Due to the urgency of not losing more urban high school students to academic failure and dropping out, the most promising reform efforts must be investigated. One of the most promising ways of creating successful high school reform that has been advocated is through restructuring schools into community-like organizations, often called professional learning communities. Yet, limited empirical research has been conducted concerning professional learning communities, especially in urban high schools. Thus, this research sought to understand how two urban high schools, one comprehensive high school in a large urban center and one small career academy high school in a medium-sized urban center, implemented professional learning communities as a leadership-initiated reform strategy for math and science teaching. Year-long interactions with each high school including in-depth observations and eighteen interviews, nine personnel from each site, revealed that certain organizational structures (e.g. social and human resources, structural conditions) must be in place for professional learning communities to have the potential to be a successful reform effort. Specifically, the way in which leadership supports professional learning communities through structure, pressure, and support was important. Both studies show that school context and leadership significantly affect the quality of professional learning communities and their ability to reform their instructional practices in order to increase student achievement.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2009. / Adviser: Rosa Cintrón. Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-371).

New curriculum reforms and changes post 1994 has created a need for teachers to reprofessionalise and reskill themselves so that they can implement reforms in their schools and classrooms. This has added pressure on teachers, novice teachers, as well as experienced teachers who have been teaching for over fifteen years, to learn an enormous amount of knowledge in order for them to teach effectively in the classroom. Knowledge on professional development of teachers is expanding to new and useful ways of teacher learning to embrace these changes. Recent literature suggest that teacher learning in communities of practice (Wenger, 1991) or learning communities (Lieberman and Pointer Mace, 2008) actually translates into enduring and sustained learning that leads to transformation in teaching and improving the quality of education. In addition to this clustering has been introduced as a useful way of teacher learning. The purpose of this study is to explore teacher learning in learning area clusters. These clusters are considered to be learning communities, because teachers are provided with opportunities to engage in professional dialogue and collaborative problem solving in issues related to teaching and learning. The conceptual framework used in data analysis is the knowledge – practice theory proposed by Cochran Smith and Lytle (1999) as well as Day and Sachs (2004). The four domains of knowledge are knowledge for practice, knowledge in practice, knowledge of practice and knowledge of self. This framework together with Shulman’s (1987) identification of content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) was used in data analysis. The study was located within the qualitative mode of inquiry specifically in the interpretivist paradigm as it is concerned with interpretation and understanding of teacher learning experiences in clusters. In order to answer the research questions I used the method of Narrative Inquiry as this allowed me to understand how teacher knowledge is narratively composed, embodied in a person and expressed in practice. 6 I selected five participants who belong to learning area clusters who were purposively identified. Data was collected through semi structured interviews. The findings revealed that clustering is built on qualities of commitment, leads to teachers’ reflections of practices, increases confidence of teachers, promotes self-initiated learning and leads to organic learning in clusters. Clustering is one useful way of understanding teacher learning. This study contributes towards our understanding of how clusters can be used effectively to enhance teacher learning. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Oct. 19, 2009). Advisor: Alexa Sandmann. Keywords: professional development; common planning time; professional learning communities; middle school. Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-201).

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

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).

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.

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.