This applied dissertation was designed to verify the effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLC), as it relates to the participation of administrators and teachers. Prior studies have emphasized the importance of continuing learning experiences for school administrators while working. Chiptin (2013) pointed out the importance of a learning network for principals, in which principals would support each other and share knowledge as well as having a forum to discuss common problems. The writer used a quantitative questionnaire copyrighted by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory as the instrument for the research. The main purpose of analyzing the data quantitatively was to measure the effectiveness of the PLC and the participation levels of the administrators and teachers in the PLCs in the target public school district. The results suggested that administrators and teachers perceived PLCs as a collaborative process in which their opinions and suggestions are shared in a democratic fashion. However, when it comes to the final decision, administrators have the last say. Moreover, administrators listen to teachers’ opinions and suggestions on how to solve problems and how to make the best decisions when it comes to student-centered learning. Furthermore, administrators take into consideration the opinions and suggestions of faculty and staff members when making the final decision. Recommendations include conducting a mixed-method study using both qualitative and quantitative data to provide a better understanding of cultural background between schools’ geographic location and culture as well as the individual staff members’ culture, as contrasted with the PLC dynamics. In addition, this study was conducted to provide better insight into specific student-centered activities and teacher practices.

The problem of this study was to describe inservice education programs for members of local boards of trustees and to assess the knowledge and attitude toward inservice of participating and non-participating board members. The major purposes of this study were to describe training programs carried on in selected school districts, and to assess and compare the knowledge and attitudes toward inservice education of board members who do and do not participate in those training programs. The project involved the identification of skill areas necessary for board members, the development of instruments to measure knowledge and attitudes toward inservice, the selection of boards of trustees from six school districts for an experimental and a control group, the description of inservice education programs in operation in districts comprising the experimental group, and the assessment of knowledge and attitudes of members of the experimental and control groups.

本研究旨在瞭解我國中央及地方縣市教師研習中心組織運作之現況，並探討其執行功能之差異。為達成上述目的，研究者採用文獻分析法與問卷調查法進行研究。首先探究教師在職進修的意義與必要性，其次探討美、英、日等國家之教師研習中心的沿革與現況，並和我國之發展作一比較；接著編製「中央及地方縣市教師研習中心之組織架構問卷」和「中央及地方縣市教師研習中心之執行功能問卷」，針對全國中央層級與地方縣市之教師研習中心進行調查研究。問卷調查結果再經訪談以進一步探究組織運作相關問題，最後綜合研究結果，提出結論與建議，以提供相關單位決策及後續之研究。 / 本研究主要以問卷調查法進行，研究對象為中央層級之教師研習機構和地方各縣市教師研習中心之相關業務承辦人，共獲取21所機構之有效問卷372份，問卷資料處理採用SPSS12.0版進行統計分析。研究結論如下： 一、 教師研習專業機構有其重要性但形式不一 二、 我國地方縣市教師研習中心體制尚未完整 三、 部分縣市研習中心淪為活動場地並無完整功能 四、 研習中心執行功能強弱與人員編制和資源挹注有關 五、 研習中心和其他機構合併是否帶來正面效用值得關注 六、 教師研習進修形式宜多樣化 七、 除了組織客觀條件之外，經營團隊亦是成功關鍵之一 / 本研究根據文獻探討、調查研究發現與結論，作成建議如下： 一、 對於執行成效不佳之研習中心，宜進行組織再造或整併 二、 建構完整的地方縣市教師研習中心體制，朝法制化邁進 三、 進行跨縣市研習中心資源整合與共享 四、 增進與學術機構合作之伙伴關係 五、 跳脫經費與資源的迷思，營造優質團隊運作模式

The purpose of this study is to identify and compare the perceptions of practicing teachers and college instructors toward four components of inservice education programs: content, organization, format of presentation, and participant involvement in the teachers colleges in Thailand. The comparison is based on the demographic variables of sex, age, educational background, and teaching experience in the institution. The "In-Service Education Attitude Survey" by Yesuratnam, Basimalla at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois in 1982 was used to gather data for this study. It was distributed to a sample of 380 practicing teachers and college instructors in 19 randomly selected teachers colleges in Thailand; 368 usable instruments were returned (97.15%). The data were treated to produce numbers and percentages. The t tests for two independent samples were computed to determine any statistically significant differences between the respondent groups of practicing teachers and college instructors, and between the practicing elementary and secondary school teachers. The F tests were also utilized to determine any statistically significant differences among the variables of practicing teachers and college instructors.