Professional Learning Communities: Perceptions of Teacher Quality and Sustainability

In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted to reform America's failing public education system. Despite guidelines for professional development outlined in the act, there is still an increase in the number of underperforming schools that have a tradition of teachers working in isolation. The purpose of this study at a rural middle school was to examine the perceptions of teachers on the influence of professional learning communities (PLCs) on teaching practices and determine their perceptions of the characteristics necessary for sustaining PLCs with regard to Hord's 5 characteristics: supportive and shared leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application, shared teaching practices, and supportive conditions. A sequential mixed methods design was employed with a convenience sample of 16 teachers who returned Hord's School Profesional Staff as a Learning Community survey, which was given at the research site, and a purposeful sample of 3 interviewees, 1 from each grade level. The survey results were analyzed in light of the 3 research questions using descriptive statistics. Typologies for analysis were identified in interviews, lesson plans, and agendas, which were then coded with emergent themes and with themes established by the theoretical framework of Hord's characteristics of a PLC. Findings from the 3 data sources suggested that participants perceived they have highly effective PLCs that impact teacher quality favorably and that Hord's characteristics were needed to sustain a PLC. Positive social change in the form of increased student and teacher performance could result in schools instituting PLCs that focus on teacher quality, which could then enhance student performance: the intended outcome of the No Child Left Behind Act.