What is the Purpose of the Theses Addressing the Issue of Program Evaluation in Turkey ? ( The Case of Curriculum and Instruction : 1997 - 2015 )

In the current study, the aim is to investigate the theses addressing the issue of program evaluation in the field of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) in 1997-2015. The study employed the survey model. The universe of the study consists of totally 87 theses addressing the issue of program evaluation in the field of C&I in 1997-2015. As the data collection instrument of the study, the document analysis technique was used in the current study. The master’s and doctorate theses to be analyzed in the current study were obtained by writing “curriculum and instruction” in the search engine of the national thesis center of the Council of Higher Education. The data collected in the study were analyzed by using NVivo10.0. program package through content analysis. The findings of the analysis revealed that nearly half of the theses addressed the issue of program evaluation in elementary education and the other half dealt with program evaluation in other levels of schooling (higher education, high school education, in-service training, pre-school education, adult education, special education). The number of theses addressing program evaluation within the context of in-service training, pre-school education, adult education and special education is quite small. Another important finding of the study is the paucity of the studies aiming to investigate/evaluate hidden curriculum in all the levels of schooling.