How do high school students make sense of their experience selecting high school courses?

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20280897

The purpose of this study was to better understand why students chose the high school courses that they do. The school in question has multiple curriculum and the students can choose whatever option they desire. However, at this time, the school does little work to understand the students reasoning for their choices. Krumboltzs (2008) social learning theory was used to help frame this study. Krumboltz (2008) used this theory to address, The interaction of social and cultural factors on decision-making and acknowledges that they become enmeshed in an individuals identity, as life develops and experiences are accumulated (Hodkinson & Sparks, p. 32, 1997). A general qualitative research design was utilized as the methodology of choice as it captures the lived experience of how things work (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014) and seeks to capture individual experiences rather than measuring generalizable outcomes within groups. By interviewing ten students, the researcher was able to provide recommendations for practice based upon the analysis of the transcribed interviews.