker, 2003).  The distinction in representations underlines the stratification of the curriculum. Between these representations often occur considerably discrepancies.

The main question that guides the evaluation is:  

To what extent is the intended science renewal (as outlined at the level of the formal/written curriculum) implemented and realized in educational practice?

This main research questions can be divided into the following five sub-questions:

1. What are interpretations and perceptions of teachers concerning the intended curriculum renewal? [perceived]
2. Which measures do schools undertake to facilitate the implementation of the intended curriculum renewal? [operational]
3. How do teachers, examination developers and textbook publishers translate the renewal to educational practice? [operational]
4. What are learning experiences and opinions of students concerning the intended curriculum renewal? [experiential]
5. What are student outcomes with respect to the new examination programs? [learned]

The intended curriculum renewal has consequences for (relationships between) various components of the curriculum. The core of a curriculum generally concerns the aims and content of learning. Changes to the core usually presuppose changes to many other aspects of (the plan for) learning. A clarifying way to visualize the relationship between the various aspects is the so-called curricular spider web (van den Akker, 2003).

Committee for the Renewal of Chemistry Education in upper secondary education in the Netherlands (CRCE) (2003). Chemistry between context and concept. Designing for renewal. Enschede: SLO. Goedhart, M. (2004). Contexten en concepten: een nadere analyse. NVOX. Tijdschrift voor Natuurwetenschap op School, 29(4), 186-190. Michels, B. (2010). Van pilot naar praktijk. Invoeringsplan nieuwe bèta-examenprogramma's. Enschede: SLO. van den Akker, J. (2003). Curriculum perspectives: An introduction. In J. van den Akker, W. Kuiper & U. Hameyer (Eds.), Curriculum landscapes and trends (pp. 1-10). Dordrecht: Kluwer Acaddemic Publishers.