To define curriculum leadership, one must first have a practical definition of curriculum. According to Marsh and Willis (2007), curriculum is generally viewed as a program of instruction in a school that includes both planned and unplanned events in the classroom (pp. 16, 375). The curriculum has three fundamental focal points: the nature of the individual, natural society, and the nature of a subject (P. Brown, CIED lecture notes 5053, August 28, 2006). Looking at these definitions, one could propose several different meanings for educational leadership. A curriculum leader may be the principal of a school who guides teaching and learning in his or her school or the head of the department who plans the curriculum for a subject. A curriculum manager could be a district's curriculum director who guides teaching and learning within a school district by defining the district's educational goals, learning objectives, and the curriculum taught to students. Curriculum leaders provide the vision for the teaching and learning that takes place within a school or district. As lifelong learners, they seek professional development opportunities and are aware of current curriculum and education trends with the goal of improving student learning. Curriculum leaders also plan and create professional development opportunities providing teachers with the opportunity to improve their teaching practices and knowledge, whether through activities such as study groups, studies of books, one-day events or continuing professional development covering a certain area such as the math or reading curriculum. .At a broader level, curriculum leaders are people who theorize about how students learn, how students learn, and sc...... middle of paper ....... Experience and Education (Touchstone Edition). New York: Simon and Schuster. Dewy, J. (2004). My educational credo. In DJ Flinders and SJ Thornton (Eds.), Curriculum Studies Reader 2nd ed. (pp. 17-23). New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Marsh, CJ and Willis, G (2007). Curriculum: Alternative approaches, current issues. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Paris, C. and Lung, P. (2008). Agency and child-centered practices among beginning teachers: autonomy, effectiveness, intentionality, and reflexivity. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 29(3), 253 – 268. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.informaworld.com.argo.library.okstate.edu/10.1080/10901020802275302 Tyler, R. W. (2004). Basic principles of curriculum and teaching. In DJ Flinders and SJ Thornton (Eds.), Curriculum Studies Reader 2nd ed. (pp. 51 to 59). New York: Routledge Falmer.