This descriptive study examined urban elementary school teachers’
perceptions of their science content knowledge, science teaching practices, and
support for language development of English language learners. Also examined
were teachers’ perceptions of organizational supports and barriers associated with
teaching science to nonmainstream students. The study involved 221 third- through
fifth-grade teachers from 15 urban elementary schools in a large school district. The
teachers completed a survey in the spring of 2005. The internal consistency reliability
estimates, Cronbach a, for scales created from the survey items were within
an acceptable range. The teachers reported that they were generally knowledgeable
about science topics at their grade level and that they taught science to promote
students’ understanding and inquiry. In contrast, the teachers reported rarely discussing
student diversity in their own teaching or with other teachers at their
schools. The teachers identified specific organizational supports and barriers in
teaching science with diverse student groups at both the school and classroom
levels.