The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of high schoolrnteachers (those who have first degree) in implementing the new curriculumrnaccording to the new direction of teaching (teaching how to learn). Dewey arguedrnthat a quality or effective teacher has the "ability to think scientifically, an unusualrnlove and aptitude in some one subject, genuine insight into all subjects and thernability to communicate love of learning to others. " If education is under consideration,rnthe aim cannot be merely to train students, as if they are dogs, to act in certain ways.rnBut education concerns teaching with regard for students' capacity to know,rnunderstand and reason. Education should not be reduced to training or conditioningrnbehavior.rnIn the last 12 years many promising actions have been taken to raise the quality ofrneducation at all levels. Varieties of instructional materials and equipment have beenrnpurchased, short training and workshops have been conducted and new curricularnhave been developed, but the competence of curriculum implementers (teachers)rnhas not been investigated yet. There is information that high school teachers are notrnimplementing the curriculum the way it is expected. Students have discussed itrnformally and informally, as teachers are not competent enough to implement therncurriculum. Some teachers also reported as they faced difficulty in implementing thernnew curriculum. This complains initiated the researcher to conduct research onrnteachers' competence in implementing the curriculum.rnThis study followed a descriptive survey method. Questionnaires were administeredrnto available samples of 67 teachers (to those who have bachelor degree in teaching)rnand to 33 instructional leaders (principals, vice principals, department heads andrnsupervisors). Classroom observation, document analysis, structured andrnunstructured interview were also used to collect detailed information.rnThe findings indicated that a large proportion that is 73.13%, 88.06%, 94.03%,rn100.00% and 70.115% of the teachers rated themselves as "poor" in stimulatingrnthought provoking questions, in using varieties of teaching methods, in relatingrnlessons to students personal experiences and real world situations, and inrnorganizing instructional tasks that advance higher order thinking respectively. It wasrnconcluded that most teaching in North Shewa Zone (Oromiya) was formal andrndidactic. Activity-based learning was rare. Some teachers were aware of otherrnmethods but they rarely used them.rnPre and in-service programs will have to prepare prospective teachers in bothrnprofessional skills and attitudes necessary for accepting teaching responsibilities.rnThe teachers also have to develop their capacity for self-sustaining professionalrngrowth. Since subject matter knowledge, pedagogical and psychological skills arernthe prerequisite criteria for teaching, the researcher recommends that all teachersrnshould be committed all the time to improve their subject knowledge andrnpedagogical and psychological skills through reading up-to-date educational andrnresearch literature, because it is quite impossible to train teachers fully and for lifernduring initial teacher training.