Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 1, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-100).

Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Environmental and Life Sciences, Graduate School of the Environment, 2008. / Typescript. Bibliography: p. 370-395.

abstract: This study was designed to capture the conversations and practices of seven educators who navigate teaching and learning decisions in their Title 1 elementary school. This case study was conducted to answer the research question, "What are the behaviors and practices of a newly formed collaborative team of educators working within a professional learning community (PLC)?" In order to understand how this collaborative team worked together, data was collected through a survey, interviews, focus group discussion and questionnaire, observations of collaborative team meetings and artifacts generated from the team's work. The findings revealed that (1) participants spent the majority of their collaborative team time focusing on how to best prepare students for district and state standardized assessments; (2) teachers described themselves as learners who look to their colleagues to enhance their knowledge and skills; (3) members of PLCs need dedicated collaborative time to ensure all students and adults in the organization learn at high levels; (4) discussing and using student learning data can be difficult; (5) educators gravitate to colleagues who have similar philosophies and beliefs and (6) PLCs need supportive district, school and teacher leadership to accomplish their goals. This research study provides validation that the PLC process is a complex process of professional development designed to support school reform in an era of increased school accountability. The recommendations for school leaders are to create supportive leadership structures that allow all students opportunities to learn, build trusting environments, and provide clarity and focus of the vision for all stakeholders. District leadership needs to establish a priority for PLC work by embedding the processes in the vision, mission and goals of the district, examine policies to ensure they support the concepts of PLCs, provide access to resources and create a forum for critical conversations about teaching and learning. Policy makers need to ask the right questions so that they can design appropriate accountability systems that encourage collaboration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Kakali Bhattacharya / David C. Thompson / The model for professional learning communities began in the business sector as professional learning organizations. While there have been many different structures referred to as professional learning communities, the model referenced in this study was created by Rick DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, and Robert Eaker. In their model, collaborative teams work together to answer four guiding questions: What do we want students to learn? How will we know when they have learned it? What will we do for students who already know it? What will we do for students who did not learn it? The DuFour model has been noted in research to be one of the most powerful and impactful educational reform efforts. This study examines the role of the implementation process on the overall effectiveness of the professional learning community. The purpose of this interview study was to explore the experiences of five certified teachers. This qualitative study was informed by purposeful sampling intersected with criterion-based sampling. Participants selected needed to be a certified teacher who taught at the chosen site during the implementation process. Symbolic interpretivism grounded this study to elicit experiences during the professional learning community implementation that impacted the participant’s professional responsibilities. Findings of this study indicated that the implementation process was not the determining influence on how teachers and teacher leaders navigated their professional responsibilities and, in turn, the overall success of the professional learning community implementation. Instead, success was tied to the dispositions of each teacher and the anatomy of interactions based on those dispositions. Four specific personality dispositions were found in this study: Leading with Heart, Leading with Brain, Leading with Courage, and Leading with Leadership. The combinations of these dispositions effected how each participant navigated their professional responsibilities as well as their reciprocal relationships with their colleagues. This study raised implications about how combinations of different personality dispositions can be used to create teams of educators who will naturally accomplish the tasks of a professional learning community instead of being in conflict and tension with each other. Another implication was the notion that creating effective teams of teachers and teacher leaders could be based on personality dispositions and their consequent interactions versus the knowledge of one’s pedagogy. Lastly, this study raised implications regarding the ways in which professional learning communities could be better implemented in schools nationwide by creating more awareness amongst educational leaders and policy makers about building harmonizing professional learning communities.

