Education Commons^™

Urban Elementary Science Teacher Leaders: Responsibilities, Supports, And Needs, Julianne A. Wenner

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The challenge of science achievement gaps is one that scholars have struggled to solve. Teacher leadership holds great promise in closing those gaps. Therefore, the purpose of the research reported here was to explore the responsibilities and supports of formally designated science teacher leaders (STLs) in urban elementary schools that have been successful in closing science achievement gaps. Using York-Barr and Duke’s (2004) review on teacher leadership as a framework, findings from this study indicate that urban elementary STLs emphasize certain dimensions of practice (e.g., building partnerships) while deemphasizing or even omitting others (e.g., working with preservice teachers). Findings also …