Testing a Model of Program Curriculum Leadership

This study tests the curriculum leadership framework that Stark and Lattuca adapted from Quinn's model of management styles. Chairpersons of departments nominated as effective in curriculum planning answered a survey about their leadership activities and styles. Factor analysis partially supported the model. Activities that chairs reported did not correspond well, however, with leadership styles they chose as most effective.     

School and community in action

This article describes an enrichment program for gifted students which was a joint effort of school personnel and community individuals. Parent involvement was the key to the conception and implementation of the program for first through fourth graders and was the key to its success. Gifted students were given opportunities to learn and practice higher level thinking skills, were able to interact and exchange ideas with one another, and were exposed to challenging and exciting curricula not available in their regular program. Once the program became operational, it was conducted with little or no cost to the school district and administered by the community council.     

The impact of a Framework‐aligned science professional development program on literacy and mathematics achievement of K‐3 students

This study investigates the effect of a Framework‐aligned professional development program at the PreK‐3 level. The NSF funded program integrated science with literacy and mathematics learning and provided teacher professional development, along with materials and programming for parents to encourage science investigations and discourse around science in the home. This quasi‐experimental study used a three‐level hierarchical linear model to compare the Renaissance STAR Early Literacy, Reading, and Mathematics scores from 2015 to 2016 of K‐3 students in treatment and control classrooms in a large Midwestern urban school district. The statistically significant results indicate that, on average, every year that a student has a program teacher adds 8.6 points to a student's spring STAR Early Literacy score, 17.0 points to a student's STAR Mathematics score, and 41.4 points to a student's STAR Reading score compared to control students. Implications for early elementary teacher education and policy are discussed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54:1174–1196, 2017