Teacher curriculum leadership, curriculum literacy, and curriculum fidelity: Structural and indirect associations in a cross-sectional path model.

Curriculum reforms often produce heterogeneous classroom enactment, underscoring the need to explain variation in curriculum fidelity-the extent to which intended aims, instruction, and assessment remain coherently aligned in practice. Although implementation quality is widely acknowledged as important, limited empirical research has examined how teacher curriculum leadership and curriculum literacy are associated with curriculum fidelity. This study examines a theory-driven structural model in which curriculum leadership is hypothesized to show both a direct statistical association with curriculum fidelity and an indirect statistical association involving curriculum literacy. Survey data were collected from 683 in-service teachers across multiple school levels and subject domains. Observed constructs representing curriculum leadership (program, organizational, instructional, and assessment leadership), curriculum literacy (reading and writing), and curriculum fidelity were examined using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Bootstrapped analyses of the indirect statistical association and multi-group invariance analyses (STEM vs. non-STEM) were conducted to examine indirect statistical associations and cross-subject robustness. Results indicated acceptable measurement properties and adequate overall model fit. Curriculum leadership was strongly associated with curriculum literacy, and both constructs demonstrated significant positive associations with curriculum fidelity. Bootstrapped analysis revealed a statistically significant indirect association between leadership and fidelity through literacy, consistent with an interpretation emphasizing curriculum-literate professional practices. Among the sub-dimensions, instructional and assessment leadership exhibited comparatively stronger associations with curriculum fidelity, whereas organizational leadership did not demonstrate a statistically significant unique structural association. Curriculum writing exhibited a significantly stronger association with perceived/reported alignment with curricular intentions than curriculum reading, although the magnitude of the difference was modest. These findings contribute to curriculum implementation research by integrating leadership and literacy within a unified interpretive framework and by highlighting curriculum writing as a professional practice that is positively associated with curriculum fidelity. The findings further indicate that collaborative curriculum design, assessment moderation practices, and curriculum-writing activities are worthy of continued investigation as professional practices potentially associated with curriculum fidelity.