PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Qualitative Study on Professional Learning Communities and How They Impact Student Achievement



Qualitative Study on Professional Learning Communities and How They Impact Student Achievement

Introduction

Creating strong professional communities holds several potential advantages for schools which can be categorized under three broad, yet related, headings: Classroom Practice: Teachers' sense of affiliation with one another and with the school, their sense of mutual support, and individual responsibility for the effectiveness of instruction are increased by collaborative work with peers (Hord, 2004). Emergent professional communities increase opportunities to improve classroom practice by expanding the number and the quality of feedback mechanisms available to teachers. In general, teachers seek out and accept serious reviews of their work in schools where there are open and supportive relationships among staff.

Problem Statement

The continual search for more effective strategies for school improvement has led to a number of new models of school reform. Some of these rely heavily upon findings in the field of human relations and organizational theory. The professional learning community (PLC) represents an emerging model for school improvement that draws from what we know about human relations and organizational change.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the paper is to discuss professional learning communities and their effectiveness in a concise and comprehensive way.

Research Questions

Why professional learning communities are effective? And why do they play an important role in society?

Methodology

Methodology refers to the procedures used to research an issue, a research question, or hypothesis. It is the way that a topic is investigated or researched. There have been many different methodologies used to investigate political communication, and there are many ways to classify these methodologies. One way to classify methodology is to group the procedures as either quantitative or qualitative. I will use the qualitative research methods in this paper using the sources mentioned in the list of references.

Discussion

Satisfaction emerging from personal dignity: One issue that frequently arises in talking about teachers' work is the discouragement that many feel when they believe that their best efforts are neither respected nor valued by peers, supervisors, or the public. Some strategies for increasing teacher influence validate teachers' perception of their own value as social agents. Experts for example, suggests that giving teachers more individual autonomy, discretion, and control in conducting their work will encourage a greater sense of ownership of and responsibility for quality in student learning. Scholars suggest that teachers obtain the greatest satisfaction from empowerment that focuses on teachers and classrooms and that involvement in policy-setting that is not directly related to their own work is viewed as a distraction (Hord, 2004).

Creating Professional Communities

Many feel that if schools are to restructure, in addition to becoming more effective at collective learning, they must become stronger professional communities. Professional communities in schools are characterized by five conditions which emphasize the need for teachers to work together:

Shared norms and values: Members of the school community affirm, through language and action, their common assumptions about children, learning, teaching and teachers' roles, the importance of interpersonal connectedness, and commitment to the collective good ...