The Effectiveness of Merdeka Curriculum Implementation on Elementary School Students’ Literacy Competence
Keywords:
Merdeka Curriculum, Curriculum implementation, Literacy competence, Elementary education, Differentiated instructionAbstract
Purpose – This study examined the effect of Merdeka Curriculum implementation effectiveness on the literacy competence of Grade V students in public elementary schools.
Methodology – A quantitative explanatory, cross-sectional design involved 982 students and 40 homeroom teachers from 40 schools selected through multistage stratified cluster random sampling. Data were collected using a 30-item teacher questionnaire and a 35-item literacy test and analysed through descriptive statistics and multilevel linear regression.
Findings – Curriculum implementation was high, while student literacy was moderate to high. Implementation had a positive and significant association with literacy competence after student and school characteristics were controlled. Students performed more strongly in information retrieval and literal comprehension than in inference, text evaluation, and text-based communication. Implications – Schools should strengthen diagnostic assessment, differentiated instruction, formative feedback, higher-order literacy teaching, and access to varied reading materials.
Originality – The study links a multidimensional measure of Merdeka Curriculum implementation with objective student literacy scores through multilevel analysis, distinguishing formal curriculum adoption from the quality of classroom implementation.
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