School leadership is one source of organizational support for the teaching of
science, particularly in a context in which other subjects (i.e., reading, writing, and
mathematics) command the bulk of the resources by virtue of tradition and formal
policy. Spillane et al. (2001) examined how the school leadership at one urban elementary school successfully
identified and activated resources for promoting change in science education. The
researchers argue that promoting change in science education involves the
identification and activation of: (a) physical resources (i.e., money and other
material assets); (b) human capital of teachers and school leaders (i.e., the individual
knowledge, skills, and expertise that form the stock of resources available in an
organization); and (c) social capital (i.e., the relations among individuals in a group
or organization, and such norms as trust, collaboration, and a sense of obligation).
The researchers emphasize the importance of ‘‘distributed leadership,’’ in which
administrators and teacher leaders support and sustain the professional community.
Collaboration among teachers within a school is another source of organizational
support for the teaching of science. Gamoran et al. (2003) argued that successful
efforts to enable students to learn mathematics and science with understanding
entailed the strategic use of human, social, and physical resources to promote
change among teachers, including those teachers who would otherwise resist
change. Challenges to such strategic use of resources are more formidable in urban
schools where funding tends to be limited (Hewson et al. 2001; Knapp and Plecki
2001; Spillane et al. 2001).
In secondary schools that maintained a strong academic focus on student
achievement and provided students with strong supportive learning environments,
compared to schools that lacked either or both, mathematics and science
achievement was significantly higher (i.e., schools were more effective) and
achievement gaps among students from different socioeconomic status (SES)
backgrounds were reduced (i.e., schools were more equitable) (Lee and Smith
1995). In these schools, teachers had strong professional communities that focused
on the quality of the content of instruction, and all students took a highly academic
curriculum with limited tracking options . These professional