A Professional Learning Community Investigation of Leadership and Collaboration and Their Impact on Teacher Effectiveness

A professional learning community (PLC) consists of educators engaged in meaningful collaboration on collective inquiry and action research to support teacher development and student learning. The theoretical framework of this study was based on the work of DuFour, DuFour, and Eaker, who contend that PLCs increase teacher capacity through collaboration, which leads to improved student learning and achievement. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how leadership practices shape a PLC and how collaboration influences teacher effectiveness. A case study was used to address the research question of how the leadership of an elementary school principal can engage professional educators in collegial and collaborative practices to increase teacher effectiveness and student learning. Fourteen elementary teachers and principals were recruited from 4 elementary schools in Pennsylvania that had used PLCs for nine years. Data from interviews, observations, teacher reflections, and questionnaires with these participants were triangulated and member checked to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings, which emerged from an inductive analysis for themes. Study findings documented that teacher participants perceived that collaboration in PLC meetings, along with effective principal leadership skills, were essential to the overall success and operation of a PLC environment. This study supports social change by contributing specific knowledge to educators and school leaders about the benefits of leadership and collaborative practices in an effort to improve teacher effectiveness, which fundamentally supports increased student achievement.