| In spite of decades of reform, science education continues to receive minimal attention in urban elementary schools. Although the marginalization of science at the elementary level likely results from a complex set of interrelated factors, recent scholarship suggests that tensions may exist between science education reform and the reform agendas that predominate in urban school districts (Apple, 2006; Hatch, 2002; Pringle & Carrier Martin, 2005; Tate, 2001). Drawing on a conceptual framework that describes the forces and conditions that shape science teaching and learning in urban schools (Knapp and Plecki, 2001), this study examined the relationship between comprehensive school reform and elementary science education in one urban school district. Utilizing survey data, focus groups, interviews, document analysis, and classroom observations, this study examined elementary science education within the context of three comprehensive school reform models: Core Knowledge, Direct Instruction, International Baccalaureate. Specifically, patterns and differences in elementary teachers' personal agency beliefs (Ford, 1992), science teaching practices, and the allocation of time for science education within and across reform models were explored. Consistent with pilot study data, across reform models, teachers tended to express positive capability beliefs; however, teachers in Direct Instruction schools were more likely than teachers in the Core Knowledge and International Baccalaureate reform models to evince negative beliefs about their science teaching context. Substantive differences in science teaching practices and the allocation of time for science were also observed and reported by teachers across the three reform models. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed. |