O presente trabalho busca compreender o processo de consolidação da Escola Projeto Âncora, que declara se concretizar por meio de princípios democráticos. O objetivo é verificar se esta Escola pode ser classificada dentro do movimento das chamadas escolas democráticas. Para tanto, esta dissertação apresenta um breve percurso histórico sobre um movimento de renovação do ensino - a Escola Nova -, e as tendências pedagógicas progressistas, com ênfase às propostas democráticas. O estudo inclui as questões de autonomia escolar, territorialização das políticas educacionais e a temática da gestão escolar democrática. São abordados os princípios das escolas ditas democráticas, de modo a que sirvam de base para verificar se a práxis da escola estudada se fundamenta a partir de tais princípios. O corpo teórico se constitui das formulações de Paulo Freire e Vygotsky, abrindo espaço para que a Pedagogia e a Psicologia atuem juntas, no sentido de colaborar para a compreensão do processo de desenvolvimento e humanização do homem. Ambos entendem a educação como prática social e política, o que propõe fértil embasamento para o entendimento do fenômeno da democracia. Trata-se de uma pesquisa participante, de abordagem qualitativa. O trabalho de campo se constitui da análise documental e da observação participante. A observação em campo direciona-se ao modo como as relações são estabelecidas no contexto da participação democrática. As situações são descritas com vistas a compreender os processos e acontecimentos do cotidiano escolar, com o propósito de compreender a experiência prática da referida Escola. Os dados coletados mostram que a Escola em questão não se classifica - ela própria - dentro do movimento das escolas democráticas. Sua proposta é trabalhar de acordo com princípios democráticos, sobretudo promovendo o exercício da participação democrática como algo intimamente ligado à formação da consciência, para a vivência da democracia, incentivando a responsabilidade social. Seu propósito não é vivenciar a democracia em um espaço fechado - no interior de um prédio escolar -, e sim sair dos muros da entidade, ocupando os espaços da comunidade. Assim, vislumbra se consolidar enquanto Cidade Educadora, criando Comunidades de Aprendizagem. Esta finalidade tem vistas à promoção de condições que viabilizem a cidadania, a conscientização política, a socialização de informações, de espaço para discussões, gerando uma nova forma de pensar, uma nova cultura, o que faz das intenções educacionais desta Escola, o próprio processo de humanização, que considera não apenas a história existente, mas também uma história possível de ser construída. / The current paper intends to understand the consolidation process of Projeto Âncora School that states to accomplish its objectives based on democratic principles. It aims to verify whether this School can be classified along with the socalled democratic schools movement. Therefore, this dissertation introduces a short historical presentation about a movement of learning renewal the New Schools (a.k.a. Free Schools) -, and the progressive pedagogical trends, focusing on the democratic proposals. The study includes matters such as scholar autonomy, educational politics territorralization and the democratic school management subject. The socalled democratic schools principles are addressed in order to verify whether the studied school praxis is based on such principles. The theoretical body is placed by Paulo Freire and Vygotsky statements, giving room to Pedagogy and Psychology working together, as for the comprehension of the man development and humanization process. Both of them understand education as social and political practice, which proposes fertile basis for the understanding of the democracy phenomenon. It is a participative research, with a qualitative approach. The field work is based on the documental analysis and participative observation. The field observation focuses on how the relationships are established on the democratic participation context. Situations are described aiming to comprehend the scholar routine processes and happenings, intending to understand the practical experience of this School. Collected data show that the School does not classify itself as a democratic school, especially promoting the democratic participation practice as something closely related to the conscience formation for the democracy experience, motivating for the social responsibility. It does not aim to experience democracy inside a closed room, or in a scholar building, but to get out of the corporation, reaching the community spaces. In this manner, it conjectures to consolidate as a City that Educates, building Learning Communities. This objective intends to promote conditions that give room to citizenship, political awareness, information socialization, room for discussions, generating a new way of thinking, a new culture, which makes of this School educational intents the humanization process by itself, one that not only considers the existing history, but also a history that can be built.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Ways of enacting effective professional development (PD) and professional learning (PL) of teachers are diverse and often contested and therefore needs sustained inquiry (Schuck, Aubussona, Kearney, & Burden, 2013). The “quick fix” mentality that is endemic to most including those aimed at educational systems leads to very superficial implementation of improvement strategies, including teacher development. These strategies are usually bureaucratically mandated and superficially implemented in a top-down manner. One of the critical drawbacks of such superficial implementation of top-down improvement strategies is that it fails to appeal to teachers because of their historical experiences of such short term and intermittent improvement interventions. This study focussed on the development of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) as a possible continuous professional teacher development (CPTD) model with a promise to deliver effective CPTD. Literature in this regard indicates this model of CPTD as highly effective to support sustained teacher development. The efficacy a PLC is predicated on a collaborative and relational approach to teacher development and professional learning underpinned by a microclimate of commonality. The initiation of PLCs is a complex task. It requires a deep understanding of the processes involved in orientating teachers to processes that involve reflective dialogue and collaborative inquiry. Hence this study sought to investigate experiences of teachers in a PLC established through an alliance involving teachers, didacticians and education officials. This study found that the PLC signifier conveys significant meaning for teachers in terms of their engagement in the PLC. Moreover, teachers’ experiences of the PLC model confirmed the generally accepted features of a PLC. The importance of having a common vision, norms and standards was shown to be an important dimension of the PLC. Besides the fact that the active promotion of this shared vision by the PLC leadership and other education administrators was highlighted, teachers in general accepted the importance of being reflective practitioners. Despite this belief in the value of collaborative reflection, this study found that it does not take place as often as one would expect. This is, to some extent, due to the timetabling arrangements at most schools in the sample. Findings of this investigation provided evidence that it is possible in a PLC to effect a shift from professional development to professional learning. This is consistent with literature in this regard, for example, Benken & Brown (2010) support this argument by indicating that CPTD should be viewed as professional learning that is sustained over time. However, the issue of sustainability is an important challenge. This study revealed that teachers see sustainability as a function of three important variables, namely, recognition by school leadership and administrators, support from the organised teacher movements and subject organisations, and teacher commitment. Important affordances of a PLC identified through this study are relational agency, epistemic agency and a micro-climate of commonality. These affordances are viewed as important enablers of collaborative inquiry and reflective dialogue and underscores the community aspect of a PLC.

The implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) has led to systemwide reform within school districts and campuses regarding how campus leaders support the teachers' collaborative work and continued professional learning. Current research emphasizes the importance of campus administrators cultivating an environment where PLCs can flourish and ensuring that PLC teams have the resources to work effectively. However, campus administrators simply putting these supports in place does not make them effective. This study sought to explore campus leader and teacher perceptions of administrator actions that support PLCs for teachers in core-content subjects at two suburban north Texas high schools. An explanatory sequential mixed methods research design was utilized, and three data collections tools were used: an electronic survey, interviews with campus administrators and teachers, and the analysis of campus and PLC artifacts. Survey data indicated that participating teachers had an overall positive perception of the current campus practices which support PLC teams. Teacher interview data revealed that teachers preferred that campus administrators take a neutral role in PLC team meetings, that administrators ensure PLC teams are meeting the established campus PLC expectations, and that administrators observe the team, listen, and ask questions to help the team. Campus administrators viewed their actions within PLC teams to include listening and questioning, having difficult conversations, and helping teams brainstorm or offering ideas when needed. Teachers and administrators also identified supports for PLC teams they felt were missing. Recommended actions for campus administrators and recommendations for further research are also included.

Researchers have shown that effective use of student data by teachers can inform teaching practice, leading to improved outcomes on standardized tests. In order to improve declining test scores at the middle school under study, professional development on the use of data teams was implemented. However, a year after implementation, teachers were still not utilizing data within their professional learning communities (PLC) effectively or at all. This qualitative case study addressed the problem of the need for teachers to use data more effectively. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the models of PLCs by DuFour and of data teams by Love. The research questions addressed how teachers perceived and used data in their PLCs in order to improve instruction. Qualitative data were collected from individual interviews with 7 teachers, observations of 8 PLC meetings, and review of PLC documents. Triangulation and member checking were used to bolster trustworthiness of interpretations. The data analysis led to 4 common themes: teachers felt they were forced to use data, had excessive responsibilities within PLCs, were busy with other required tasks, and needed more training on data use. The findings led to the design of a 5-day professional development series on data teams to be implemented at the middle school. This study has the potential to increase teacher capacity in using student data to inform instruction and to improve student achievement at the local school and district levels.

Implementing the principles of a professional learning community (PLC) in public schools has become a popular strategy for meeting school quality and accountability expectations. Whether PLC implementation results in improved school ratings represents a gap in the literature. Three out of the 4 elementary schools in the participating school district experienced a significant drop in state ratings. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the relationship between the perceived depth of implementaiton of PLCs and a school's performance in terms of state ratingsGuided by the theory of the learning organization, this quantitative study was designed to identify the extent to which participants believed their schools operate as PLCs and to determine whether there is a significant difference in results between the participating schools. Participant perceptions of PLC implementation were measured through the Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised survey instrument. A total of 77 teachers across the 4 schools participated, and descriptive statistics were used to measure the level of PLC implementation. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to determine if there was significant differences in responses from the schools. The ANOVA revealed no significant differences in the responses between the school that did not experience a drop in ratings and the other schools. The results of this study could provide a framework to aid teachers and administrators to improve student learning by providing improved instruction. Quality instruction can lead to improved student learnings, and when student outcomes are improved, more students graduate and become productive members of their communities.