Researchers assert that in a well-aligned and coherent education system, there must be alignment between the intended curriculum (curriculum standards and planning documents) and the enacted curriculum (what is actually taught and assessed) (Webb, 1999; Porter, 2002). This study sought to determine the influences that are both internal and external to classrooms that impact on the alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment. In an interview with a key stakeholder working for the curriculum authority, the following comments regarding the interpretation of the curriculum were made:

(From) Prep to ten there is a documented curriculum framework that defines the learning areas that all schools are required to provide. It sits somewhere between the detailed syllabus and a very pared back framework… And there have been a number of attempts that haven't always been especially successful, in my view to provide good advice to schools on how to do that very difficult work of translating the framework into teaching and learning programs…That's the space, the distinct space in Victoria I think, because we do have this framework that sits in the grey space between the syllabus and very loose guidelines. But there is some substantial gap between that and what the classroom program looks like.

This ‘gap’ between the mandated curriculum and how it is interpreted and then implemented for instructional and assessment purposes is the primary focus for this paper. At the school level, planning the curriculum is a complex process that consists of a series of interpretive acts. Cuban (1998) asserts that the adaptation, augmentation or omission of curricular goals as a result of practitioners’ interpretations of standards impacted on the realisation of the goals outlined in curriculum standards. Sullivan, Clarke, Clarke, Farrell and Garrard(2013)build on this idea ofcurricularinterpretation and adaptation, reportingthat when making curriculum decisions, teachers access different ‘sources of authority’. Within aschoolsystem, there are a range of ‘participants’ that serve a role as sources of authority in the interpretation of the standards (Valverde, Bianchi, Wolf, Schmidt and Houang, 2002). These‘sources of authority’includethe resources and documents that teachers access when planning curriculum and assessment.  The authorship of these documents varies depending on the context, withauthorship and therebyauthorityresiding ina range of sources,including curriculum consultants, standardised tests, published resources and assessment schedules.

One of the key considerations of this study was: To what or to whom does the teacher accord authority? In Victoria, two possible influences external to the classroom and the school are the published state curriculum and the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), which is thenationallymandated standardised testing program. Internal influences at the school levelincludethe location of curricular authority within the school and the authorship of the school curriculum, school assessment schedules, planning structures and the teacher’s own expertise and priorities at the classroom level.

Research questions:

Who has authoring responsibilities for curriculum and assessmentaffecting classroom enactment of the curriculumand how is this responsibility exercised?

What are the ‘sources of authority’ (such as curriculum consultants, documents and textbooks) that teachers access when planning for learning?

Cuban, L. (1998). How schools change reforms: redefining reform success and failure, Teachers College Record, 99[3], 453-477. Porter A. C. (2002). Measuring the content of instruction: Uses in research and practice. Educational Researcher, 31(7), 3-14. Sullivan, P., Clarke, D. J., Clarke, D. M., Farrell, L., & Garrard, J. (2013). Processes and priorities in planning mathematics teaching. Mathematics Education Research Journal 25 (4), 457-480. Valverde, G. A., Bianchi, L. J., Wolfe, R. G., Schmidt, W. H., & Houang, R. T. (2002). According to the Book [electronic resource] : Using TIMSS to investigate the translation of policy into practice through the world of textbooks / by Gilbert A. Valverde, Leonard J. Bianchi, Richard G. Wolfe, William H. Schmidt, Richard T. Houang. Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands. Webb, N. (1999). Research monograph No. 6. Criteria for Alignment of Expectatinos and Assessments in Mathematics and Science Education. Washington, DC: Council of Chief State School Officers.